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Henrik Christensen's Blog

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Addressing COVID one person at a time

02 Saturday Jan 2021

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cooperation

COVID has been with us for more than year. It has been a challenge in many ways in terms of social gatherings, ensuring the health of those dear to us (and everyone else), economic prosperity, etc.

About three years ago my colleague – Eliah Spencer – and I had a discussion about doing things that make a difference. If we could untangle from the daily business of getting the next grant, teaching the next course, … what would we do?

Building a new world

What are the key issues to address? How about access to healthcare, food, innovation, and sustainable growth? How can we possibly address these issues? Most past approaches have been centrally organized. Not clear that such approaches are always effective. Could we imagine an approach that is citizen centric, i.e., can we empower people to address these issues themselves? What toolkits should be in place for citizens to address these issues?

When COVID showed its ugly head it was an obvious use-case. How could people participate in addressing the pandemic? As many medical students are stuck at home, could they help answer questions about the pandemic? I.e., could we recruit 100s of students to address questions that people have from the front-line, small businesses, or the general public? Could people report on their experience staying at home? and could we provide information for people at home if they suspect that may have been exposed to COVID?

EARTH-2.0 – A first experiment with COVID.

To test the potential of such an approach we organized the project Earth 2.0 – earth2.ucsd.edu – with a number of local colleagues.

Answering questions was organized as a project – co-respond. Initially, the project was organized for front-line workers. If they had questions – building support for Personalized Emergency Devices (PEDs)? Can glasses help protect you from the pandemic? etc. Answers are sent using SMS, email, … to a triage desk where it is posted for the community to pickup. Once a question is answered it is checked by professionals (MDs or PEs) to ensure that the solution is valid. The validated answers are returned to the person that requested an answer and the solution is entered into a community database. The solutions were later admitted to the mobile app – Relief Central – as a separate solution area. Relief Central is supported by Unbound Medicine as a social good. The organization is committed to enhancing and delivering healthcare knowledge through digital and mobile innovation, partnerships, and a passion for advancing healthcare. The relief central app is available for Android and IOS.

The second sub-project was Oasis. The underlying idea is to allow people to put their story on a map. Lots of people have experiences from the COVID period in terms of how their illness presented, isolation, doing new projects,.. OASIS is a mechanism to share experiences and gain new insights. Recording the experience, test results, age, other information, to allow people to see how how others in their neighborhood area doing. This is similar to a story board such as facebook for people to share their experience in terms of great things and challenges. The Oasis project is mainly designed, implemented and operated by students from UC San Diego.

The third sub-project is Homebound, which was designed to allow people to record and share their health data and be guided by best practices if they are at home ill with COVID. By providing this information it is possible for people to assist with their own medical care without having to check in by phone, video, or in person with a medical professional — and it scales much better during times when the systems is already under a heavy workload.

Details about the project and the full project team is presented at earth2.ucsd.edu

Eli: The child had its one year anniversary and is doing well. What to do next?

AI is hitting the road—and not only in self-driving cars

01 Saturday Jun 2019

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When most people think about AI and transportation, their minds go immediately to self-driving cars. But while the delivery of truly autonomous vehicles that are safe and reliable in all environments, all of the time, remains in the relatively distant future, AI is already being applied in a variety of applications that are poised to transform our lives on the road—no matter who is doing the driving. For users of these technologies (which will inevitably include us all) and investors who are hoping to hop on board this rapidly accelerating opportunity, here are just some of the key innovations that are either here today or are just around the corner:

  • Smart lights
    Adaptive traffic lights have been improving the flow of traffic for decades by altering how often traffic lights change based on typical traffic patterns. AI is helping to take that idea to the next level with AI-managed traffic lights and streetlights. IBM’s smart traffic lights use machine vision to look at real-time traffic flow. The connected system then applies computer algorithms to determine when each signal should change to optimize the flow of traffic in real time. Similar to navigation apps like Waze, the system’s ability to analyze actual traffic rather than traffic pattern averages promises to reduce traffic congestion and commute times.

    Current, a subsidiary of General Electric, is also putting the power of machine vision to work, in this case embedding AI-enabled cameras into a vast network of streetlights that do much more than illuminate streets, sidewalks, and parking lots across San Diego. Using a machine-vision camera to capture images in a wide radius around each light, the company is building a database of valuable, real-time information 24 hours a day. That information is then used to point drivers to vacant parking spots, alert police to illegally parked cars, and even identify dangerous intersections that need to be redesigned to improve pedestrian and driver safety.

