Abstracts in this Pattern:

• SC-2017-12-06-026 on design software
• SC-2017-12-06-022 on Robotarium
• SC-2017-12-06-010 on robot relationships

Companies continue to deploy more robots to perform manufacturing and service tasks every year. However, new technologies and decreasing costs are making robots more accessible to the public. Carnegie Mellon University's (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) Robotics Institute (www.ri.cmu.edu) recently created interactive design software that enables both nonexperts and experts to create robot designs quickly and easily. The software features a library of off-the-shelf components and a simple drag-and-drop interface. For nonstandard parts, the software creates structures that users can 3D print. The software also features a simulation environment in which creators can quickly test and adjust their robot designs before they fabricate their robots. The team hopes that such software will one day enable essentially anyone to design custom robots. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech; Atlanta, Georgia) recently opened the Robotarium (www.robotarium.gatech.edu)—a 725-square-foot facility that houses close to 100 swarm robots that essentially anyone can access. Researchers and members of the public from anywhere in the world can write and upload programs to the Robotarium, and the facility's robots will carry out the programs' commands. The users receive the results and video footage of their tests. For many robotic researchers, developing and maintaining a multirobot lab is too expensive and time consuming. Magnus Egerstedt, executive director of the Georgia Tech Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines (www.robotics.gatech.edu), hopes the Robotarium will "do for robotics what MOOCs (massive open online courses) have done for education."

As robots become more involved in society, people will develop relationships with them. Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT; Cambridge, Massachusetts) are studying interactions between humans and robots and the relationships that humans form with robots. The team has discovered that children readily ascribe to robots the physical and mental attributes of living creatures. Such attributes include seeing, moving, thinking, feeling physical stimuli, experiencing emotions, and desiring companionship. Although robots do not currently find extensive use outside factories, new products such as robotic vacuum cleaners, smart speakers with speaking virtual assistants, and service robots are becoming increasingly common. Many questions remain unanswered, and the MIT research team will continue to evaluate the relationships that humans form with robots and other intelligent systems.

The Development of this Pattern

Data Points

• SC-2017-12-06-026
  Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute recently created interactive design software that enables both nonexperts and experts to create robot designs quickly and easily.
• SC-2017-12-06-022
  Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology recently opened the Robotarium—a 725-square-foot facility that houses close to 100 swarm robots that essentially anyone can access.
• SC-2017-12-06-010
  Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are studying interactions between humans and robots and the relationships that humans form with robots.

Implications

Democratization of Robotics

New technologies and decreasing costs are democratizing access to robots, which could have significant social impacts.

Previous Alerts

• P0033 — Build Your Own Robot (March 2010)
  As technologies that enable open-source collaboration and design and manufacturing of products appear, one possible area that may emerge is consumers' ability to design and build their own robots.
• SoC517 — Robotics and Humans Interact (June 2011)
  Because robotics is increasingly interacting with humans and even entering office environments, new considerations move to the forefront, and strategies and guidelines are necessary for effective and efficient employment of the technology.
• SoC607 — Robotics: Up Close and Personal (September 2012)
  In 2011, SoC517, "Robotics and Humans Interact," outlined considerations concerning an increase in interactions between robots and humans. This Signal of Change highlights recent developments indicating that these interactions will not only proliferate but also become more intimate and personal.
• SoC712 — Robots Expand Their Commercial Footprint (March 2014)
  Continuing robotics R&D is improving robots' computational and mechanical capabilities.
• SoC786 — Social Robots (March 2015)
  Robot developers are pairing novel electromechanical designs with advances in artificial intelligence, data analysis and sharing, and environmental-sensing systems to create a new generation of robots that engage with people in human-dominated environments.
• P0934 — Human–Robot Interaction (June 2016)
  Advances in robotics technology are enabling a range of new types of interactions between humans and robots.
• P0982 — Robots' Becoming Part of Society (October 2016)
  Advances in robotics will make the use of robots more commonplace, which will have a variety of effects on society.
• SoC924 — Interacting with Robots (February 2017)
  In combination with increasing computational power, progress in machine learning, vision processing, and artificial intelligence are enabling rapid advancement in robotics.