Algorithmic Automation

A Blade Primitive for Feeding 3D Parts on Vibratory Tracks ©Onno C. Goemans and A. Frank van der Stappen Utrecht University, Marshall Anderson and Ken Goldberg, UC Berkeley

A V-trap for Feeding 3D Parts on a Vibratory Track © Onno C. Goemans and A. Frank van der Stappen Utrecht University

The Stable Poses of Objects Supported by Multiple Contact © Elon Rimon, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology

To benefit the quality and productivity of manufacturing worldwide, our goal is to bring together researchers and students to develop "algorithmic" approaches to automation and manufacturing.

Automation for manufacturing today is where computer technology was in the early 1960's, a patchwork of ad-hoc solutions lacking a rigorous scientific methodology. CAD provides detailed models of part geometry. What's missing is formal models of part behavior, frameworks for the systematic design of automated systems that handle (e.g. assemble, inspect, sort, feed) parts, and tools for rigorous specification, analysis, and synthesis.

The "Turing Machine" introduced an elegant model of computing with precise vocabulary and operations that formalized concepts of Equivalence, Correctness, Completeness, and Complexity. Can we apply Turing to ManufacTuring?.

Algorithmic Automation abstractions can allow the functionality of automation to be designed independent of the underlying implementation and can provide the foundation for formal specification and analysis, algorithmic design, consistency checking and optimization. Algorithmic Automation thus facilitates integrity, reliability, interoperability, and maintainability and upgrading of automation.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Foundations (computational geometry, data structures, complexity and completeness)
• Mechanical Models (friction, dynamics, deformation, tolerancing)
• Open-Source Modeling and Simulation Systems
• Grasping, Fixturing, Caging
• Feeding, Sorting, Singulating
• Casting, Molding
• Assembly and Disassembly
• Machining and Tool Path Generation
• Rapid Prototyping
• Part Design for Feeding/Casting/etc.
• Modular Hardware Devices and Systems

Workshops

• Third Workshop on Algorithmic Automation, Robotics: Systems and Sciences (RSS), Seattle,WA. June 25-28 2009.

• Second Workshop on Algorithmic Automation, IEEE International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering (CASE), Washington DC. 23 August, 2008.

• First Workshop on Algorithmic Automation, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Pasadena CA. 20 May, 2008.

• Workshop on Contact Models for Manipulation and Locomotion, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Pasadena CA. 19 May, 2008.

Related Links

• Robotics and the Next Steps for National Security, by Jena Baker McNeill and Ethel Machi, Heritage Foundation article, 30 November, 2009.

• Made in America isn't dead, it's just different. , Associated Press, 22 February, 2009.

• June 2008 Msg from IEEE-USA President: Robotics: Intriguing Students, Bolstering Manufacturing and Saving Lives

• Assembly-Line Adaptive Netbot (ALAN): A Practical Robot for Industry.
• The OpenSTORM Project: A Proposal for an Open Simulation TOol for Robotics, Automation, and Manufacturing

• CCC / CRA Roadmapping for Robotics Workshops: Mfg and Automation Robotics Workshop.

• Eighth Workshop on the Algorithmic Foundations of Robotics (WAFR), Guanajuato, Mexico. 7-9 Dec, 2008.

• Op-Ed: "Made in the USA" Can be Revitalized. Article and links about US Mfg Needs, by Ken Goldberg (UC Berkeley) and Vijay Kumar (UPenn), with input from Ruzena Bajcsy (UC Berkeley), George Bekey (USC), Brian Carlisle (Precise Automation), David Dornfeld (UC Berkeley), Erika Fuchs (Carnegie Mellon), Pradeep Khosla (Carnegie Mellon), Yoram Koren (U. Michigan), Peter Luh (U. Connecticut), Matt Mason (Carnegie Mellon), Deirdre Meldrum (Arizona State), Richard Pearson (NCMS), Sanjay Sarma (MIT), Shankar Sastry (UC Berkeley), Warren Seering (MIT), Jeff Trinkle (RPI), Richard Volz (Texas A&M), Peter Will (USC), Paul Wright (UC Berkeley), and John Zysman (UC Berkeley). Printable version (pdf). Oct 2007.

• Putting the Turing into Manufacturing: Recent Developments in the Science of Automation, PARC Forum Presentation, July 2007.    [Video/Audio]
• IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering

Founding Researchers

• Nancy Amato, Texas A&M
• Karl Bohringer, U. Washington
• Joe Bordogna, U. Penn
• Joel Burdick, Caltech
• Henrik Christensen, Georgia Tech
• Ken Goldberg, UC Berkeley, Co-Founder
• Dan Halperin, Tel Aviv U., Israel
• Hirochika Inoue, U. Tokyo
• Lydia Kavraki, Rice U.
• Vijay Kumar, U. Penn, Co-Founder
• Jean-Paul Laumond, LAAS, France
• Kevin Lynch, Northwestern U.
• Dinesh Manocha, UNC
• Matt Mason, Carnegie Mellon U.
• Bud Mishra, NYU
• Todd Murphey, U. Colorado
• Elon Rimon, Technion, Israel
• Warren Seering, MIT
• Robert Tilove, General Motors Research
• Jeff Trinkle, RPI
• Frank van der Stappen, U. Utrecht, Holland, Co-Founder
• Michael Wang, CUHK, Hong Kong

Bulgarian translation of this page provided by Dimitar Teykiyski at Go Science.

Slovenian translation of this page provided by Damian Erjavec.