Daniel Lofaro in Robots in Depth #10 Sponsor: Aptomica.com Host: Per Sjöborg

In this talk

1. 0:40

   Collaborative robots share space with people

   Lofaro sees cobots as a way to automate physical tasks while people work alongside robots. Unlike caged industrial robots, cobots use more compliant actuators so they can give when pushed and share workspace with people.

2. 3:05

   Lower costs and useful applications can build demand

   Lofaro identifies AI and hardware cost as major barriers: software should be open source, while robots need to become affordable through mass production. He imagines a $10,000 to $20,000 robot that can handle household tasks, supported by a shared platform where developers can sell task-specific apps. More units could also bring down costs and reveal problems through user feedback.

3. 12:10

   Shared standards could make robotics easier to build on

   Lofaro compares robotics with the early internet and argues that common standards helped the internet grow. He says ROS has built a useful community, but in his view it lacks real-time guarantees and compatibility across versions. He calls for a common robotics platform with drivers, motion planning, and support for different hardware, and points to DARPA’s investment in Gazebo as an example of focused funding advancing an open-source tool.

4. 24:56

   Materials and humanoid designs may broaden use

   Lofaro says stronger, lighter materials could reduce the power and battery capacity robots need; he notes that a Hubo robot can move for less than 45 minutes. He argues that humanoids could work across more settings because the human-built world has doors, switches, and tools designed for people. He also describes prices falling from about $1 million for a 2008 humanoid to under $400,000 for a comparable robot in 2016.