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Article
Publication date: 1 December 2004

Jon Rigelsford

93

Abstract

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Industrial Robot: An International Journal, vol. 31 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-991X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 July 2021

Joanne Pransky

The following article is a “Q&A interview” conducted by Joanne Pransky of Industrial Robot Journal as a method to impart the combined technological, business and personal…

Abstract

Purpose

The following article is a “Q&A interview” conducted by Joanne Pransky of Industrial Robot Journal as a method to impart the combined technological, business and personal experience of a prominent, robotic industry PhD and innovator regarding his pioneering efforts. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

The interviewee is Dr Nabil Simaan, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science and Otolaryngology at Vanderbilt University. He is also director of Vanderbilt’s Advanced Robotics and Mechanism Applications Research Laboratory. In this interview, Simaan shares his unique perspective and approaches on his journey of trying to solve real-world problems in the medical robotics area.

Findings

Simaan received his BSc, MSc and PhD in mechanical engineering from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. He served as Postdoctoral Research Scientist in Computer Science at Johns Hopkins University. In 2005, he joined Columbia University, New York, NY, as an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering until 2010, when he joined Vanderbilt. His current applied research interests include synthesis of novel robotic systems for surgical assistance in confined spaces with applications to minimally invasive surgery of the throat, natural orifice surgery, cochlear implant surgery and dexterous bimanual microsurgery. Theoretical aspects of his research include robot design and kinematics.

Originality/value

Dr Simaan is a leading pioneer on designing robotic systems and mechanisms for medical applications. Examples include technologies for snake robots licensed to Intuitive Surgical; technologies for micro-surgery of the retina, which led to the formation of AURIS Surgical Robotics; the insertable robotic effector platform (IREP) single-port surgery robot that served as the research prototype behind the Titan Medical Inc. Sport (Single Port Orifice Robotic Technology). Simaan received the NSF Career award for young investigators to design new algorithms and robots for safe interaction with the anatomy. He has served as the Editor for IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Robotics, Editorial Board Member of Robotica, Area Chair for Robotics Science and Systems and corresponding Co-chair for the IEEE Technical Committee on Surgical Robotics. In January 2020, he was bestowed the award of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Fellow for Robotics Advancements. At the end of 2020, he was named a top voice in health-care robotics by technology discovery platform InsightMonk and market intelligence firm BIS Research. Simaan holds 15 patents. A producer of human capital, his education goal is to achieve the best possible outcome with every student he works with.

Details

Industrial Robot: the international journal of robotics research and application, vol. 48 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-991X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 January 2022

Yu-Hui Wang and Guan-Yu Lin

The purposes of this paper are (1) to explore the overall development of AI technologies and applications that have been demonstrated to be fundamentally important in the…

Abstract

Purpose

The purposes of this paper are (1) to explore the overall development of AI technologies and applications that have been demonstrated to be fundamentally important in the healthcare industry, and their related commercialized products and (2) to identify technologies with promise as the basis of useful applications and profitable products in the AI-healthcare domain.

Design/methodology/approach

This study adopts a technology-driven technology roadmap approach, combined with natural language processing (NLP)-based patents analysis, to identify promising and potentially profitable existing AI technologies and products in the domain of AI healthcare.

Findings

Robotics technology exhibits huge potential in surgical and diagnostics applications. Intuitive Surgical Inc., manufacturer of the Da Vinci robotic system and Ion robotic lung-biopsy system, dominates the robotics-assisted surgical and diagnostic fields. Diagnostics and medical imaging are particularly active fields for the application of AI, not only for analysis of CT and MRI scans, but also for image archiving and communications.

