William D. Smart on “The Robot Revolution has been Rescheduled (until we can debug the sensors)”: Technical Aspects of Robotics

On March 31, We Robot 2016 will host four workshops designed by experts to help people from other disciplines get up to speed in their specialty. We hope these workshops will be attended by people who want to learn about the topics, and by people willing to share their expertise with both experts and neophytes.

We talk about robots all the time, but do we really know what a robot is? What can they do? What do they have difficulty doing? Will they rise up and kill all humans? In this workshop, we’ll discuss what’s hard about building robots and getting them to work in the real world. We’ll look at current robotic technologies, and what the current and near-future limits of these technologies are. To hammer the point home, we’ll build a complete mobile robot during the workshop, get it to do a simple task, and laugh at it when it fails. We’ll also play around with a robot speed camera, and see if we can trick it into not giving us a speeding ticket. The goal of the workshop is to give you an insight into the mechanical minds (and eyes and arms and legs) of robots, and a realistic understanding of what they can currently do, and what they might be able to do in the near future.

William D. Smart will join We Robot 2016 to hold a workshop on “The Robot Revolution has been Rescheduled (until we can debug the sensors)”: Technical Aspects of Robotics on Thursday, March 31st at 2:00 PM at the University of Miami Newman Alumni Center in Coral Gables, Florida. Bill Smart is an Associate Professor at Oregon State University, where he co-directs the Robotics program.  He holds a Ph.D. and Sc.M. in Computer Science from Brown University, an M.Sc. in Intelligent Robotics from the University of Edinburgh, and a B.Sc. (hons) in Computer Science from the University of Dundee.  Prior to moving to Oregon State in 2012, he was an Associate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, with a courtesy appointment in Biomedical Engineering, at Washington University in St. Louis.  His research interests cover the fields of human-robot interaction, machine learning, and mobile robotics.  His recent work has focused on how robots and robotic technologies can be used for people with severe motor disabilities.  He is particularly proud of his Erdős (3), and his Bacon number (also 3).