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From: [e-mail] (Kevin Dowling)
Newsgroups: comp.robotics,news.answers
Subject: comp.robotics Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) part 1/2
Summary: This posting contains a list of Frequently Asked Questions
     and their answers about robotics. It should be read by anyone
     who wishes to post to the comp.robotics newsgroup
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Archive-name: robotics-faq/part1
Last-modified: Mon Jan  4 12:57:52 1993


This is part 1 of 2 of the comp.robotics Frequently Asked Questions
(FAQ) list. This FAQ addresses commonly asked questions relating to
robotics.

____________________________________________________________________________
This FAQ was compiled and written by Kevin Dowling with numerous
contributions by readers of comp.robotics. Acknowledgements are listed
at end of part2 of this FAQ.

Changes, additions, comments, suggestions and questions to:
    [e-mail]
aka:     Kevin Dowling
         Robotics Institute
    Carnegie Mellon University
    Pittsburgh, PA 15213
___________________________________________________________________________
Changes since last posting:
    New introduction and ftp/uucp/Email instructions
    Numerous  additions and changes to sensors and suppliers
    Archive list
    Book subject category
    Controller survey inclusion
____________________________________________________________________________
Contents:

Part 1
    Where to find this FAQ and comp.robotics archives
    Changes since last posting

    Professional organizations
    Conference listings
    Publications

    Mobile robot companies
    Manipulator companies

    Organizations doing robotics
    Graduate programs in robotics

Part 2
    Sensors
    Suppliers and sources for parts
    Hero Robots
    Puma Manipulators
    Simulators
    Real-Time Operating Systems
    Robot Controller Survey
    Books

    Acknowledgements

_____________________________________________________________________________
Where to find this FAQ and comp.robotics archives:

This FAQ is currently posted to news.answers and comp.robotics.  All
posts to news.answers are archived and are available via anonymous
FTP, uucp and e-mail from the following locations:

FTP:
    location:  pit-manager.mit.edu [18.72.1.58]
    directory: /pub/usenet/news.answers/robotics-faq
    filenames: part1, part2

    location:  ftp.uu.net [137.39.1.9]
    directory:  /archive/usenet/news.answers/robotics-faq
    filenames:  part1.Z, part2.Z [use uncompress]

    location:  nic.switch.ch [130.59.1.40]
    directory: info_service/Usenet/periodic-postings
    filenames: 157, 158 [Check info_service/Usenet/00index if wrong]

    location:  ftp.cs.cmu.edu [128.2.206.173]
    directory: /user/nivek/robotics-faq
    filenames: part1, part2

UUCP:
    location:  uunet!/archive/usenet/news.answers/robotics-faq/
    filenames: part1.Z, part2.Z

E-mail:
    Send email to [e-mail] containing these lines:
    send usenet/news.answers/robotics-faq/part1
    send usenet/news.answers/robotics-faq/part2

comp.robotics archives

You can find a dozen or more sites in the US, Europe and Japan that
store the FAQ and archives for comp.robotics by using the Internet
search programs, Archie or Wais

One location is
    location: wilma.cs.brown.edu:pub/comp.robotics/
    filenames: read and search AuthorIndex and SubjectIndex first.

New users on the net should read news.announce.newusers
____________________________________________________________________________
Robotics Related Organizations:

IEEE
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Service Center
445 Hoes Lane
Piscataway, NJ 08854-4150
[phone]
A large organization with hundreds of publications including journals,
transactions, Spectrum, sponsoring conferences, workshops and meetings.

Society of Manufacturing Engineers, (SME)
One SME Drive
PO Box 930
Dearborn, MI  48121
[phone]

American Society of Mechanical Engineers, (ASME)
345 E. 47th Street
New York, NY 10017
Mechanical Engineering magazine, like the IEEE's Spectrum, is an
excellent general publication on aspects of mechanical engineering.
There are often publications on robotics and the ASME sponsors a
number of other publications and conferences that are relevant to
robotics.

National Service Robots Association (NSRA)
900 Victors Way
PO Box 3724
Ann Arbor, MI 48106
[phone]
An organization devoted to robots other than on the factory floor.

Robotics Industry Association (RIA)
(same address as NSRA)

SPIE (The International Society for Optical Engineering)
P.O.Box 10
Bellingham, Washington 98227-0010.
SPIE has publications, meetings and conferences in the
field of intelligent robots, mobile robots, teleoperation,
machine vision, etc.

