So Why Are We Called "Six Degrees of Robotics?"
Have you ever wondered where our name came from?
Aaron’s Thoughts On The Week
“If you take me out of it, I find 'six degrees' to be a beautiful concept that we should try to live by. It's about compassion and responsibility for everyone on the planet.” - Kevin Bacon
As we approach our first year of existence as Six Degrees of Robotics, it is time to take stock of what we are doing and where we are going as a blog/newsletter. But before we do any of that, let’s answer the question we get asked the most: Why are you called Six Degrees of Robotics?
Is it because of the heavy use of the term Six Degrees of Freedom in the robotics industry? YES
Is it based on the concept of Six Degrees of Separation? YES
Is it because I totally rock at the game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon? DEFINITELY!
Ultimately, it is a combination of both the Six Degrees of Freedom and the Separation.
Six Degrees of Freedom: Being A Robotics Newsletter
On the robotics side, at least six degrees of freedom (6DOF) are required to reach a volume of space from every angle. The volume that can be reached increases with the length of the arm. However, if a robot has more than six joints, it becomes kinematically redundant, which means it can reach the same spot at the same angle in different ways. For instance, you can pinch your nose and wiggle your elbow simultaneously.
In a human arm, there are at least six degrees of freedom. If a robot arm can perform all these motions, it can accomplish almost any task that a human arm can. Here's a list of the six degrees of freedom and their limitations:
Axis 1: Let your arm hang down. Raise it in front of you, turning only at the shoulder.
Axis 2: Let your arm hang down. Raise it out away from your body like you’re doing jumping jacks.
Axis 3: Bend your elbow.
Axis 4: Wave like the Queen of England by twisting at the wrist. It’s a twist between the wrist and the elbow.
Axis 5: Make a fist, then make it nod up and down. Bonus points if you draw eyes on the first knuckle of your index finger.
Axis 6: Imagine holding a big dial in your fingers. Turn the dial without moving the rest of your hand.
Many hobby robot makers make a mistake when listing the number of degrees of freedom in their robot arms. They assume that each tool, such as the claw, gripper, pen, or hand, adds another degree of freedom, but that's not true. Surprisingly, most makers omit Axis 4, not Axis 6. It's important to remember that the number of degrees of freedom varies depending on the manufacturer, but the overall effect remains the same. There are 7DOF and even 8DOF robotic arms on the market.
Degrees of Freedom is indeed a big part of the Robotics industry, so this was the first driving factor in our name. We wanted to use words that the robotics industry uses, so Six Degrees made a lot of sense.
Six Degrees of Separation: Our Approach to Robotics
Six Degrees of Separation suggests that everyone is connected to each other through six or fewer social connections. This means that two people can be connected through a chain of "friend of a friend" statements within a maximum of six steps. Frigyes Karinthy introduced the concept in a 1929 short story and popularized it in John Guare's 1990 play. The average social distance between individuals is logarithmic and decreases as the population size increases.
Now, for the robotics industry, it is pretty true that it is not a big community compared to other industries. I am pretty sure that the LinkedIn algorithm would quickly prove that.
However, we also take it to apply to everything in the robotics industry and the many interconnected disciplines, subjects, and technologies. Be it robotics in agriculture, manufacturing, logistics, public settings, medical, or your home, robots are doing amazing things in different fields, but they are still interconnected in one way or another. Be it their software or hardware, there is sharing happening between different robots even if it is not clearly apparent. One of the goals of Six Degrees of Robotics is to show these connections; that is why we are always mixing up our stories in each newsletter to start to show what others in one field of robotics are doing because it may impact them.
Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon …….Aaron
Finally, there is my role as Director of Robotics and Autonomous Systems at ASTM International, where every day, I look across the robotics ecosystem, work with all its diverse thoughts and ideas and help develop solutions that can help them but also not derail another group and their robots.
One day, I may talk about agriculture robots in the morning and that afternoon, listen to a lecture on a medical robot breakthrough. One week, I may visit an industrial facility, helping them figure out what can and can not be done using robotics, and the next week, I may be in a lab observing the next marine robot.
This leads to our growing need for various robot standards, be they safety, test, or performance. In most cases, these standards are agnostic to the actual application and can be used widely. Still, as the robotics industry matures, more applications/industry standards will come to the market. They are already appearing in some areas. If done correctly, these standards will stay locked in their focus area, but there is always the risk of something going into a new standard that conflicts with another standard, which can cause issues if not caught early in the process. This is where a group of professionals like myself are working behind the scenes to ensure those conflicts A) don’t happen and B) if they do, they get addressed as quickly as possible.