Originality/value

This study is a pioneering attempt to clarify the interrelationships of particular promising technologies for application and related products in the AI-healthcare domain. Its findings provide critical information about the patent activities of key incumbent actors, and thus offer important insights into recent and current technological and product developments in the emergent AI-healthcare sector.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. 52 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 June 2000

George K. Chako

Briefly reviews previous literature by the author before presenting an original 12 step system integration protocol designed to ensure the success of companies or countries in…

7203

Abstract

Briefly reviews previous literature by the author before presenting an original 12 step system integration protocol designed to ensure the success of companies or countries in their efforts to develop and market new products. Looks at the issues from different strategic levels such as corporate, international, military and economic. Presents 31 case studies, including the success of Japan in microchips to the failure of Xerox to sell its invention of the Alto personal computer 3 years before Apple: from the success in DNA and Superconductor research to the success of Sunbeam in inventing and marketing food processors: and from the daring invention and production of atomic energy for survival to the successes of sewing machine inventor Howe in co‐operating on patents to compete in markets. Includes 306 questions and answers in order to qualify concepts introduced.

Details

Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, vol. 12 no. 2/3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-5855

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 August 2014

Joanne Pransky

The purpose of this article is to present a “Q&A interview” conducted by Joanne Pransky of the Industrial Robot Journal as a method to impart the combined technological, business…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to present a “Q&A interview” conducted by Joanne Pransky of the Industrial Robot Journal as a method to impart the combined technological, business and personal experience of a prominent, robotic industry engineer-turned entrepreneur regarding the evolution, commercialization and challenges of bringing a technological invention to market.

Design/methodology/approach

The interviewee is Professor Moshe Shoham, Director of the Robotics Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology. Professor Shoham is also the Founder of Mazor Robotics Ltd. and the co-founder of Microbot Medical. As a pioneer of new and developing fields in medical robotics, Shoham describes his major advancements and innovative approaches.

Findings

Professor Moshe Shoham has BSc in Aeronautical Engineering, MSc and DSc in Mechanical Engineering from Technion, where he has been teaching for the past nearly 30 years, and is currently the Tamara and Harry Handelsman Academic Chair in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. The Technion is renowned for the ingenuity of its graduates, who comprise 70 per cent of Israel’s founders and managers of high-tech industries, making Israel the greatest concentration of high-tech start-up companies anywhere outside of Silicon Valley, California, USA. Along with Technion’s expert faculty, students and facilities, Professor Shoham founded Mazor Robotics in 2001 and co-founded Microbot Medical Ltd. in 2010.

Originality/value

Professor Shoham, a worldwide acclaimed authority in the field of robotics whose life work is dedicated to developing technologies that improve patient care, is the inventor of the first commercially available mechanical guidance system for spine surgery, the Mazor Robotics Renaissance™ Guidance System. He is also the visionary and creator of the unprecedented Microbot ViRob, an Autonomous Advancing Micro Robot, <1 mm in diameter, which has the ability to crawl within cavities/lumens, allowing physicians to target a disease site with exquisite precision. His latest work includes a revolutionary swimming Micro Robot and the new Mazor Renaissance® Brain Surgery. Professor Shoham holds 30 patents and more than a dozen awards, including the recent prestigious 2013 Thomas A. Edison Patent Award and the election into the National Academy of Engineering.

Details

Industrial Robot: An International Journal, vol. 41 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-991X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 August 2016

Joanne Pransky

The following article is a “Q&A interview” conducted by Joanne Pransky of Industrial Robot journal as a method to impart the combined technological, business and personal…

Abstract

Purpose

The following article is a “Q&A interview” conducted by Joanne Pransky of Industrial Robot journal as a method to impart the combined technological, business and personal experience of a prominent, robotic industry engineer-turned-entrepreneur regarding the evolution, commercialization and challenges of bringing a technological invention to market. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

The interviewee is Jacob Rosen, a Professor of Medical Robotics at the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he directs the Bionics Lab. Professor Rosen is also the Director of Surgical Robotics Engineering at the UCLA School of Medicine’s Center for Advanced Surgical and Interventional Technology and has joint appointments at UCLA’s Department of Surgery and UCLA’s Department of Bioengineering. Professor Rosen is the co-founder of the companies Applied Dexterity, ExoSense and SPI. As a pioneer in medical robotics devices and technologies, Professor Rosen describes his unique approaches and philosophies.