Utility/Manufacturer Robot Users group (UMRUG)
Contact:
Harry T. Roman
Principal Engineer - Research
MC: 16-H
Public Service Electric and Gas Company
80 Park Plaza
PO Box 570
Newark, NJ 07101
[phone]

Advanced Robot Technology Research Association (Japan)
Kikai-shinko Bldg
3-5-8 Shiba-Kohen, Minato-ku, Tokyo
[phone]
fax [phone]
Has joint research programs with member companies.
Members are 20 or so Japanese companies including:
Ishikawajima-Harima, Oki Electric, Kawasaki Heavy Industry, Kobe
Steel, Komatsu, Sumitomo Electric Industries, Toshiba, JGC, NEC,
Hitachi, Fanuc, Fujitsu, Fuji, Matshushita Research Institute, Mitsui,
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Electric, Yaskawa

Center for Autonomous and Man-controlled Robotic and Sensing Systems
Charles Jacobus, CAMRSS director
ERIM
PO Box 8618
Ann Arbor, MI 48107
[phone] X2457
Member companies include: Ball Aerospace, Coulter Electronics, ERIM,
Fairchild, Ford Aerospace, Geospectra, Grumman, Industrial Technology
Institute, KMS Fusion, Michigan State, UofM.

AIAA
American Insitute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
370 L'Enfant Promenade, SW
Washington, DC 20024
[phone]
Technical Information Service [phone]
Conferences and publications, several cover automation technologies
for servicing on the ground and in space as well as exploration.

__________________________________________________________________________
Robotics Conferences:

Proceedings should be available in most good libraries or by
interlibrary loan.

Annual Conference of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation
    May 2-7, 1993 at the Atlanta Hilton and Towers, Atlanta, Georgia
    Authors will be notified of acceptance by Jan 3, 1993
    Final papers due for proceedings by February 3, 1993

Second International BEAM Robot Olympics Competition:
Ontario Science Center, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
April 22-25, 1993

"The BEAM Robot Olympics is not so much a series of technological
competitions as a chance for robot enthusiasts to present their
designs to each other, the press, and the public.  It is also a open
forum for anyone who wants to get started in the field to compete and
compare.  Any and every robot will be considered so long as it does
not come from a kit or store.  Robots of similar ability will be
pitted against each other in simple competitions, but generally robots
will be judged on sophistication of behavior, novelty of design,
efficiency of power source, and quality of hardware."

Details will soon be posted.  On-line rules soon available.  There are
also two Robot Olympic Trial Games scheduled for this fall (in
Canada), but details will have to wait until September.
Contact: [e-mail]

Annual Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems

Annual Symposium on Industrial Robots

Biannual Symposium International Symposium of Robotics Research

Biannual Autonomous Intelligent Systems

American Association for Artificial Intellignece (AAAI)
    Probably the largest and most prestigious conference
on AI. Have begun to sponsor robot competitions at the annual
AAAI conference.

___________________________________________________________________________
Robotics Publications:

There are a number of academic journals and trade magazines devoted to
robotics.  There are no magazines currently devoted to the hobbyist or
designer of robotic mechanisms. In the 1980's Robotics Engineering
(nee Robotics Age) lasted for 7-8 years but folded. The one difficulty
I noted as a subscriber was the problem of addressing the hobbyist,
the curious and those whose work was devoted to robotics.

This list of periodical covers the academic journals, the trade
magazines devoted to both robotics and relevant sub-areas, and the
lone newsletter for hobbyists.

    The IEEE has a formidable array of journals, transactions and
magazines. Here are a few that are relevant to robotics work:

    IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation
    IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics
    IEEE Control Systems Magazine
    IEEE Computer Magazine
    IEEN Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence
    IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics
    Cost: Have to join IEEE and then subscribe. Student rates are
much less exensive than non-student rates.

    International Journal of Robotics & Automation
    Published by:
    ACTA Press
    P.O. Box 2481
    Anaheim, CA 92814
    U. S. A.
    Editor-in-chief: Professor T. C. Hsia
    Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
    University of California
    Davis, CA 95616

    International Journal of Robotics Research
    MIT Press
    28 Carleton Street
    Cambridge, MA 02142
    Cost: $50/year to individuals

    Journal of Intelligent & Robotic Systems
    Three issues per volume, $58.50 per volume (individual)
    Kluwer Academic Publishers Group
    PO Box 322,
    3300 AH Dordrecht,
    The Netherlands
    --in the US:
    PO Box 358
    Accord Station,
    Hingham, MA 02018-0358

    Journal of Robotic Systems
    G. Beni and S. Hackwood, editors
    College of Engineering
    University of California, Riverside
    Riverside, CA 92521-0425
    Publisher:
    Interscience Division
    Professional, Reference, and Trade Group
    John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
    605 Third Ave.
    New York, NY 10158

    Robotics Today
    Published by:
    Society of Manufacturing Engineers
    One SME Drive
    PO Box 930
    Dearborn, MI 48121
    [phone]

