The following Great Innovative Idea is from Jaime Fernandez Fisac, a Ph.D. Candidate in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences Department at the University of California, Berkeley, in the area of Control, Intelligent Systems and Robotics. Fisac was one of the Blue Sky Award winners at the International Symposium on Robotics Research (ISRR 17) in Puerto Varas, Chile for his paper, Pragmatic-Pedagogic Value Alignment. The Idea Advances in robotics and AI are making robots increasingly capable and autonomous, but how will we ensure they understand what things they should or should not do? Our insight is that a competent robot collaborator should behave like a keen apprentice: humans are naturally skilled at social collaboration, and robots can exploit this fact to tap into […]

Contributions to this post were provided by CCC Exec member Ben Zorn.  Do you worry that the Bluetooth-enabled smart fork you just got for Christmas is trying to steal your password? Do you wonder what software was used to implement your smart fork and when it was last updated? These are questions we’ve never had to ask until now. Microsoft Research Podcast recently interviewed Computing Community Consortium (CCC) Executive Council member and CCC Intelligent Infrastructure (II) Task Force Co-Chair Ben Zorn, from Microsoft Research, on programming languages and how they are impacting the world. In the Podcast, Zorn talked about the Internet of Things. When we embed computing into infrastructure, […]

While wearable computing might seem like a new thing, it has been a part of our imagination since 1945 when Vannevar Bush headed the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development and envisioned the head-mounted camera that a scientist could wear while doing experiments. This example and others were given by plenary speaker and Contextual Computing Group Professor Thad Starner from Georgia Tech at the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) Symposium on Computing Research: Addressing National Priorities and Societal Needs. Microdisplays, networking, and sensing all came together in 2010 and suddenly the field of wearable computing was no longer imaginary but real. The CCC Symposium was held on October 23-24, 2017 in Washington, […]

TIME’s 25 best inventions of 2017 are a mixture of fun little gadgets like the fidget spinner, a DIY cooking companion called Tasty One Top, and delicious treats like Halo Top ice cream. What is surprising, however, is that most of the inventions from the list this year are either a product of computer science research or have been greatly influenced by it. Here are some examples: Jibo – A robot that “experiences the world and reacts with expressive movements and responses.” While that technology may seem merely amusing (or creepy), it could as TIME points out be fundamentally reshaping the way we interact with machines. eSight 3– A powerful pair of glasses that […]

The following Great Innovative Idea is from Jun Zhang and Michael Yip. Their paper called Three-Dimensional Hysteresis Modeling of Robotic Artificial Muscles with Application to Shape Memory Alloy Actuators was one of the featured talks at the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) sponsored Material Robotics (MaRo) Workshop at the 2017 Robotics Science and Systems (RSS) Conference. The Idea Robotic artificial muscles are actuators that can make robots move. Unlike electric motors, robotic artificial muscles are compliant and can generate straight contractions just like our biological muscles. Recently, they are increasingly popular in many exciting areas, such as biomimetic robots, soft robots, and safe human-robot interaction. To practically use robotic artificial muscles, it is crucial to have an accurate model […]

Contributions to this post were made by Yigit Menguc from Oregon State University. The Computing Community Consortium (CCC) recently sponsored a workshop at the 2017 Robotics Science and Systems Conference called Material Robotics (MaRo). The goal of the workshop was to bring together researchers in robotics and materials science to learn from each other and identify the research challenges and applications of robotic materials. The original vision of a “robot” introduced by playwright Karel Čapek in 1920 was that of an autonomous machine molded in the image of humans. Interestingly, the play begins with a discussion of the materials that make up the robots and introduces the techniques used to […]