Significant resources are devoted to R&D on robotics across industry and government agencies. This project aims to (1) understand how the efforts can be coordinated to optimize the impact of such efforts, (2) build educational resources where best practice is used across all institutions in the US to ensure access to the best human capital, and t(3) study best practice for transition of results for exploitation. Finally, resources are provided to disseminate information about the impact of robotics to a broad community.
A national robotics initiative is launched for the creation of basic technologies that grow the economy, secure healthcare for future generations and provide support to first responders. It is essential from a societal perspective that the use of such resources is optimized to maximize the impact in terms of economic growth, job creation and provide services to the citizen. The organization of a Robotics-VO provides the required infrastructure support and coordination to ensure effective use of resources.
The objective of the Robotics-VO project was to provide key infrasturcture to support the National Robotics Initiative that was launched by NSF during 2011. The project has had two main efforts: i) creation of a community web portal and ii) update of the national robotics roadmap to match the interest of a number of different US agencies. The web portal has been created and can be reviewed at www.robotics-vo.us. The web site has areas related to robotics roadmapping, educational efforts, industry / technology transfer, dissemination/press club. The website was designed using content management systems (CMS) to ensure easy updating and to ensure portability across platforms. In addition the web site has bene organized to allow easy access to geographic and topical information about web site users. The web site today has more than 200 users and in excess of 200 pages with information including conferences, calls for proposals, major press stories, etc. The US national robotics roadmap was first published during 2009 based on support from CCC. During 2012 the roadmap was updtaed through 5 workshops related to manufacturing, service, medical/healthcare, military/defense and space robotics. The workshops included 50/50 participation from industry and academia. The workshops attracted more than 180 people and there was a great set of discussions. The roadmap was synthesized into a coherent strategy for robotics in the US. The roadmap was presented to the congressional caucus on robotics on March 21, 2013. The roadmap presentation included an overview, manufacturing (presented by Rethink Robotics), logistics (presented by KIVA robotics), and healthcare (presented by Ekso Bionics). Overall a strong story about the economic and strategic impact of robotics in the US.
