Cloud Robotics: Instant Scalability & Capability

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What if you could instantly download a new set of skills simply by plugging your brain directly into the Internet? This “Matrix like” capability will soon be a reality for robots, creating scalable machines without the limitations of onboard memory and software. In the cloud-based future, robots will take advantage of the Internet as a resource for massively parallel computation and real-time sharing of resources. Aided by “The Internet of Things”, “Networked robots” will leverage the broad availability of networking and incorporation of open-source, open-access, and crowdsourcing to extend previous concepts and capabilities through access to a global library of images, maps, and object data -- while performing analysis and learning. As a result, cloud robots have the potential to become aware than oblivious, more social than solitary, and more like companions than tools. Part of the IEEE Technology for Humanity Series.

Presenters

Anthony Levandowski

Google

Anthony Levandowski is a tech lead for Google’s self-driving car project, where he oversees laser development and legislative efforts.

He joined Google in 2007 to launch Street View, a technology featured in Google Maps and Google Earth, which provides panoramic views from positions all over the world.

After building Street View, Levandowski spearheaded the effort to mine Street View imagery and create the road network database that powers Google Maps, enabling for the first time free turn-by-turn navigation on all mobile phones. Before that, he founded 510 Systems, a developer of mobile mapping and surveying technology.

As a graduate student at the University of California at Berkeley, Levandowski led the team that created the world’s first autonomous motorcycle, Ghostrider, which competed in a 2005 contest sponsored by the military’s DARPA. Ghostrider now resides at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.

Levandowski has an MS and BS from UC Berkeley in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research.

Ayorkor Korsah

Asst Professor

Ashesi University College

Ayorkor Korsah is an Assistant Professor in Computer Science at Ashesi University, Ghana and a co-founder of the African Robotics Network (AFRON). She completed her Ph.D. work in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence at Carnegie Mellon University. Her research and professional interests range from designing algorithms for robotics planning and coordination to exploring the role of technology in education in developing communities.

James Kuffner

Engineering Mgr at Google

Google

James Kuffner is a Staff Research Scientist at Google and an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University. He received a Ph.D. from the Stanford University Dept. of Computer Science Robotics Laboratory in 1999. He was a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Tokyo working on software and planning algorithms for humanoid robots. He joined the faculty at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute in 2002. He has published over 100 technical papers and received the Okawa Foundation Award for Young Researchers in 2007.

James Kuffner joined Google in 2009 as an early member of the software team developing the Google Self-driving Cars. He later co-founded and led Google's research team that brings high-fidelity 3D interactive content to Google Shopping, Ads, and Search. He coined the term "Cloud Robotics" and is currently helping to lead a new team within Google focused on Robotics technology.

Ken Goldberg

Professor Industrial Engineering & Operations Research, with appointments in EECS, Information, & Art

University of California at Berkeley

Ken Goldberg is a roboticist and artist. At UC Berkeley, he serves as craigslist Distinguished Professor of New Media, with primary appointment in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research (IEOR), and secondary appointments in Electrical Engineering/Computer Science (EECS), Art Practice, the School of Information, and in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the UCSF Medical School. With his students and colleagues, Ken has published over 170 peer-reviewed technical papers on algorithms for robotics, automation, and social information filtering. Ken is Founding Director of UC Berkeley's Art, Technology, and Culture Lecture Series and Faculty Director of the CITRIS Data and Democracy Initiative. Ken earned dual degrees (summa cum laude) in Electrical Engineering and Economics from the University of Pennsylvania, and MS and PhD degrees from Carnegie Mellon University. He lives in the Bay Area with his daughters and wife, filmmaker and Webby Awards founder Tiffany Shlain. His Erdos-Bacon number is 6.