  • Advanced driver assistance
    While fully autonomous vehicles may be the ultimate goal for the transportation industry, advanced driver assistance systems may prove even more useful at improving the driving experience and reducing collisions. Systems from technology providers like Mobileye and Nvidia are now available from a growing number of automakers, including Mercedes, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, and Tesla. Using machine vision, sensors, and other emerging AI technologies, these systems make it easier for drivers to park; keep them from drifting out of lanes; detect hazards such as pedestrians and stopped vehicles; recognize speed limit and other road signs; and even force a hard stop to avoid a potential collision.
  • Driver monitoring
    Texting while driving puts lives at risk, but there are many other driver activities that cause accidents, injuries, and fatalities every day. Logistics and delivery providers with large fleets—including FedEx, UPS, and USPS—are now using on-board driver monitoring systems to add a whole new level of security and safety by using AI to detect behavior that deviates from the norm. The systems can determine if drivers are texting or talking on the phone, paying attention to the road, speeding, and more. Considering that up to 75% of road accidents are caused by distracted drivers, this type of AI-enabled driver monitoring is expected to not only improve logistics efficiency, but also improve overall road safety. And don’t be surprised if self-driving trucks for package deliveries become the first fully autonomous vehicles to hit the road: the US Postal Service recently contracted TuSimple to test-run its self-driving trucks. If their efforts are successful, expect to see other commercial fleets follow quickly in their footsteps.
  • Smart cities
    Using the powerful combination of 5G and the Internet of Things (IoT) to connect and communicate across citywide networks, planners are beginning to drive vital efficiencies and improve the quality of life for residents and visitors of smart cities around the world. In Amsterdam, real-time data from the IoT is being used to monitor things such as traffic flow, energy use, and public safety, and then make needed adjustments. Smart trashcans in Baltimore and Boston communicate how full they are at any given time, making it easier to create more efficient routes for sanitation workers.
  • Transportation.
    Private transportation providers like Lyft and Uber have already put AI to work to provide riders with actual pick-up times, images of their assigned car and driver, and accurate arrival times. Using AI and 5G, they will soon be able to add conveniences such as positioning riders in the best possible locations for faster pickup and coordinating smarter driving pools. In cities across the US, AI is enabling public transportation services to cut commute times by detecting long queues at train and bus stations and using that data to increase the number of cars and coaches to reduce congestion. At the University of Michigan, the Mcity Driverless Shuttle, an all-electric bus from French automaker NAVYA, uses Lidar sensors and GPS to shuttle students across campus without a human driver. Similar systems are also tested at the Texas A&M campus

From moving people to delivering goods, AI technologies such as Lidar sensors, machine vision, machine learning, adaptive planning, and IoT are already beginning to have a dramatic impact on how we get from one place to another and how goods of all kinds are delivered from the factory floor to the consumer’s front door. AI’s ability to accelerate and innovate transportation—and the opportunity for investors to make the most of a technology revolution that is already in process—is nothing short of massive. Are you on board?

Originally published at ROBO-Global – https://www.roboglobal.com/ai-hitting-road-not-only-self-driving-cars/

 

AI is coming to your home

26 Friday Apr 2019

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More than 25 years ago, I found myself, once again, sitting at a conference watching a presentation by a major consulting firm. But this one was different from anything I’d seen before. The video showed what was then a fantastical scene of a woman getting ready for work. Standing in her kitchen, she told her coffee maker to brew a hot cup of coffee. She turned to her refrigerator and told it to add milk to the grocery list. She then switched on her computer for a quick video meeting with her team—all of whom were visible online as they discussed the day ahead. As she headed out the door, she asked, “What’s the weather today?” A voice that came seemingly from the heavens told her to go grab an umbrella: there was rain in the forecast. As a roboticist myself, the technology didn’t surprise me; I knew everything I was seeing was available in some shape or form at the time. What did surprise me was seeing that technology being applied in the real world—and not in an industrial setting, but in the home.

Looking back, it’s almost shocking that it actually took so long for AI to find its way in through the front door. But now that it’s here, the reality is even more impressive than what I saw in that once futuristic video.

Today, there are more than 10 million AI-assisted vacuum cleaners in use, and that number is growing every day. iRobot was the first to introduce an autonomous vacuum, the Roomba, back in 2002. Its newest models include Imprint™ Smart Mapping Technology, which uses machine learning to adapt to the specific cleaning needs of each room in your home, and the new iRobot mop. iRobot’s bots can navigate around furniture; clean rugs, hardwood, and tile; and can even be voice-controlled through Alexa or Google Assistant. And while Dyson’s newest vacuum cleaner may not run so independently, it does use complex AI algorithms to determine the level of suction power needed as you clean your house. There are also AI-driven window washers, stove-top cleaners, and self-cleaning litter boxes. If there’s something that needs to be cleaned, AI is coming to the rescue.