    Robotics World
    "The end-user's magazine of flexible automation"
    Published quarterly
    Communication Channels
    6255 Barfield Road
    Atlanta, GA 30328
    [phone]
    They also publish the Robotics World Directory $49.95

    Robot (Japanese)
    Industrial Robots and Application Systems
    published bimonthly
    Japan Industrial Robot Association (JIRA)
    Kikai-Shinko Building
    3-5-8, Shiba-Kohen,
    Mina To-ku
    Tokyo, Japan
    Tokyo [phone], fax [phone]

    Robotica
    International Journal of Information, Education and Research
    in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence
    Quarterly publication, US $179 per year!
    Cambridge University Press
    The Edinburgh Building
    Shaftesbury Road,
    Cambridge CB2 2RU (UK)
    in the US:
    Cambridge University Press
    Journals Department
    40 West 20th Street
    New York, NY 10011-4211

    Industrial Robot
    Quarterly, $145/year
    MCB University Press Ltd.
    62 Toller Lane
    Bradford, West Yorkshire
    England, BD8 9BY
    (44) 274 499821, fax [phone]
    --in the US
    MCB University Press Ltd.
    PO Box 10812
    Birmingham, AL 35201-0812
    [phone] (toll free US and Canada)

    Automation in Construction
    Publisher: Elsevier Science Publisher B. V., Amsterdam.
    Desk Editor: Erik de Vries
    The Editor of the journal is
    Dr. T. Michael Knasel
    10324 Lake Avenue
    Cleveland, OH 441102-1239.
    Fax. [phone].

Don't have addresses for:
    Advanced Robotics (in english)
    published by
    International Journal of the Robotics Society of Japan

    Robotics and Autonomous Systems

    Robotics and Computer Integrated Manufacturing

Useful and relevant trade magazines:

    Usually free, mostly ads or industry news. Many articles written by
    advertisers. Great sources of product information. Our lab at
    CMU receives 50-60 trade magazines and journals per month and while no
    one reads all of the articles and pointers are passed
    on to people around the lab. This keeps the group abreast of
    new products and developments.

    Sensors
    Helmers Publishing
    174 Concord Street
    PO Box 874
    Peterborough, NH 03458-0874
    [phone]
    Trade magazine devoted to sensing devices. Publishes annual directory.
    Cost: Free to qualified subscribers, $55/yr otherwise

    Advanced Imaging
    445 Broad Hollow Rd.
    Melville, NY 11747
    [phone] voice
    [phone] FAX
    Subscription free to qualified professionals, $50/yr otherwise.

    Machine Design
    Design News
    Motion Control
    GPS World
    RF Design
    Sea Technology
    Laser Focus
    POB (surveying profession)
    Broadcast Engineering (TV and radio engineering)
    Embedded Systems
    EE Times (news of the electronics industry)

Other extremely useful resources that every laboratory or company
should have are the Thomas Register and the EEM. The Thomas Register
is $250 for a complete set and they issue new ones every year. A cheap
investment for finding companies and parts.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Mobile robot companies:

There are a small number of companies targeting the research community
for the mobile robot market. TRC, RWI, Cybermotion and Denning have
all sold and are selling mobile devices for research and real
applications. A number of Automatic Guided Vehicle companies sell
their machines but their primary applications are factory operations.

Bell and Howell
Mailmobile Company
81 Hartwell Avenue
Lexington, MA 02173-3127
[phone]
  Mailmobiles were developed by Lear-Siegler in the mid-70's for the
  industrial cleaning market. They left this market and
  Bell & Howell, the audio-visual company,  was refocusing on office
  automation products and picked
  up this product from Lear-Siegler. There are three models of
  Mailmobile, the Packmobile, the Sprint and the Trailmobile. About 3000
  systems sold and about 2000 probably in operation. They use a chemical
  trail that floureseces under UV light. Payloads up to a couple of
  hundred kg.  Some systems have been operating for over 15 years.

Cybermotion
5457 Jae Valley Road
Roanoke, VA 24014
[phone]
  John Holland's company. Mobile K2 bases making use of ingenious
  torque-tube synchronous drive system. Security markets and research
  platforms, manipulators for base as well. Map building software too.

Denning Mobile Robotics Inc.
21 Concord Street
Wilmington, MA 01887
[phone]
  Mobile robots - synchronous drive bases for research platforms.
  Building automated camera platforms for newsrooms, working on
  floor cleaning machines with an industrial partner.
  Denning also has a number of products including a position scanner,
  and IR beacons.  A Denning floor scrubber is working in a post
  office in Pittsburgh, Denver and Washington, and at a UPS site.