This brings us to the final reason we started Six Degrees of Robotics—to keep everyone informed and aware of the growing work of standards (based on solid research) that will keep everyone informed and aware of the ever-increasing work of standards (based on solid research) to help drive the industry forward with solid safety, test, and performance standards.
We will need more people getting involved in standards work from across the robotics industry, regardless of their field. This will help us develop standards that help while not hurting another group. We need everyone at the table and inside that Six Degrees.
Robot News Of The Week
In a first, Mass. State Police robot dog shot during Cape Cod standoff
Massachusetts State Police have praised a robotic dog named Roscoe for helping avert a potential tragedy. On March 6, the Massachusetts State Police Bomb Squad deployed the dog to a house in Barnstable after officers were fired upon. The dog and two other robots were sent into the house to locate the suspect.
Controlled remotely by state troopers, Roscoe first checked the two main floors before discovering an armed suspect in the basement. Despite being knocked over twice, the robotic dog continued its mission and located the suspect. Unfortunately, the suspect fired three shots at Roscoe, disabling its communication. The suspect also shot at one of the other robots and an outdoor swimming pool before tear gas was deployed, and the suspect was arrested.
The state police praised using mobile platforms like Roscoe in tactical missions involving armed suspects. They said that the use of Roscoe prevented the need for human operators to be inserted into the property and may have prevented a police officer from being involved in an exchange of gunfire.
Robot crushes factory worker to death in Thailand, clear safety violations
When robot safety standards are not followed, bad things happen. It is terrible that this individual died from their injuries, but this all could have been prevented if just basic robot safety had been implemented. There appears to be no fencing around the robot and no lock-out/tag-out process. Hopefully, this brings Thailand into the larger robot safety community, and they will start pushing all companies with robots to follow ISO 10218 from now on.
Robot Research In The News
Robots have been progressing in verbal communication, but developing their nonverbal communication skills, especially facial expressions, has been challenging. The Creative Machines Lab at Columbia Engineering has been working on this issue. They recently unveiled a robot called 𝐄𝐦𝐨 that can predict when someone will smile and then co-express that smile simultaneously with the person. This robot was challenging to create because it needed a versatile and expressive robotic face with complex hardware and actuation mechanisms. Additionally, it had to accurately predict and generate the right expression at the right time to appear natural, timely, and genuine.
To train the robot, the team proposed anticipating future facial expressions in humans and executing them simultaneously with the person. Timing is crucial, as delayed facial mimicry can look insincere, while co-expression feels more genuine. The robot needs to correctly infer the human's emotional state to execute the expression at the right time. The results of this study were published in 𝘚𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘙𝘰𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘴.
Northeastern University Mars Rover Team wins Winter Canadian International Challenge
The Northeastern University Mars Rover Team won the first Winter Canadian International Rover Challenge. The team beat McMaster University with a score of 237.71 points. This is the first competition win for the six-year-old club. The competition consisted of four challenges designed to test students' rovers through simulated environments similar to tasks a rover might have to complete while on Mars' surface.
Robot Workforce Stories Of The Week
The Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) has granted $2.7 million to eight nonprofit organizations and education institutions across the state through the Robotics Teams and STEM Internships Program. This program supports high school robotics teams, helps prepare youth for STEM careers, and creates internships for high school students to work at private companies in STEM fields.
RoboticsCareer.org adds functionality from ARM Institute to address manufacturing skills gap
The ARM Institute has added new features to RoboticsCareer.org, a resource for robotics careers in U.S. manufacturing. The website redesign aims to increase interest in manufacturing careers and provide guidance to workers seeking training and job opportunities. The ARM Institute hopes to support workers at each stage of their career with personalized career opportunities.
Robot Video Of The Week
Powered by Carbon, Sanctuary AI’s Phoenix now autonomously completes tasks at human-equivalent speed. This is an essential step on the journey to full autonomy. Phoenix is unique among humanoids in its speed, precision, and strength, all critical for industrial applications. I guess that explains the Accenture investment this week.
Upcoming Robot Events
Apr. 7-10 Haptics Symposium (Los Angeles, CA)
Apr. 14-17 International Conference on Soft Robotics (San Diego, CA)
May 1-2 The Robotics Summit & Expo (Boston, MA)
May 13-17 IEEE-ICRA (Yokohama, Japan)
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)
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)