Cleaning, of course, is just one way AI is making our homes more efficient. Amazon’s suite of Echo products, all armed with the Alexa speech interface, can now do everything from play your favorite music to control your lights, check on your family anywhere in the world via live video, manage your calendar, and order nearly anything you can imagine from Amazon. Google Home and its Google Assistant can also give you music, news, and weather on demand, and while it doesn’t yet offer the home management tools supported by Echo, it is at the ready to help do everything from start your washing machine (on the right setting, too!) to turn on your shower in the morning—before your toes even touch the floor.

AI is also becoming popular for home climate control. Products like Nest offer smart doorbells (complete with real-time video, a 3-hour recorded history of what took place on your doorstep, and even face recognition software to keep you safe), Wifi-enabled smoke and CO alarms, smart thermostats that learn what temperature you like and then build a schedule around you, as well as door locks and more.

AI is also helping to keep the elderly safe in their homes. Remote monitoring solutions are now available that combine AI and wearable devices to monitor vital signs from the comfort of the home. Other devices use AI to spot changes in activity levels and behavior patterns and automatically request help if the user has fallen or become ill. Solutions from Amazon Echo and Orbita Health support adherence to medication regimes and home healthcare routines, and virtual caregivers—which are already in use in a growing number of healthcare facilities—will soon be coming into the home to help the growing elderly population who is choosing to “age in place.”

It seems new AI-driven tools for the home are being introduced every day. Thermomix saves time by changing the way home chefs chop, steam, blend, grind, and cook entire meals. AI-enabled scales tell you not only how much you weigh, but also analyze your body fat, measure your water weight, and give you other statistics like bone and muscle mass, body age, basal metabolism, and more. And expect a new member of the family soon in the form of an AI personal assistant. Today’s winners include household robots­ with smart social skills, and products like the Beam System that allows you to video chat with family and friends from almost anywhere. Tomorrow’s options are likely to be better conversationalists and offer skills that will further transform your home—and your life—using the power of AI.

For investors, the growing prevalence of AI in the home presents a tremendous opportunity. Not only are the makers of each of these innovations poised for future growth, but the underlying technologies that make them possible—machine learning, computing and AI processing, sensing, actuation, voice recognition, and more—are being applied in a wide variety of products, both in the home and across a vast landscape of industries. As the focus on AI and Big Data continues to expand, so will the prospects for investors who recognize and act on this inevitable trajectory today.

(originally published at Robo-Global 25 April 2019)

Image

The robotics market is still booming.

21 Thursday Jun 2018

At the 2018 Automatica Fair in Munich, the International Federation for Robotics (IFR) presented a preview of the annual sales statistics for the robotics sector at the CEO roundtable. The final statistics will be published by IFR in cooperation with VDMA in October.

The preliminary numbers are interesting in many ways. First of all the sales of robots increased by 29% year-over-year during 2017. The total number of shipped robots went up to 381 thousand units, of which 2/3 are sold in Asia. Combined US, Europa, and other regions only represent 1/3 of the total market.

The by far biggest increase in sales was in China where the annual growth for 2017 was 58%. The growth is not only impressive but it is increasing every year.

The Chinese salaries have increased close to 350% over the last decade, which in part motivates the need for increased automation. Also today 30% of all cars are manufactured in China, but few of them are sold internationally. There is a need to increase the quality of cars manufactured in China, which again motivates an increased adoption of robot technology.

The adoption of robotics/market maturity is often measured by the number of robots deployed / 10,000 industry workers. South Korea has the highest penetration with 681 robots / 10,000 workers. The world average is 74 robots per 10,000 workers. China has 68 robots per 10,000 workers. The number has increased significantly over the last decade, but their adoption rate is still not even average and as such one would expect to a continued robust growth in adoption of robotics technology in China.

It is interesting to note that a country such as Vietnam has seen an increase in sales of 410% year-over-year which could be a direct consequence of the increased salaries in China. It is now cheaper to manufacture elsewhere in Asia and as such, there is an increased pressure on China to automate or the manufacturing will move to other countries with lower salaries.

The sales figures across all regions continue to increase. The normalized sales curves since 1997 are shown below for the regions Asia, US and Europe. Every region has robust growth but it is clear that the biggest growth, in particular since 2009 are in Asia/China.

Europe saw 20% year-over-year growth, while Americas saw 22% annual growth. Other regions saw a 7% annual growth. The early numbers for 2018 do not indicate any slow-down.

Overall the manufacturing industry is seeing robust growth and there are no immediate signs of any slowdown in the utilization of robotics technology. We are also seeing an increased utilization of sensor technology to make the processes more adaptive, and the use of collaborative robots opens entirely new markets, while the use of machine learning enables faster systems integration. The integration of new technologies is expected to increase the penetration into new markets.

