Call for Participation: Autonomous Robot Ontology Study Group (AuR)

IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS) Autonomous Robot Ontology Study Group (AuR) invites your participation in the development of the autonomous robot ontology standard.

http://www.ieee-ras.org/industry-government/standards/autonomous-robotics-group

Why Get Involved

The IEEE published the  IEEE 1872-2015 standard for “Ontologies for Robotics and Automation” that provides a methodology for knowledge representation and reasoning in robotics and automation (R&A). The developed standard was even recognized by the White House in the National AI strategic plan (page 32)

https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/whitehouse_files/microsites/ostp/NSTC/national_ai_rd_strategic_plan.pdf

The AuR is a subgroup of the IEEE Ontologies for Robotics and Automation Working Group. The AuR subgroup’s goal is to extend the core ontology for R&A, to represent more specific concepts and axioms commonly used in autonomous robots. The developed ontology represents the knowledge and reasoning needed to build autonomous systems that can operate in the air, on the ground and underwater. Over eighty active group members come from North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa, representing stakeholders in academia, industry, and governments.

Creating a standard for knowledge representation and reasoning in autonomous robotics will have a significant impact on all R&A domains, including knowledge transmission among autonomous robots and humans. This will result in improved autonomy of autonomous systems, which will have considerable impact on how robots interact with humans. As a result, the use of autonomous robots by humans will further benefit our society. Another remarkable aspect is related to enhanced integration capabilities this standard can forster, which will allow a smooth knowledge sharing among heterogeneous robotics systems besides the enhancement in the possibilities of cooperatively perform tasks.

Who Should Participate

The following professionals interested in robotics technologies are encouraged to participate:

• Policy makers
• Academic researchers
• Developers, designers and engineers
• R&A Industry experts

How to Participate

• The AuR had a kick-off meeting at 2016 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2016) in Daejeon, Korea.
• The AuR will organize a workshop at the 2017 ACM/IEEE Conference on Human–Robot Interaction (HRI 2017) in Vienna, Austria, March 6–9, 2017.
• If you wish to participate in the AuR Study Group, please contact Dr. Howard Li, ECE, UNB (howard@unb.ca) for more information.