Japan ♥ Robots, Roboticists ♥ Japan
Let's Take A Look Back At IEEE's International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) That Was Held This Year in Yokohama, Japan
Aaron’s Thoughts On The Week
“We're fascinated with robots because they are reflections of ourselves.” - Ken Goldberg
I am about a week late in reporting on everything that went down at this year’s International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), but it was probably because I needed more time (and a vacation) to process it all. IEEE’s primer robotics event is held each May and rotates worldwide. Last year, the conference was held in London, and next year, it will be held in Atlanta, but this year, Yokohama, Japan, was the host. And just like the city’s beloved baseball team, the Yokohama DeNA BayStars, the event hit homerun after homerun. ICRA Chair, Zhidong Wang, announced at the closing ceremonies that over 7,000 people attended this year’s event, setting a new attendance record for the conference.
What Is ICRA and Why It Is So Important
The IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) is one of the most prestigious conferences in robotics and automation. The first ICRA was held in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1984. It was organized by the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS) to provide a dedicated platform for researchers and practitioners to present their work. The conference was spearheaded by pioneers in the field, including George Bekey and Takeo Kanade. Their vision was to create a global forum for advancing the state-of-the-art in robotics and automation. There will be a second ICRA this year to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the conference and reflect on its accomplishments and what is remains to be addressed.
In the 1990s, the conference began to expand internationally, with locations rotating among different continents. This helped to broaden the participation and collaboration between researchers from diverse regions. The conference quickly gained prominence, attracting leading researchers, industry professionals, and academics. Key topics during this period included robotics kinematics, control systems, and the emerging field of mobile robotics.
As the 21st century began, robot technology advanced quickly, as did the scope of ICRA. Topics such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, human-robot interaction, and autonomous systems became prominent. The conference began to feature cutting-edge research on humanoid robots, medical robotics, and multi-robot systems. ICRA also started to include workshops, tutorials, and competitions, providing hands-on experience and practical challenges for participants.
With 40 years of experience in the books, ICRA remains at the forefront of robotics research. Recent conferences have highlighted advancements in soft robotics, robotic perception, deep learning for robotics, and ethical considerations in autonomous systems. ICRA has been instrumental in the dissemination of groundbreaking research. Many seminal papers and influential works in robotics have been presented at this conference. The conference has fostered strong collaborations between academia and industry, driving innovation and practical applications of robotics technology. Most importantly, ICRA has played a crucial role in building a global community of robotics researchers and practitioners, facilitating the exchange of knowledge and fostering international collaborations.
Talks, Talks, and More Talks
For those who have never attended an ICRA, it should be clearly stated that A) you will be overwhelmed and B) you will not be able to attend all of the talks, workshops, keynotes, competitions, and everything in between. Every day, I found myself trying to figure out how not to disappoint myself because I would have to give up on not going to one talk or session over another. Even working with two colleagues on a “divide and conquer” strategy left specific sessions uncovered.
I could list many of the talks I attended, but that could get boring quickly for many of you. However, this is the beauty of ICRA: there WILL be talks that will pique your interest and keep you going throughout the five days. Every day, a different field/topic of robotics was being covered somewhere at the event. Some topics were covered in multiple days. If you wanted to listen to nothing but humanoid talks, you would have been covered daily with someone giving a talk on a topic within that area. You had numerous opportunities to hear about robotics in specific industries. I spent my entire Friday learning about the different use cases for robots in nuclear facilities.
I am still reviewing my notebook on everything I wrote down from the 30+ talks I could squeeze in this year. Looking at the conference’s guidebook, I may have taken in about 3% of the discussions. Even with that, my brain is still swimming in everything I learned this year.
Networking
Networking is always one of the biggest takeaways from any conference, and ICRA never disappoints. Not only did I run out of business cards by the third day of ICRA, but I also gained hundreds of new contacts across the industry. Even though ICRA is heavy on the academic side, I gained as many new contacts on the industry side of robotics as I did on the academic side.
Hearing what is happening in the numerous robotics labs worldwide helps me better plan future efforts, and just knowing what is potentially coming is huge. Before many robots reach the market, they start as research projects and ICRA highlights them. So, getting to know what these potential breakthroughs are before they happen and who is behind them is critical for future standards development. Many of these researchers are already using some of our test & performance standards, so understanding how they are using them and potentially improving them is something I want to know and know early.