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2012 in review

01 Tuesday Jan 2013

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The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 2,100 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 4 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

MAST mapping and localization

16 Monday May 2011

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..., cooperation, SLAM

As part of the Army Collaborative Technology Alliance (CTA) on micro autonomous systems technology (MAST) Georgia Tech has an effort to study simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) across a team of vehicles. Last fall a joint experiment engaging JPL, UPENN and GT setup an experiment to study exploration strategies, mapping and multiple-feature integration. The initial experimental results were reported at the recent SPIE conference in Orlando, and is summarized in a recent GTRI press article. Details available here http://gtresearchnews.gatech.edu/robots-explore-buildings/

FIRST FRC 2011 Launch

08 Saturday Jan 2011

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competition, FIRST, robotics

This morning US FIRST announced the design of the competition during the 2011 season. FIRST is an organization that encourages students (K-12 & Highschool) to engage in engineering challenges, such as building robots to develop their analytical / engineering skills. A FIRST team is required to provide all their own support to launch a successful entry. This implies that they need to organize a team, do fundraising to sustain their effort, develop a team website, design a robot, deploy it for the competition, do public relations work to promote their project and preferably do community outreach.

The competitions are designed to have groups of 3 teams compete another group of 3 teams. As part of a game the robot is required to initially do autonomous operation and subsequently it can be tele-operated. The design of the game is each year announced by early January. The teams then have 6 (six!) weeks to design their robot, built it, program it and test it. They are then shipped off the regional competitions. It is a major challenge to design these robots in minimum time and make them robust enough for participation in a significant number of matches. The teams are judged on aspects such as team spirit, sustainability, web design, outreach, … and the bots are judged on engineering inspiration, design, quality, … so there are many aspects to consider in the operations of a team and in the design of a new robot.

This years competition is termed – LOGOmotion – The robots are required to collect “rings” in different colors and mount them on a wall – preferably in the shape of the FIRST logo. At the end of a match they teams are encouraged to launch a mini-robot that can climb a pole to light up a marker. The mini-robots are to be built from parts from the FIRST FTC game. Teams that mentor an FTC teams thus have a serious advantage, and as such there is a promotion of broader engagement in the community. It is going to be very interesting to see how the teams approach this years challenge.

As usual the Georgia FIRST launch was hosted at Georgia Tech and had massive participation with more than 500 people in participation and more than 30 new rookie teams. The Peachtree Regional will take place 17-19 March 2011 at the Gwinett Center. More details at the Georgia FIRST web site

Restart

04 Tuesday Jan 2011

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Welcome to the new year (2011). My old blog was at http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~hic/Georgia-HomePage/Blog/Blog.html using iWeb from Apple. Great package to get you started with blogging, but after a while is it clear that the growth capabilities are fairly limited. Also you have to do all your blogging within iWeb. I travel a far bit and it is then convenient to be able to blog using a number of different platforms from PC/Mac, phone, tablet, netbook, not to mention the occasional web cafe. Most of these do not directly support iWeb. I am thus turning back to my old platform (wordpress).

My blog will continue to circulate around robots, photography, and travel. My main topics will likely be robotics. I have had the privilege to be a core member of the team that has pushed for a new national initiative in robotics. A significant group of people formulated a national roadmap for robotics sponsored by the CCC. The roadmap was presented to Congress May 2009. It has been picked up by a number of agencies such as NSF, NIST, DARPA, … and there is a concerted effort through OSTP to push for an agenda. This is highly encouraging.

As a side effort we are now as a group trying to launch a community based effort to have an American Network on Robotics (AMRON) that provides support for maintenance of a research roadmap, coordination of educational initiatives, liaison with industry and resources for dissemination of information to the broader community.

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01 Friday Jan 2010

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Hello world!

16 Thursday Jul 2009

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bio, intro, welcome

Welcome to the blog of Henrik I Christensen. I am the KUKA Chair of Robotics and also the director of Robotics and Intelligent Machines at Georgia Institutute of Technology. I wanted to start the blog to present/discuss  current research and efforts in robotics and intelligent machines (embodied AI) across the local universe at Georgia Tech, the US national scene and efforts worldwide.

I am originally from Denmark (Frederikshavn) and earned my first degree in Mechanical Engineering from a local college. Upon graduation I studied Electrical Engineering (control and vision) at Aalborg University and earned M.Sc. and Ph.D degress from there. I have subsequently worked at Aalborg University (1989 – 1996), Oak Ridge National Laboratories (1988), University of Pennsylvania (1996), Royal Institute of Technology (1996-2006) before joining Georgia Tech.

I was the founding coordinator of the European Robotics Network (EURON) that engaged 200+ universities and institutions across all European countries and was active in research, education and translation coordination for robotics and cognitive systems including the launch of a European program under Framework Program 6 and 7.

My interests are broad across research in robotics, intelligent systems, computer vision, sensory fusion, …

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