IS Robotics
4353 Park Terrace Drive
Westlake Village, CA 91361 USA
email:  [e-mail]
phone:  [phone]
  Associated with ISX Robotics of Cambridge.
  T-1: tracked robot approx 50cm x 36cm. $5k
  R-2: Wheeled machine. Gripper with 7.5cm opening, 18cm lift, 1kg
       lift force. $7K
  Ghengis II: Six-legged machine with whisker bump sensors and force
        detection on legs. About $2k.
  Use the ubiquitous MC68HC11E2 microcontrollers. Robots include IR
  and bump sensing for obstacle detection. Pyro sensors and color
  camera with pan-tilt are optional.

mecos Robotics AG
Gutstrasse 38
8400 Winterthur
Switzerland
Telephone: int + (0)52 29 58 28
Telefax: int + (0)52 29 96 53
E-mail: [e-mail]
Contact: S. J. Vestli
  Company formed as a spin off of
  the Institute of Robotics, ETH (Swiss Federal Institute
  of Technology). "mecos Robotics" specialises in modular
  and adaptive robot manipulators and robot vehicles (mobile
  robots). All "mecos Robotics" systems uses the same type
  of controller, a VME based computer. This system comes
  with high level development tools, and for research
  institutions the systems have the advantage of being
  open. The overall goals of all "mecos Robotics" systems
  are flexility and modularity.
    The mobile robot program from "mecos Robotics" follows this
  principle. The physical size and the mechanical configuration
  can be altered. The standard configuration has three wheels
  with air tyres and independant suspension. One wheel is
  used for steering and propulsion (imagine a kids tricycle).
  The overall size is 0.7 m (W) * 1.0 m (L) * 0.5 m (H). The
  price depends on configuration and starts around the 70.000,-
  Swiss Franks mark.

Movit Robots
Available from:
Kelvin Electronics [phone]
Pitsco [phone]
Edmund Scientific (See Robot Parts Section)
 These are small toy-like robots that reflexively respond to
obstacles,  sounds or light depending on the model. They're cute and
show what can be done with a relatively small amount of hardware.

Nomadic Technologies
858 La Para Avenue
Palo Alto, CA 94306
[phone]
fax [phone]
  Mobile base and sensors (IR, Laser ranging, touch, GUI software
  development) $10K range.

Real World Interface (RWI)
P.O. Box 270
Dublin, NH 03444
[phone]
  Small synchronous drive bases, primarily for research purposes. Approx $6K

TRC
15 Great Pasture Road
Danbury, CT 06810
[phone]
  Labmate research platform - $7500, plus additional optional sensors
  etc. Other prodcuts for hospital markets and floor cleaning machines.
  (Helpmate and RoboKent respectively)

Yamazaki Construction Company, Tokyo Japan.
Intelligent Robot Lab
Kaika Building
2-7-1 Sotokanda
Chiyoda-ku 101 Tokyo
Japan
phone:  [phone]
  LR1 robot - small research robot, basically a VME cage on wheels with
  some ultrasonic sensors and a nice constant force suspension. Has
  shown up at IEEE R&A conferences $30K.

Robosoft, Asnieres, France

Odetics,
Anaheim, CA
  Six-legged, (pantograph) Walking machine.

Stiquito
A small nitinol-based mobile robot is available from Indiana
Univeristy in a technical report and as a kit. Send your request for
the report with payment to:

    Computer Science Department
    215 Lindley Hall
    Indiana University
    Bloomington, IN  47405

To receive the technical report only send $5.00 PRE-PAID and add ATTN:
TR363A to the address To receive the technical report and a kit
containing all materials needed to construct Stiquito and its manual
controller send US$15.00 PRE-PAID and add ATTN: TR 363a Squito Kit

Mondotronics
524 San Anselmo Ave.,
#107
San Anselmo, CA 94960
tel: [phone]
     [phone]
fax: [phone]
net: <[e-mail]>
A number of muscle wire (nitinol) projects including a small walking
machine.  Book and sample kit with 1m each of 50,100 and 150 um wire -
enough to build all 14 projects in book.

OWI
tel: [phone]
fax: [phone]
Small mechanical robots sold in many educational toy stores. All for
under $100.  Some machines walk, follow lines, react to sound, use
infra-red sensing. Nice stuff!

Angelus Research
6344 Sugar Pine Circle
Angelus Oaks, CA
tel: [phone]
A small differentially-steered mechanism (no casters!) utilizing a
68HC11 controller w/ 32K RAM and RS-232 interface. Four visible
collision sensors (range 3-12 inches depending on ambient light) and
two whiskers. On-board battery (Pb- acid and built in charger)
monitors current as well for stall current. Software included with
easy-to-use command set. A lot of features for a very affordable
device. $395, controller board available separately and basic kit
available for $325
_____________________________________________________________________________
Robot manipulator companies:

Adept Technology
150 Rose Orchard Way
San Jose, CA 95134
[phone]
fax [phone]
  High speed direct-drive and harmonic-drive SCARA style arms. 0.001"
  (.025mm) repeatabiliy. Payloads from 4-25kg Can be used in clean room
  and food applications as well. Adept sells vision systems and
  controllers also.