Findings

Dr Rosen received his BSc degree in Mechanical Engineering, MSc and PhD degrees in Biomedical Engineering from Tel-Aviv University in 1987, 1993 and 1997, respectively. From 1987 to 1992, he served as an officer in the Israeli Defense Forces studying human–machine interfaces. From 1993 to 1997, he was a research associate at Tel-Aviv University, as well as held a position at a startup company developing innovative orthopedic spine/pelvis implants. From 2001-2013, he held faculty positions at the University of Washington and at University of California, Santa Cruz.

Originality/value

Dr Rosen developed several key systems in the field of medical robotics, such as the Blue and the Red Dragon, for minimally invasive surgical skill evaluation; RAVEN, a surgical robotic system for telesurgery; and several generations of upper and lower limb exoskeletons including the Exo-UL7 – a dual arm wearable robotic system. He is a co-author of 100 manuscripts in the field of medical robotics and a co-author and co-editor of two books entitled “Surgical Robotics – Systems, Applications, and Visions” and “Redundancy in Robot Manipulators and Multi-robot systems” published by Springer. Professor Rosen has filed eight different patent applications and also works as an expert witness and consultant on design, patent protection & litigation and malpractice regarding surgical robotics.

Details

Industrial Robot: An International Journal, vol. 43 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-991X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 March 2017

Joanne Pransky

The purpose of this paper is a “Q&A interview” conducted by Joanne Pransky of Industrial Robot Journal as a method to impart the combined technological, business and personal…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is a “Q&A interview” conducted by Joanne Pransky of Industrial Robot Journal as a method to impart the combined technological, business and personal experience of a prominent, robotic industry engineer-turned-entrepreneur regarding the evolution, commercialization and challenges of bringing a technological invention to market.

Design/methodology/approach

The interviewee is Mitchell Weiss, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for Seegrid Corporation, a manufacturer of stereo vision-guided robots and vehicle control systems. As an accomplished executive of automation and robotics companies, Weiss shares his experiences and industry knowledge, including his first full-time job out of college at Unimation, the world’s first robot company.

Findings

Weiss received a Bachelor of Science from MIT and a Graduate Certificate in Intellectual Property (IP) from Northeastern University, has taught at Penn State and the University of Pennsylvania and has lectured at MIT. He has served as the Chief Operating Officer at Seegrid Corp.; CTO at Brooks Automation; CTO and Vice President of PRI Automation; President of ProgramMation, Inc.; and Chief Engineer and Co-Founder at United States Robots, Inc.

Originality/value

Weiss holds 24 patents, is an expert witness in IP litigation, is Vice Chair of ASTM F45 Driverless Automatic Guided Industrial Vehicles and is a member of ANSI/ITSDF B56.5 Safety Standard for Driverless, Automatic Guided Industrial Vehicles and Automated Functions of Manned Industrial Vehicles. He is also one of the co-authors of the 1986 McGraw-Hill book Industrial Robotics: Technology, Programming, and Applications. Weiss has led his high-technology robotic and automation companies to be successful in the installation of worldwide automation systems in semiconductor manufacturing, electronics manufacturing, automotive and warehousing and distribution. His technical achievements in product design, development and production combined with his business expertise in fund-raising, initial public offering and mergers & acquisitions provide companies with a unique, forward-thinking technology roadmap.

Details

Industrial Robot: An International Journal, vol. 44 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-991X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 June 2016

Joanne Pransky

The following paper details a “Q&A interview” conducted by Joanne Pransky, Associate Editor of Industrial Robot Journal, to impart the combined technological, business and…

Abstract

Purpose

The following paper details a “Q&A interview” conducted by Joanne Pransky, Associate Editor of Industrial Robot Journal, to impart the combined technological, business and personal experience of a prominent, robotic industry engineer-turned successful business leader, regarding the commercialization and challenges of bringing technological inventions to the market while overseeing a company. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

The interviewee is Dr William “Red” Whittaker, Fredkin Research Professor of Robotics, Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University (CMU); CEO of Astrobotic Technology; and President of Workhorse Technologies. Dr Whittaker provides answers to questions regarding the pioneering experiences of some of his technological wonders in land, sea, air, underwater, underground and space.

