News:
The Robotics Roadmap has finally been presented to Congress! On May 21, 2009 four presentations were given before a Congressional Caucus about the future of robotics in the United States. These presentations have been posted to the website on the Presentations page.
The final CCC report to Congress has been completed.
CCC Robotics Roadmap Final Report
Introduction:
USA has a strong record of research in defense related robotics with leadership for unmanned aerial and ground vehicles. In comparison the standing of R&D on non-military applications is less impressive. Both for industrial/manufacturing and service applications the fields are dominated by efforts in Europe, Asia and Australia. The big technology providers are also present in those regions. In a world where significant changes are expected in terms of competitiveness and aging it is essential that society has access to key technologies for automated manufacturing, assistive healthcare and domestic services for independent living. Consequently there is a need to carefully consider how the USA can ensure availability of these technologies in a 5-15 year perspective.
The Computing Community Consortium (CCC) has through a grant from NSF approved a study to formulate a targeted R&D roadmap for robotics. The process is managed by a broad group of researcher across major US institutions. As a basis for a formulation of the roadmap 4 workshops are organized.