Roboburgh Robotics represents the sizzle that goes with the steak of factory and process automation http://www.post-gazette.com/businessnews/20030218forummorris0218bnp4.asp

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

http://www.post-gazette.com/businessnews/20030218forummorris0218bnp4.asp

The Private Sector: Roboburgh Robotics represents the sizzle that goes with
the steak of factory and process automation



Tuesday, February 18, 2003

By James H. Morris

Many thanks to George Miles and the Image Gap team for raising the important
question of Pittsburgh's identity. The team is clearly hitting on the key
elements that distinguish Pittsburghers -- our creative spirit,
inventiveness and work ethic.

I'm a native Pittsburgher, so native in fact that one of my ancestors was
allegedly a local Indian princess named Madame Montour. My family has seen
Pittsburgh through many phases of industrial development -- fur trading,
glass making, whiskey, steel and pickles.

Pittsburghers have historically found their identity and their place in the
world in what they make and do. My guess is we always will. Luckily, as in
the days of Carnegie, Heinz and Westinghouse, we are again shaping new
products and technologies that can change the world.

A case in point is robotics. Back in 1999, The Wall Street Journal
identified Pittsburgh as one of the nation's top 13 centers of high
technology. They dubbed our city "Roboburgh," in part because of the
groundbreaking work in robotics research done at Carnegie Mellon University.

There is definitely a lot more to robotics than R2D2. Robotics plays a role
whenever computers deal directly with the real, physical world -- sensing
movement, smelling chemicals, moving freight or driving vehicles.

James H. Morris of Squirrel Hill is dean of the School of Computer Science
at Carnegie Mellon University.

One of Pittsburgh's most successful new companies is McKesson Automation,
which sells a system that mechanically dispenses medicines in hospitals in
order to eliminate human error. In other words, robotics represents the
"sizzle" that goes with the "steak" of factory and process automation, a
huge continuing enterprise that accelerates as computers become ubiquitous.

There is much under way here already. A host of small, new robotics firms
dot our landscape. The Department of Defense's Future Combat Systems program
leans heavily on our region for new ideas and technologies, and we can
expect similar calls for technical assistance from the Department of
Homeland Security. The Pittsburgh Regional Alliance and the National Center
for Defense Robotics are pursuing these opportunities.

Silicon Valley and other high-tech centers have generally ignored robotics
because there was easier money to be made in simple computer technology and
the Internet. It is easy to create a new Web-based office service; it is
hard to make something work autonomously in the mud. With the bursting of
the high-tech bubble has come a realization that the future of high-tech
will look like all other technology developments: a long, painstaking
refitting of our industrial infrastructure using the new technology. The
computer industry's motto is changing from "cheaper, faster, better" to
"Let's get physical!" -- make computers work in the real world.

While Pittsburgh companies work on the hard problems of digitizing industry,
we can attract interest to our city by focusing on the glitzier aspects of
robotics. 

Quiz: What Pittsburgh sports team won three world championships in the last
decade? Answer: Carnegie Mellon's Robotic Soccer Teams!

Playing on an international stage against teams from all over the world,
Carnegie Mellon's small, wheeled robots and Sony Aibo legged robots have
been bringing home the gold in the International RoboCup Federation's annual
competitions since 1997. Prior to this year's main event in Italy, Carnegie
Mellon will be hosting the first American Open robotics competition on
campus from April 30 to May 4. The event will be open to the public.

In addition to promoting our city's expertise, we are furthering the aim of
the RoboCup Federation, which is to produce a team of artificially
intelligent robotic soccer players that can beat the human world champs by
2050.

The job growth potential from robotics is not just limited to new design and
production opportunities. Our growing prominence in robotics could be a big
spark to our tourism and convention industry. The Carnegie Science Center
has a robotics exhibit that has been touring the country for several years,
showing off locally created technology and educating thousands of people at
other science centers.

Imagine Pittsburgh as home to a robotics Hall of Fame. With exhibits of
robots, continually updated to reflect the state of the art, it could draw
children and adults from all over the world to meet up with C3PO and learn
about new devices that could improve their health care or combat terrorism.

Robotics plays an even more important role in education. Through classes,
demonstrations and competitions for middle school and high school students,
robotics turns engineering and science into something tangible. By building
robots, students learn mechanics, computer skills and project management.
Robotics truly has the potential to become the fourth "R" in K-12 education.

Robotics began at Carnegie Mellon in 1979 with a grant from the Westinghouse
Corp. Maybe the technological DNA of George Westinghouse still lives out
there somewhere in a Pittsburgh robot.

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