In the past decade, robotic systems have moved from stand-alone units to more complicated systems that exhibit certain capabilities of interactions with human beings and/or environments. This development coupling with the recent re-organization of the Information and Intelligent Systems Division (IIS) of the National Science Foundation (NSF) into a cluster-research environment has prompted the necessity of organizing this workshop to discuss and explore the future research trends of robotics in a cluster-research environment. Specifically, the proposed workshop aims to address this problem with top-down and bottomup approaches: A) Top-down approach: Given that the IIS/Robotics program will be clustered with other IIS programs into cluster-research on Robust Intelligence, what are the potential innovative research areas that robotics researchers should look into so that future robotic systems will exhibit better mobility, intelligence, adaptation, and autonomy? B) Bottom-up approach: Given that many robotics researchers have their individual research areas that do not fit into this cluster-research Robust Intelligence theme, what should these researchers explore in order to propose more pertinent projects for future IIS competitions? Intellectual Merits. This workshop will bring together researchers in the robotics community, including the principal investigators (PIs) currently supported by the NSF/IIS, to explore innovative robotics research areas in this cluster-research Robust Intelligence theme. Researchers will explore the benefits of synergistic integration of robotics, computer vision, artificial intelligence, and other appropriate technical areas into future robotic systems to achieve intelligence and flexibility in reaction to dynamic and changing environments. Broader Impacts. The workshop will have significant and broader impacts on the robotics community. Through the workshop, researchers will broaden their views of future research for advancing Robust Intelligence in general, and robotic science and technologies in particular. Traditional single-PI-focused research areas such as dynamics, kinematics, control, motion planning, actuators, etc. will give way to a cluster of technologies in perception and cognition, and learning and intelligence. Equipped with this new vision, researchers will have better ideas in proposing innovative robotics research to investigate methodologies and technologies that will provide answers to design and develop future robotic systems that exhibit better autonomy, mobility, and intelligence.