Findings

As a child, Dr Whittaker built things and made them work and dreamed about space and robots. He has since then turned his dreams, and those of the world, into realities. Dr Whittaker’s formal education includes a BS degree in civil engineering from Princeton and MS and PhD degrees in civil engineering from CMU. In response to designing a robot to cleanup radioactive material at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant, Dr Whittaker established the Field Robotics Center (FRC) in 1983. He is also the founder of the National Robotics Engineering Center, an operating unit within CMU’s Robotics Institute (RI), the world’s largest robotics research and development organization. Dr Whittaker has developed more than 60 robots, breaking new ground in autonomous vehicles, field robotics, space exploration, mining and agriculture. Dr Whittaker’s research addresses computer architectures for robots, modeling and planning for non-repetitive tasks, complex problems of objective sensing in random and dynamic environments and integration of complete robot systems. His current focus is Astrobotic Technology, a CMU spin-off firm that is developing space robotics technology to support planetary missions. Dr Whittaker is competing for the US$20m Google Lunar XPRIZE for privately landing a robot on the Moon.

Originality/value

Dr Whittaker coined the term “field robotics” to describe his research that centers on robots in unconstrained, uncontrived settings, typically outdoors and in the full range of operational and environmental conditions: robotics in the “natural” world. The Field Robotics Center has been one of the most successful initiatives within the entire robotics industry. As the Father of Field Robotics, Dr Whittaker has pioneered locomotion technologies, navigation and route-planning methods and advanced sensing systems. He has directed over US$100m worth of research programs and spearheaded several world-class robotic explorations and operations with significant outreach, education and technology commercializations. His ground vehicles have driven thousands of autonomous miles. Dr Whittaker won DARPA’s US$2m Urban Challenge. His Humvees finished second and third in the 2005 DARPA’s Grand race Challenge desert race. Other robot projects have included: Dante II, a walking robot that explored an active volcano; Nomad, which searched for meteorites in Antarctica; and Tugbot, which surveyed a 1,800-acre area of Nevada for buried hazards. Dr Whittaker is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He is a fellow of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence and served on the National Academy of Sciences Space Studies Board. Dr Whittaker received the Alan Newell Medal for Research Excellence. He received Carnegie Mellon’s Teare Award for Teaching Excellence. He received the Joseph Engelberger Award for Outstanding Achievement in Robotics, the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence’s inaugural Feigenbaum Prize for his contributions to machine intelligence, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Simon Ramo Medal, the American Society of Civil Engineers Columbia Medal, the Antarctic Service Medal and the American Spirit Honor Medal. Science Digest named Dr Whittaker one of the top 100 US innovators for his work in robotics. He has been recognized by Aviation Week & Space Technology and Design News magazines for outstanding achievement. Fortune named him a “Hero of US Manufacturing”. Dr Whittaker has advised 26 PhD students, has 16 patents and has authored over 200 publications. Dr Whittaker’s vision is to drive nanobiologics technology to fulfillment and create nanorobotic agents for enterprise on Earth and beyond (Figure 1).

Details

Industrial Robot: An International Journal, vol. 43 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-991X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 April 2019

Joanne Pransky

The following article is a “Q&A interview” conducted by Joanne Pransky of Industrial Robot Journal as a method to impart the combined technological, business, and personal…

Abstract

Purpose

The following article is a “Q&A interview” conducted by Joanne Pransky of Industrial Robot Journal as a method to impart the combined technological, business, and personal experience of a prominent, robotic industry PhD and inventor regarding his pioneering efforts and the commercialization of bringing a technological invention to market. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

The interviewee is Dr Ken Goldberg, an inventor working at the intersection of art, robotics, and social media. He joined the UC Berkeley faculty in 1995 where he is the UC Berkeley William S. Floyd Jr Distinguished Chair in Engineering and recently served as Chair of the Industrial Engineering and Operations Research Department. He has secondary appointments in UC Berkeley’s Electrical Engineering/Computer Science, Art Practice and the School of Information. Goldberg also holds an appointment at the UC San Francisco Medical School’s Department of Radiation Oncology where he pursues research in medical robotics. Goldberg is Director of the CITRIS “People and Robots” Initiative and the UC Berkeley’s Laboratory for Automation Science and Engineering (AUTOLAB) where he and his students research machine learning for robotics and automation in warehouses, homes, and operating rooms. In this interview, Goldberg shares some of his personal and business perspectives from his career-long pursuit of making robots less clumsy.