It is also critical for us as a Standards Organization for those same researchers to know about our work and how their research could help advance new standards development. Having those researchers aware of that on the front end leads to more research-to-standards developments. All of this is why ICRA is always on my list of MUST ATTENDS.
It would be great to see more industry partners at ICRA for the same reason. There is probably no other place where industry could bring their problems to and have access to thousands of researchers to hear about the issue and get some of them to start working on it. When I’ve had industry partners say, “I wish someone in Academia would work on this issue!” I have always responded, “Have you ever presented the problem to Academia to make them aware of it?” Well, at ICRA, you can just by networking.
The Competitions and Challenges
One area in which ICRA excels over other conferences is the competitions and challenges during the middle of the week. From autonomous mini-racers to quadrupeds to robot grasping and manipulation, there is a competition or challenge for you to get all geared up for.
The Competitions range from Best Conference Paper to Best Demo, while the Challenges range from autonomous mini-racers to quadrupeds to robot grasping and manipulation and everything in between. This year, there was a drone area.
ASTM, with its amazing partner NIST, sponsored the Assembly Challenge this year. Teams competed to see who could assemble and then disassemble a NIST Task Board.
For our challenge, teams had their pick of industrial robots (UR and Yaskawa were the main selections), and they could design their own end effectors. However, next to that, all the teams were limited to the same items they were presented on the task board, which they had to assemble and then disassemble. Teams were made aware of 80% of the items before the competition but were given the remaining 20% of “mystery items” on the day of the challenge. Speed and Accuracy drove the scoring. So even if you were fast, did not mean you were the winner if the item was not assemble (or disassembled) correctly.
The teams were definitely challenged, but they also had fun doing it. However, what may not have been noticed was how the teams were also helping to prove future test & performance standards that ASTM and NIST are developing for the marketplace. The competitions helped our two organizations adjust parts of the standard differently. So these competitions are helping to advance standards development because, in one space and one event, we are able to collect data on what is working and what is not working in the proposed standard. So, while the teams are walking away with prize money and a certificate of their taking top honors, our standards organizations are walking away with helpful data to make our test standards even better in the long term.
The biggest competition that demonstrated this “pushing the standards” aspect through competitions was NIST’s Quadruped Challenge which helps improve and drive more standards through the E54.09 Response Robots Committee at ASTM.
Quadrupeds continue to improve, and through these annual challenges, we push them more and more to improve. As we see them improve, we update the standards framework to keep it current. Many aspects of the Quadruped challenge at ICRA are based on some of the 24 current standards under E54.09 and are helping drive some of the 36 under development as we learn more about the capabilities of these types of robots. This year’s course could go from flat to angled in a few minutes, depending on the challenge for the day. Some robots did fine when the course was “flat,” but the moment it became a climb, some robots couldn’t make the grade.
Each year, the competitions get bigger and badder, but in a good way. Pushing both the robots and their human teammates to their limits. However, this is how we advance both the tech and talent (and the standards) to get better.
Expect the challenges for ICRA 2025 in Atlanta to be wild. We are already planning the next challenges that will need to be solved now.
Thank You Yokohama!
Finally, I want to thank our amazing hosts in Yokohama! I arrived Friday evening prior to the event to get ready and make sure I got past any jet lag. The city of Yokohama and its residents were so amazing and helpful. I definitely see it as a place to return to for future conferences and to explore more of it just for myself self interest. The city has a rich history and an amazing look into the future with its own amazing technologies.
Every day, I was greeted with smiles and just people being amazing. I could have probably spent another week exploring the area and still would not have uncovered all of the hidden gems around the area. I would highly recommend visiting the city to learn and see all of the cool things the city has to offer. So until next time, Yokohama, I will hold on to the amazing last night of ICRA.
With that, I hope to see many of you in Atlanta at ICRA2025 (May 19-23).
Robot News Of The Week
Robotics investments top $466M in April 2024
In April 2024, robotics investments reached $466 million, the result of 36 funding rounds. This was the smallest amount since November 2023 and significantly less than the trailing 12-month average of $1.1 billion. Collaborative Robotics and China’s Rokae secured the two largest rounds, with $100 million and $70 million respectively.
