Academic Leaders in Robotics Research Announce Effort to Create National
Strategy for Robotics Growth
Carnegie Mellon News (04/24/08) Watzman,
Anne; Spice, Byron; Grovenstein, Lisa Ray

Carnegie Mellon University
is one of 11 universities that is developing an integrated national strategy for
robotics research. The initiative, backed by the Computing Community Consortium
(CCC), will establish a unified robotics research agenda for federal agencies,
industry and universities. The United States is the only nation involved in
advanced robotics research without such a roadmap. Carnegie Mellon Robotics
Institute director Matthew T. Mason says the failure of the robotics community
to previously establish a single voice has resulted in inconsistent funding and
missed opportunities. The effort, launched last year, includes representatives
from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,
Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the universities
of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, California-Berkeley, Southern California, Utah
and Illinois. CCC principal investigator Henrik I. Christensen, the chair of
robotics at Geor gia Tech, is leading the group in the development of the
roadmap with involvement from the industry. This spring, the CCC will host a
series of workshops and in the fall a National Robotics Senior Leadership
Conference will be held in Washington, D.C. "It is essential that the United
States begins to solidly outline a leadership position in robotics," says
Carnegie Mellon President Jared L. Cohon.
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