Antenen Research
PO Box 95
Hamilton, OH 45012
[phone]
[phone]
fax [phone]
  New and used robots for manufacturing, research and training.
  Used at savings of 40% - 70%. Also lots of parts and accessories.

CRS Plus,
POox 163, Station A
830 Harrington Court
Burlington, Ontario
Canada L7R 3Y2
[phone]
fax [phone]
  Sells several manipulators. 5-DOF around $25K, 6DOF around $33K.
  Sell end-effectors as well (electric, vacuum and penumatic)
  Wrist can be bought separately. Controllers use RAPL, a VAL-like
  language. Fairly open architecture. 3Kg payloads +/- 0.05mm
  repeatability.

Kraft Telerobotics

Microbot was bought out by the British company UMI two years ago. In May, 1991
they moved from Silicon Valley to Detroit, MI
    UMI Microbot
    12665 Richfield Ct.
    Livonia, MI  48150
    Phone [phone], -3276 (fax)

Motoman [Hobart/Yaskawa]
3160 MacArthur Boulevard
Northbrook, IL 60062-1917
[phone], fax [phone]
  Large industrial manipulators for welding, painting, palletizing,
  dispensing, etc. Can be floor, ceiling or wall mount units. Payloads
  for the 8 robots in the K-series range from 3kg to 100kg and
  repeatability of 0.1 to 0.5 mm over that same range. They are vertical
  jointed-arm type manipulators. (i.e. 4 bar linkage to reduce arm
  intertias). 3 S-series robots are SCARA-type manipulators with
  payloads of 50-60kg and varying workspace sizes

  Yaskawa also has bought the rights to RobotWorld, Vic Schienman's unique
  gantry design robot system. This system allow a number of mobile
  modules in the same workspace to zip around at speeds up 80"/sec (3G
  accel). RAIL and C can be used in a multilevel programming
  environment. 0.002" Accuracy, 0.0005" repeatability. Neat stuff.

Salisbury Robotics, Inc.
20 Pemberton St.
Cambridge, MA 02140
[phone]
  Sell the three-fingered Salisbury hand and force sensing fingertips.
  Contact: Ken Salisbury, email: <[e-mail]>

Schilling

Sony Corporation of America
Factory Automation Division
542 Route 303
Orangeburg, NY 10962
[phone]
fax [phone]
Several SCARA type manipulators including a double armed manipulator.
This model is used for the assembly of 8mm camcorders!

Zebra Robotics
Jeff Kerr
Menlo Park
[phone]
  Small manipulators with integral force control.

Sarcos Research Corporation
261 East 300 South Suite 150
Salt Lake City, Utah 84111
 Manufacturing is done by:
Animate Systems Inc.
1780 West 2300 South
Salt Lake City, Utah 84119
  Spinoff of University of Utah's Center for Engineering Design (CED).
  Teleoperated systems,  manipulators. Audio-animatronic work as well.
  Beautiful force reflecting work and systems. High performance and
  small hydraulic valves and actuators.

Asea Brown Boveri (ABB), Vesteraas, Sweden
ABB Robotics
2487 South Commerce Drive
New Berlin, WI 53151
[phone]
Now own Cinncinatti Milacron robotics group, Graco and Trallfa.

mecos Robotics AG
Gutstrasse 38
8400 Winterthur
Switzerland
tel: int + (0)52 29 58 28
fax: int + (0)52 29 96 53
E-mail: [e-mail]
Contact: E. Nielsen

Spin-off of the Institute of Robotics, ETH (Swiss Federal Institute of
Technology). modular and adaptive robot manipulators and robot
vehicles (mobile robots). All "mecos Robotics" systems use a VME based
computer as controller.  The system comes with high level development
tools, and are open systems.  The manipulator's mechanical
configuration can be changed at will (number and type of joints,
length of links, etc.)  Manipulators use linear aluminum extrusions
with integral motions for joints. The controller accounts for
configuration changes. With this principle of modularity and
flexibilty hybrid force / position controllers have been realised on
"mecos Robotics" arms. Price depending on configuration (50.000,-
Swiss Franks and upwards).

USA Robot
PO Box 4018
Portland, ME 04101
tel: [phone]

Maxym production robots for business. Simple accurate 3D linear
motions coupled with power tooling. Workspaces up to 2x4x.5 feet.
IBMPC software for designing parts and production paths. 2 mil/foot
accuracy. Units come with 3.25HP Porter- Cable router and vacuum foot.
This is not a machine like the giant production turning and routing
machines used by large furniture makers but is a nice small machine
for small production shops.

