US representatives have been participating in the International Advanced Robotics Programme (IARP) for over 20 years since its inception in 1982 as part of the Versailles Economic Summit. The general objective of the IARP is: ?To encourage development of advanced robotic systems that can dispense with human work for difficult activities in harsh, demanding, or dangerous environments.? There are currently 16 IARP members. As part of its participation, the United States periodically supports meetings and workshops associated with IARP activities. It is proposed that the United States host an IARP meeting and workshop in conjunction with the 2007 IEEE/RJS International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), to be held in San Diego, October 28 - November 2, 2007. The IEEE Robotics & Automation Society and the Robotics Society of Japan sponsor IROS. The workshop will be a one-day (October 28, 2007) technical workshop entitled, "Shared Control in Robotic Ultra-operations," and the meeting will be the 26-th Joint Coordinating Forum (JCF) of the International Advanced Robotics Programme (October 29 - 30, 2007), of which the United States is a member.
Intellectual Merit:
The technical workshop will include presentations and papers from world experts in shared control. Researchers from the US and other countries will hear the presentations and participate in breakout discussions about the most important current results and remaining research challenges. The collective result will be consensus amongst a representative subset of the international community as to the key issues in shared control in robotic ultra-operations. The JCF meeting will involve detailed presentations from each member country that summarize key research activities.
Broader Impacts:
The technical workshop and the JCF meeting will provide focused platforms for open discussion on key research challenges as viewed by a cross-section of leading international researchers from government, industry and academia. By virtue of the large number of member countries and member affiliates, the results of these meetings will influence research agendas across the globe. These meetings will provide each participant with a global view of robotics and intelligent systems research interests and priorities with particular emphasis on shared control in robotic ultra-operations.
