RoboEarth Is The Web For Robots, Testing Underway

A lot of work is being done on robots to serve various uses around the world. DARPA is holding a robotics challenge to push the development of robots that can help people in an emergency situation. As universities and researchers around the world are working on robots to meet various needs, another group is working on something called RoboEarth.

RoboEarth is described as the world wide web for robots. RoboEarth is intended to allow robots connected to it to learn from each other and share information. The RoboEarth service is currently being tested in a mock hospital setting. The test will see four roots using the system in a mock hospital room at Eindhovern University.

The test of RoboEarth is the product of a four-year project that was funded by the European Union. The goal of the project is to allow robots and humans to upload data to the cloud database to act as a common brain for machines. A cloud-based system could allow robots to be developed that have less onboard computing capability and would need less battery power.

The four robots that are participating in the test will work together to help patients in the mock hospital setting. One of the bots will upload a map of the room allowing the other bots to navigate around it. Other robots will use that data to give patients drinks. The designers of RoboEarth say steps for a mundane task, such as opening a bottle of pills, could be shared on RoboEarth allowing other bots to perform the same task without needing individual programming.

SOURCE: BBC