A Research Roadmap for Domestic and Professional Service Robotics

San Francisco, CA
August 7-8, 2008

Co-Chairs:
Oliver Brock, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Bill Thomasmeyer, Tech Collaborative
Henrik Christensen, Georgia Tech

To participate, please submit 2-page proposals by June 20, 2008. Expenses for approved participants will be covered by CCC

This two-day workshop will

identify a focused set of major U.S. research goals for Domestic and Professional Service Robotics, and
develop a roadmap for achieving these research goals in the coming decade.

The workshop will include leaders from the U.S.A. in academia, industry, and government. Even though the American robotics research community is highly diversified, analogous efforts in Europe and Japan to reach consensus and develop unified research roadmaps for their regions have been extremely successful in creating new partnerships and attracting major research funding. The results of this workshop will culminate in a report for the US Congress.

This workshop one of four under the project: "From Internet to Robotics: The Next Transformative Technology", accepted by the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) with the goal of ensuring that basic research addresses the key problems that will allow American companies to have a leading role in the deployment of future generations of robots:

http://www.us-robotics.us/

Rationale

Already today the services sector makes up 80% of the US gross national product. The need for professional services will continue to grow as the economy becomes increasingly service-oriented in today's global market place. There will also be an growing need for domestic services caused by a growth of 50% in the elderly population over the next two decades.

Robotics will provide the technological foundation to support the evolution in the domestic and professional service industry, thereby enabling substantial economic growth. The development of the necessary competencies in robotics therefore will become an important strategic national objective to ensure global competitiveness of the US economy.

This workshop will bring together leading roboticists from industry and academia as well as government representatives to explore strategies of addressing the technological challenges associated with the emerging service economy.

Format

In focused plenary discussions and break-out sessions we will explore robotics for Domestic and Professional Service Robotics. The participants will identify

(a) new application areas that will maximize socio-economic impact;
(b) core competency areas for U.S. research and development; and
(c) formulation of the roadmap.

Travel, meals, and lodging expenses for up to 30 approved participants will be reimbursed by the CCC

We encourage interested experts from industry, government, and academia to submit short proposals via email by June 20, 2008. These proposal should contain

Name, affiliation, and contact info
promising application areas, critical research challenges, viable solution strategies

Proposals must be under 2 pages in plain text or PDF format. Please put "Research Roadmap Proposal" in the subject line and email to service-ws@us-robotics.us. Applicants will be notified by July 7, 2008.

Due to funding limitations, we can accept only 30 participants. Anyone who submits a proposal will receive a copy of the final workshop report and information on how they might participate in the CCC robotics effort. This workshop is being held as part of a group of CCC robotics workshops examining the areas of manufacturing, service, healthcare, and emerging topics in robotics.