The robotics industry is experiencing exponential growth worldwide and stands poised to become one of the most exciting and expansive markets for technology in the twenty-first century. According to an article in Korea.net, in 2007 the global market for robots grew by 18.9 percent to an estimated $8.12 billion with the markets for manufacturing and service robots registering growth at $5.89 billion and $2.23 billion, respectively. The industry for service robots, including humanoid robots, is hard to estimate because it is in the early stages of development, but analysts forecast that the market will be worth between $17 billion and $50 billion by 2012; the largest concentrations of activity are presently in Japan and Korea—two of the major leaders in the production of service robots.
In order to prepare for the global future in humanoid robotics, consideration must be given to professional training opportunities for acquiring the scientific and technical skills and resources necessary to become leaders in this developing industry. Traditional disciplinary boundaries have often created scholarly niches and prevented cross-currents of research collaboration. The field of humanoid robotics, on the other hand, is extensively and unavoidably multidisciplinary and has interrelations to a host of new horizon technologies that were practically unknown just a decade ago: neurobioengineering, neuromorphic engineering, and nanoelectromechanical systems to name a few. While conventional training approaches to robotics have often focused on the primary disciplines between electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and computer science and AI, the paradigm has shifted and more focused attention must be given to new forms of integrated technologies that can be leveraged and incorporated into the design of sophisticated robots.
One field that has recently emerged as a valuable domain for robotics research is neuromorphic engineering. The term “neuromorphic” was coined in the late 1980s as a means to describe VSLI circuits containing electronic analog circuits that could be employed to imitate neurobiological architectures present in the nervous system of animals and humans. In design intentions, neuromorphic engineering focuses on studying biological systems and then using research gathered to design artificial control systems such as robots and other electronic devices. The relationship between neuromorphic engineering and robotics is spelled out nicely in the following description taken from University of Maryland’s program in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science:
“Neuromorphic engineering takes inspiration from the signal processing structures found in the brain and physical attributes of animals to design new computers and robots capable of the amazing sensorimotor feats seen in nature. From neurons to behavior, the low-power, robust, real-time, and adaptive nature of biological systems serves as a proof-of-concept of the unique implementation developed by evolution. These principles have been applied to software models of sensory processing, VLSI implementations of neural circuits, and robot design.”
While the emergence of the neuromorphic engineering as a discrete industry is a recent phenomenon, there already exist a growing number of resources available for professionals in the field. The INE, or Institute of Neuromorphic Engineering, provides a forum through which practitioners in the field can network, engage with, and exchange researches through conferences, publications, and other forms of discourse. A May, 2006 article in IEEE Spectrum provides an important assessment of the field up to that time and gives a list of leading researchers and their contributions.
Practical applications of neuromorphic engineering design are emerging in the robotics industry. For example, Iguana Robotics offers a design platform for “Neuromorphic Chip Solutions,” which the company offers to produce for implementation into a variety of applications. According to the site, “Neuromorphic Engineering seeks [to] understand principles used by the nervous system and encode them into low power chips. Iguana can assist in the development of chip solutions with applications in the toy, consumer electronics, and medical applications.”
There are many exciting prospects for the field of neuromorphic engineering and especially for how this emerging industry will transform the way we think about the design and implementation of humanoid robots. Stay tuned as forthcoming posts will address the various new technologies that have emerged in recent years dealing with the intersections between neurobiological systems, engineering, AI, and robotics.
Tags: future of robotics, human robot interaction, humanoid robot, Institute of Neuromorphic Engineering