Zymark Corp
Hopkinton, MA
Robots for laboratory automation.

Western Space and Marine (WSM)
International Submarine Engineering (ISE)
Robotic Systems International (RSI)
Furukawa
Sumitomo
Chubu

_____________________________________________________________________________
Other organizations doing robotics:

Most large aerospace companies have groups working in or looking
into robotics. Martin Marietta (Denver), Rockwell International
(Downey, CA), Boeing (Seattle) to name a few.

Redzone Robotics
2425 Liberty Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15222-4639
[phone]
  A spin-off of CMU, Redzone has focused
  on hazwaste and nuke manipulator applications but is branching out into
  mobile applications. Primarily protoypes and not multiple unit manufacturing.

Advanced Robotics Research Centre, Salford, UK.  The Advanced.
Robotics Research Ltd (incorporating the National Advanced Robotics
Research Centre, UK) is a joint UK Government and UK Industries funded
research organisation involved in the research of enabling
technologies for the advanced robotics systems.

Vision Applications
NY, NY
  Small, low cost fovial camera systems. Development stages. Unique
  integrated, super small camera/pan/tilt device. Miniature active
  vision systems, video telephones.

Mechanical Engineering Lab (MEL)
Tsukuba City
  Kazuo Tanie: Robotics and cybernetics

--NASA Centers
Jet Propulsion Labs (JPL)
Pasadena, CA
  Hazardous-environment robots, teloperation, control, space and
  planetary missions.
  Tony Bejczy, Chuck Weisbin, Brian Wilcox, Larry Mathies,
  Henry Stone, David Miller

Ames Research Center (ARC)
Moffett Field, CA
Telepresence and virtual user interfaces, vision (optical and parallel
processing), free-flyers, task planning, agents.
Contact: Butler Hine III <[e-mail]>
    Terry Fong <[e-mail]>

Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
Greenbelt, MD 20771
Contact: Stepehn Leake <[e-mail]>
  Since the cancellation of the Flight Telerobotic Servicer (FTS), the Robotics
  Lab has been concentrating on work in the area of automated space craft
  servicing.  The goal is to replace or supplement Extra Vehicular Activity
  (EVA) with teleoperated or semiautonomous robotic systems for external
  vehicle maintenance. Current project includes a robot to assist in
  second Hubble servicing mission.

Johnson Space Center
Houston, TX
Contact: Charles Price
  More of an operations house but lots of shuttle RMS work. Becoming
central site for Artemis (lunar explorer) work.

Kennedy Space Center
Robotics Group
Contact: Bill Jones
  Like JSC, KSC is an operations house with responsibility to keep
  shuttles flying and integrate payloads. There is a small but
  growing robotics group that is emplacing ground support robotics
  applications. Recent work includes filter inspector for launch pad
  payload areas, shuttle radiator inspector and a mobile system for
  thermal protection system tasks.

Langley Research Center, (LaRC)
VA
Contact: Jack Pennington - vision, inspection, 3-D sensors

Southwest Research Institute
San Antonio, TX
Robotics and Automation Department
Some large systems for servicing aircraft (painting, spraying,
deriveting etc)

Oak Ridge National Lab
ORNL/CESAR
PO Box 2008, MS-6364
Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6364
[phone]
Contact: Alex L. Bangs <[e-mail]>
   Center for Engineering Systems Advanced Research (CESAR)

   Research in mobile and manipulator robotics, including redundant
   and multiple manipulators, cooperating mobile robots, parallel
   vision systems, sensor fusion, real-time quantitative reasoning
   and behavior based control, and machine learning. Current
   applications include robots for nuclear power stations,
   environmental restoration and waste management, material
   handling, and space exploration.
   Researchers: Alex Bangs, Marty Beckerman, Judd Jones, Reinhold Mann,
     Ed Oblow, Francois Pin, Michael Unseren

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Graduate Program in Robotics:

Any good four-year school undoubtedly offers robotics courses within
engineering programs. Departments of mechanical and electrical
engineering and computer srcience are all good candidates for
coursework in Robotics. However, a number of schools have established
track records and a focus on robotics and those are listed here.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
  Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science both have strong
  robotics efforts. Asada, Slotine, Brooks, Raibert and others
  are known and respected for their work in direct-drive arm, control
  techniques, architectures, running machines etc.

Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)
  The Robotics Institute is a 150 person organization that offers
  a PhD in Robotics but students from other programs (engineering and
  computer science mostly) do research in the Institute as well. Lots
  of mobile robot work, computer integrated manufacturing, rapid
  prototyping, sensors, vision, navigation, learning and architectures.
  Program is taking taking qualifiers and a program of research leading to
  a thesis and the degree.

