Publications Details
Trends in robotics: A summary of the Department of Energy`s critical technology roadmap
Technology roadmaps serve as pathways to the future. They call attention to future needs for research and development; provide a structure for organizing technology forecasts and programs; and help communicate technological needs and expectations among end users and the research and development (R and D) community. Critical Technology roadmaps, of which the Robotics and Intelligent Machines (RIM) Roadmap is one example, focus on enabling or cross-cutting technologies that address the needs of multiple US Department of Energy (DOE) offices. Critical Technology roadmaps must be responsive to mission needs of the offices; must clearly indicate how the science and technology can improve DOE capabilities; and must describe an aggressive vision for the future of the technology itself. The RIM Roadmap defines a DOE research and development path for the period beginning today, and continuing through the year 2020. Its purpose is to identify, select and develop objectives that will satisfy near- and long-term challenges posed by DOE`s mission objectives. If implemented, this roadmap will support DOE`s mission needs while simultaneously advancing the state-of-the-art of RIM. For the purposes of this document, RIM refers to systems composed of machines, sensors, computers and software that deliver processes to DOE operations. The RIM Roadmap describes how such systems will revolutionize DOE processes, most notably manufacturing, hazardous and remote operations, and monitoring and surveillance. The advances in DOE operations and RIM discussed in this document will be possible due to the developments in many other areas of science and technology, including computing, communication, electronics and micro-engineering. Modern software engineering techniques will permit the implementation of inherently safe RIM systems that will depend heavily on software.