University of Houston-Clear Lake | UH-Clear Lake hosts Center for Robotic Software with kickoff event

From cars that drive themselves to drone quadcopters large enough to “uber” passengers across a city skyline, history might look back at 2017 as the year of the robotic revolution – made possible in large part by the rapid development of an open-source, standardized, manufacturer-agnostic Robot Operating System, says University of Houston-Clear Lake’s Thomas L. Harman, professor of Computer Engineering and director of UHCL’s newly formed Center for Robotics Software. The result is huge opportunities for space exploration, defense, oceaneering and biotechnology among other endeavors, which makes the center a logical vortex for collaboration with area stakeholders in robotics technology.

The center will officially launch Wednesday, June 7, with a reservation-only kick-off for academia, NASA, aerospace and oceaneering contractors and other companies involved in robotics. Harman and Carol Fairchild, co-director and visiting researcher, will present the center’s goals for collaboration in a reception and workshop 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. in the Garden Room of UHCL’s Bayou Building, 2700 Bay Area Blvd., Houston. Speakers include Robert O. Ambrose, division chief of NASA’s Software, Robotics and Simulation Division, NASA Robotics Engineer Kimberly Hambuchen, Jacobs Oceaneering Space System’s Court Edmonson and UHCL Assistant Professor of Computer Engineering Luong Nguyen, who is faculty adviser to UHCL’s swarm-robotics team in NASA-hosted Swarmathon competitions. The event includes lunch and a tour of UHCL’s robotics lab.

Collaborations will focus on solving problems and creating solutions using the Robot Operating System, or ROS, Harman said.

First released in Stanford in 2007, ROS allows programmers from around the world to collaborate and add new functionality and standard software packages for specific robotic components. They write in the ubiquitous C++ and Python programming languages, typically in the free Ubuntu operating system, which can run on PCs, Macintoshes and Linux machines. In 2013, developers formed the Open Source Robotics Foundation to steward ROS’s future. It’s the same sort of collaboration – using many of the same tools – that fueled the growth of the Internet.

“ROS is free. Thousands of universities use it, and a growing number of robot manufacturers use it. Manufacturers no longer have to write their own, proprietary operating systems,” Harman said. “There are new things coming out every day - mobile robots, flying robots, robots for manufacturing – that use the Robotic Operating System.”

Pointing out one of the early robots acquired by the robotics lab, Harman said, “The reason I got into ROS, with thanks to Carol, is I remember how much trouble it was to learn all about the robots without ROS. Everything about them was more or less unique.

“I remember the mechanical parts, because if you teach robotics, you know that every robot arm is similar. But in terms of controlling the robot’s arm, the early software was unique.

“That’s not true with the Robot Operating System. The program for a mobile robot could be easily modified for any mobile robot that fits in that class. It’s not going to drive a car because that’s a different class of mobile robot. But anything you’d see around the lab, the commands would be the same: go forward, turn right, turn left and so on. I don’t have to worry about the physical details of the robot, which is a big advantage if you’re doing applications. I’m not building robots. I’m programming them.”

Harman and Fairchild are co-authors of the how-to book, “ROS Robotics By Example,” published in 2016.

“We’re now updating it for the later version of the operating system. That’s how fast this technical area changes. The good news is that there are thousands of people working on it. The bad news is there’s so many people working on it that to keep up, you really have to be on your toes.”

“As a part of developing the material for our book, Dr. Harman and I collaborated with people across the world who have developed ROS packages and work with ROS daily in their robotic projects,” Fairchild added.

“In the Clear Lake area, especially with NASA, there exists an abundance of expertise about ROS. We have also established relationships with Houston-area colleges and universities that are teaching and doing research in robotics,” she said.

Fairchild said she hopes the Center for Robotics Software will bring collaboration to a new level.

“Across Houston, we have many people working on various robotics problems and have the knowledge of how to overcome problems other organizations are experiencing. The open-source nature of ROS has laid a foundation for all organizations collaborating and sharing work to advance the whole of the robotics field.

“Our goal is to link organizations that can benefit from other’s knowledge and research in the robotics field. UHCL has a growing expertise in ROS robotic systems and will provide workshops and seminars to any individuals or organizations interested in accelerating the considerable ROS learning curve,” she said.

“We are hoping to build partnerships and collaborate with companies and institutions who share our interest in robotics,” Professor Nguyen added. “These relationships will promote the education of robotics for our university and our community – and provide our students with opportunities for internships and employment. Companies will get the skills they are looking for directly from a local faculty and student body. All of these activities should benefit the robotics industry as a whole.”

For more information on the center and the kick-off event, call UHCL College of Science and Engineering Program Coordinator Lori Lopez, 281-283-3719. UHCL offers a Master of Science in Computer Engineering with a specialization in Robotics and Robotics Software. For more information, visit www.uhcl.edu/academics/degrees/computer-engineering-ms.

UH-Clear Lake hosts Center for Robotic Software with kickoff event

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