  Facilities include about 10 mobile systems with more under design and
  construction. Many manipulator systems and lots of compute
  cycles/person.
  The Institute will be starting an MS program as well.
    Takeo Kanade - Vision and Autonomous Systems Center
    Pradeep Khosla - Advanced Manipulator Laboartory
    Matt Mason - Manipulation Laboratory
    Tom Mitchell - Learning Robots Lab
    Hans Moravec - Mobile Robots Lab
    Mel Seigel - Sensors Laboratory (non vision)
    Steve Shafer - Calibrated Imaging Laboratory
    Red Whittaker - Field Robotics Center
    and many others.....
  Graduate program contact:
  Graduate Admissions Coordinator
  The Robotics Institute
  Carnegie Mellon University
  Pittsburgh, PA 15213

University of Pennsylvania.
  UPenn offers Masters and PhD programs in Robotics and Robotics related
  fields of study. These programs are offered through the Departments of
  Computer and Information Science, Systems Engineering, and Mechanical
  Engineering and Applied Mechanics. The bulk of the robotics research
  is conducted in the inter-disciplinary General Robotics and Active
  Sensory Perception (GRASP) laboratory. Active areas of research are
  Telerobotics, Multiple Arm Control, Robotic Vision, Leanring Control,
  Multi-agent Robotics and Mechanical Design. Leding Faculty members
  are Drs. R. Bajcsy and R.P. Paul.

University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI
  Artificial Intelligence Lab (Elec. Eng. and CS) relevant to robotics
  includes machine vision, systems and control, multiple cooperating
  agents (arms and mobile), and application of SOAR to robots (arms and
  mobile). (in conjunction with SOAR groups at CMU and elsewhere)

North Carolina State Univerisity
Raleigh, NC
  Professor Ren Luo
  [phone]

Stanford University
  Palo Alto, CA
  Mechanical Engineering:
    Bernard Roth (kinematics of manipulators)
    Mark Cutkosky: destrous manipulation and concurrent manufacturing
    Larry Liefer (rehabilitation, user interfaces)
  CS Department:
    Nils Nilsson
    Mike Genesereth
    Jean-Claude Latombe (path planning and geometric reasoning)
    Leo Guibas (geometric reasoning)
    Tom Binford (vision)
    Yoav Shoham (agents)
    Oussama Khatib
  Aerospace Robotics Laboratory:
    Bob Cannon (teleoperation, free flyers, space robotics,
    flexible manipulators)

University of Southern California (USC)
  Long history of robotics with interested faculty in CS, EE, ME, and ISE.
  People include:
    George Bekey - founder of IEEE R&A
    Michael Arbib - head Brain Simulation Laboratory
    Ram Nevatia - Computer Vision Laboratory
    Ari Requicha - Programmable Automation Laboratory
  About twenty other faculty member associated with the Institute for
  Robotics and Intelligent Systems and many others associated with
  USC's Information Sciences Institute (ISI).
  Brochure can be obtained from:
    Ken Goldberg, Asst Professor
    IRIS, Dept of Computer Science
    Powell Hall Room 204
    University of Southern California
    Los Angeles, CA 90089-0273
    Internet: [e-mail]

University of Maryland
  Space Systems Laboratory. Large Neutral Bouyancy Tank,
  teleoperations research,
    Dave Akin - director
  Dave has flown shuttle experiments.

New York University (NYU)
  Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences.
    Richard Wallace - vision

Yale University - Vision and Robotics Group
  There is a broad spectrum of research activities in vision and robotics at
  Yale.  The members of this group include faculty from Computer Science,
  Electrical Engineering, Psychology, Neuroscience, and the Yale Medical
  School. Active areas of research include machine vision, human and computer
  object recognition, geometric reasoning, mobile robotics, sensor-based
  manipulation, control of highly dynamic nonlinear systems, planning, and
  learning.  There is also a wide spectrum of interdisciplinary work
  integrating robotics and machine vision.
Faculty:
  James S. Duncan: Geometric/physical models for analysing biomedical images.
  Gregory D. Hager: Sensor-based/task-directed decision-making and planning.
  David J. Kriegman: Model-based object recognition, mobile robot navigation.
  Drew McDermott: Planning and scheduling reactive behavior, knowledge
    representation, cognitive mapping.
  Eric Mjolsness: Neural network approaches to vision and visual memory.
  Dan Koditschek: Application of dynamical systems theory to machine dexterity.
  Pat Sharpe: Computational models of hippocampal spatial learning.
  Michael J. Tarr: Behavioral and computational approaches to visual cognition.
  Kenneth Yip: Automated reasoning about complex dynamical systems.