Mitsubishi Electric Corp. buys stake in Realtime Robotics
Realtime Robotics Inc. has received a "strategic investment" from Mitsubishi Electric Corp. to support the development and scalability of its robot workcell optimization and runtime solutions. The funding will be used to integrate Realtime's motion planning technology into 3D simulators and other software to optimize manufacturing through the power of digital twins. Mitsubishi Electric plans to further incorporate Realtime's technology into factory automation control system devices. Mitsubishi Electric's increased stake will help accelerate the development of additional interfaces to drive full industry-wide accessibility.
AMP’s robot recycler deployed in Virginia waste facility
AMP will be deploying its sorting robot at a facility owned by Recycling and Disposal Solutions in Portsmouth, Virginia. The robot will extract recyclables and organic materials from municipal solid waste for further processing. RDS aims to increase recovery and landfill diversion while reducing processing costs. The system can process 150 tons per day with over 90% uptime and is designed to be co-located with landfills and transfer stations.
Ukraine Ramping Up Deployment of Military Robotic Platforms
The Ukrainian government is accelerating the deployment of military robotic platforms to assist frontline operations against Russia. Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Andrii Lebedenko, stated that contracts have been signed for unmanned systems capable of carrying out medical evacuation missions. These robotic platforms will be essential on the battlefield as they will help save the lives of defenders without putting anyone else in harm’s way.
Robot Research In The News
Robotic ‘Third Thumb’ expands hand’s range of motion, carrying capacity
A team of researchers at the University of Cambridge, led by Professor Tamar Makin, in collaboration with Dani Clode, developed the 'Third Thumb', an extra robotic thumb aimed at increasing the wearer’s range of movement. This enhanced the wearer’s grasping abilities and extended the carrying capacity of the hand, paving the way for consumers to execute tasks that may seem tricky or challenging to handle.
Stanford researcher discusses UMI gripper and diffusion AI models
The Robot Report recently interviewed Ph.D. student Cheng Chi about his research at Stanford University. He discussed his recent publications on using diffusion AI models for robotics applications and the UMI gripper project, which showcases the capabilities of diffusion model robotics. The UMI gripper is part of his Ph.D. thesis work, and he has open-sourced the design and code for others to contribute to the development of AI diffusion policies.
Robot Workforce Story Of The Week
AI robotics learning booms in U.S. education
The VEX World Robotics Championship, sponsored by NASA, the U.S. Air Force, Microsoft, Google, and Tesla, is the largest robotics competition in the world. Robotics education is seen as a way to prepare children for a future where AI and robotics are integral. North America has a high demand for education technology solutions and services, with a significant presence of educational robot manufacturing companies and advanced technologies in schools and educational institutions.
Robot Video Of The Week
China recently unveiled rifle-toting robot dogs in a joint military exercise with Cambodia. The robots, which can operate for up to four hours, are designed for urban combat operations. The footage of the robots is both impressive and unsettling, showcasing their ability to lead reconnaissance missions and shoot targets with their attached machine guns.
Upcoming Robot Events
June 3-5 International Symposium on Medical Robotics (Atlanta, GA)
June 4-5 Smart Manufacturing Experience (Pittsburgh, PA)
June 24-27 International Conference on Space Robotics (Luxemborg)
July 2-4 International Workshop on Robot Motion and Control (Poznan, Poland)
July 8-12 American Control Conference (Toronto, Canada)
Aug. 6-9 International Woodworking Fair (Chicago, IL)
Sept. 9-14 IMTS (Chicago, IL)
Oct. 1-3 International Robot Safety Conference (Cincinnati, OH)
Oct. 8-10 Autonomous Mobile Robots & Logistics Conference (Memphis, TN)
Oct. 14-18 International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (Abu Dhabi)
Oct. 15-17 Fabtech (Orlando, FL)
Oct. 16-17 RoboBusiness (Santa Clara, CA)
Oct. 28-Nov. 1 ASTM Intl. Conference on Advanced Manufacturing (Atlanta, GA)
Nov. 22-24 Humanoids 2024 (Nancy, France)