Findings

Goldberg earned dual BS degrees in Electrical Engineering and Economics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1984, and MS and PhD degrees in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University in 1990. Goldberg also studied at Edinburgh University and the Technion. From 1991-95 he taught at the University of Southern California, and in fall 2000, he was visiting faculty at the MIT Media Lab. Goldberg and his students pursue research in three primary areas: Geometric Algorithms for Automation, Cloud Robotics, and Robot Learning.

Originality/value

Goldberg developed the first complete algorithms for part feeding and part fixturing, and developed the first robot on the Internet. His inventions have been awarded nine US Patents. Goldberg has published over 250 peer-reviewed technical papers and edited four books. He co-founded and served as Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering (T-ASE). He is also Co-Founder of the Berkeley AI Research (BAIR) Lab, the Berkeley Center for New Media (BCNM), the African Robotics Network (AFRON), the Center for Automation and Learning for Medical Robotics (CAL-MR), the CITRIS Data and Democracy Initiative (DDI), Hybrid Wisdom Labs, and Moxie Institute. He has presented over four hundred keynote and invited lectures. Goldberg's artwork, closely linked with his research, has appeared in over seventy venues. Ken was awarded the Presidential Faculty Fellowship in 1995 by Bill Clinton, the Joseph Engelberger Robotics Award in 2000, elected IEEE Fellow in 2005, and selected by the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society for the George Saridis Leadership Award in 2016.

Details

Industrial Robot: the international journal of robotics research and application, vol. 46 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-991X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 May 2017

Joanne Pransky

The purpose of this paper is a “Q&A interview” conducted by Joanne Pransky of Industrial Robot Journal as a method to impart the combined technological, business and personal…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is a “Q&A interview” conducted by Joanne Pransky of Industrial Robot Journal as a method to impart the combined technological, business and personal experience of a prominent, robotic industry PhD-turned-entrepreneur regarding the evolution, commercialization and challenges of bringing a technological invention to market.

Design/methodology/approach

The interviewee is Dr Cory Kidd, an inventor, entrepreneur and leading practitioner in the field of human–robot interaction. Dr Kidd shares his 20-year journey of working at the intersection of healthcare and technology and how he applied innovative technologies toward solving large-scale consumer healthcare challenges.

Findings

Dr Kidd received his BS degree in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology and earned a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow in Computer and Information Science & Engineering. Dr Kidd received his MS and PhD degrees at the MIT Media Lab in human–robot interaction. While there, he conducted studies that showed the psychological and clinical advantages of using a physical robot over screen-based interactions. While finishing his PhD in 2007, he founded his first company, Intuitive Automata, which created interactive coaches for weight loss. Though Intuitive Automata ceased operations in 2013, Dr Kidd harnessed his extensive knowledge of the healthcare business and the experiences from patient engagement and launched Catalia Health in 2014 with a new platform centered specifically around patient behavior change programs for chronic disease management.

Originality/value

Dr Kidd is a pioneer of social robotics and has developed groundbreaking technology for healthcare applications that combines artificial intelligence, psychology and medical best practices to deliver everyday care to patients who are managing chronic conditions. He holds patents, including one entitled Apparatus and Method for Assisting in Achieving Desired Behavior Patterns and in an Interactive Personal Health Promoting Robot. Dr Kidd was awarded the inaugural Wall Street Journal and Credit Suisse Technopreneur of the Year in 2010, which is meant to “honor the entry that best applies technology with the greatest potential for commercial success”. He is also the Director of Business Development for the nonprofit Silicon Valley Robotics and is an impact partner for Fresco Capital. He consults, mentors and serves as a Board Member and Advisor to several high-tech startups.

Details

Industrial Robot: An International Journal, vol. 44 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-991X

Keywords

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