University of Wisconsin-Madison
Mechanical Engineering & Electrical Engineering:
   Roland Chin         - machine vision, pattern recognition
   Neil Duffie         - teleoperation, autonomous systems, sensors
   Robert Lorenz       - actuators and sensors, robot control algorithms
   Vladimir Lumelsky   - motion planning, real-time sensing and navigation
Computer Science:
   Charles Dyer        - machine vision
Wisconsin Center for Space Robotics and Automation (WCSAR) -
   Interdepartmental NASA center: work is done on various applications
   of robotic systems for space.

California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
  Pasadena, CA
    Joel Burdick - serpentine manipulation, control

Rennsalear Polytechnic Institute (RPI)-?
  Center for Intelligent Robotic Systems for Space Exploration (CIRSSE)
    George Saridis
    Arthur Sanderson
    Jon Wenn
  Appro. 20 PhD and 30 MS students working in the center. Path
  planning and multi-arm control are current focus.

University of Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah 84112
Steve Jacobsen
Center for Engineering Design
3176 MEB
Hands, manipulators, biomedical applications, teleoperation
Micro electro-mechanical systems design.

Purdue
 Avi Kak: Vision and mobile robots
 Antti Koivo: Manipulation
 Mirek Skibiniewski: Construction Robotics

University of Kentucky
Center for Robotics and Manufacturing Systems
(founded 1990)

University of Alberta
Center for Machine Intelligence and Robotics

University of Wisconsin
Center for Space Automation and Robotics (WCSAR)

University of Kansas
Space Technology Center (Telerobotics)

University of Paris
  INRIA (Nice) just started a Phd program in Robotics.

University of California at Berkeley
Faculty in Robotics at UC Berkeley
Dept. of EE&CS:
Prof. J. Canny: motion planning
Prof. R. Fearing: tactile sensing, dextrous manipulation
Prof. J. Malik: computer vision
Prof. S. Sastry: multi-fingered hands, control

Dept. of Optometry/EE&CS:
Prof. L. Stark: telerobotics

Dept. of Mechanical Engineering:
Prof. R. Horowitz: control of robotic manipulators
Prof. H. Kazerooni: man-robotic systems
Prof. M. Tomizuka: control of robotic manipulators
Richard Muller - micro mechanisms

Harvard
    Roger Brockett

Oxford
    Oxford has a large robotics group. Mobile robots, path planning etc.
    Mike Brady director

Salford University, UK
Advanced Robotics Research Centre
  Ultrasonic wrist sensor for collision avoidance
  Controller design
  Stereo Vision
Dr Francis Nagy
  Speech Control of a Puma-560
  Control of an 'Inverted Pendulum'
  Miniature tactile sensors

Reading University, UK
  Prof Kevin Warwick
  Using Neural Nets in Robotics
  Novel control algorithms

Bristol Polytechnic, UK
 Mr Khodlebandelhoo
  Bi arm research
  Path planning for redundant robots
  Wall climbing robots

Hull University, UK
  Prof Alan Pugh
  Garment Manufacturing
  Arm/controller design

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
  The Institute of Robotics
  Postgrad diploma in Mechatronics
The Institute of Robotics at the Swiss Federal Institute of
Technology (ETH) constitutes about 40 members of staff (including
Ph.D. students). The main research theme is Intelligent
Interactive Mechines. That is to say developing intelligent
robots that in cooperation with man solves difficult tasks.
The institute takes its students from the departments of
Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Computer
Science. Robotics lectures and project work is offered to
undergraduate students. In addition there is the "Nachdiplom"
in mechatronics (somewhere near a M.Sc.) where robotics is
a central theme. For further details on the "Nachdiplom" see
below. Finally there are about 30 Ph.D. students curently
registered working on a variety of themes and projects.
Institute facilities include: several different robot arms
including the in house developed modular robot arm (MODRO),
mobile vehicles including the in house developed modular
mobile robot, walking machines, supercomputing facilities,
dedicated vision and signal processing hardware, etc.

The head of the group is Professor G. Schweitzer.
Address:
  Institute of Robotics
  ETH-Center, LEO,
  8092 Zurich
  Switzerland
  telephone: [phone] (secretary)
  telefax: (01) 252 02 76.

The "Nachdiplom" in mechatronics runs over two semesters plus
three months project/thesis work. The lectures covers:
robotics, mobile robotics, micro robots, computer based
kinematics and dynamics of multibody systems, control
theory, magnetic bearings, real time software techniques,
information processing with neural networks, computer
vision, and artificial intelligence. The fees are 2400,-
Swiss Franks, founding is available. Contact:
  H.-K. Scherrer
  Mechatronics postgraduate course
  ETH-Centre, LEO B3
  8092 Zurich
  Switzerland
  email: [e-mail]

Cornell
  Ithaca, NY
  Mechanical Engineering
    Sam Landsberger
    Jeff Koechling
    Bruce Donald

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