R E G I O N A L
Latin American Robotics Council By Javier Ruiz-del-Solar and Alfredo Weitzenfeld
A
lthough there is tremendous enthusiasm and opportunities for robotics in Latin America, robotics activities have been extremely sparse in contrast to other regions of the world. On the other hand, there are more than 20 countries in Latin America, with hundreds of universities offering various engineering degrees, whereas robotics-related activities have been very limited, including a dramatic lack of robotics industry. Another shortcoming is the existence of only three professional robotics chapters in the region (Argentina, Chile and Mexico), although the region shows one of the highest number of IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS) student chapters in the world, close to ten student chapters concentrated in a handful of countries. Taking this situation into consideration, the Latin American Robotics Council (LARC) was established at the end of 2002, with the mission of integrating, extending, and motivating the interest in robotics across the region. LARC currently provides guidance and support for various local student groups, with the organization of academic and research activities. In particular, the Latin American Robotics contest has been held yearly since 2002: Santiago, Chile (2002); Bauru, Brazil (2003); Mexico City (2004); Sao Luis Maranhao, Brazil (2005); Santiago, Chile (2006); Monterrey, Mexico (2007); and Salvador, Brazil (2008). LARC includes competitions directed to undergraduate and graduate students. Competitions for undergraduate students include two permanent categories: open and standard educational kit. Tasks and rules change from year to year to give equal opportunities to new participants. More advanced competitions are directed toward graduate students corresponding to the RoboCup Latin American Open that took place yearly since 2005 in parallel with the undergraduate robotic competitions. In addition to the Latin American competitions, currently LARC sponsors national competitions in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela. National competitions serve as qualifiers for the regional event having both similar tasks and rules.
LARC 2002 Open Competition: Race of quadruped robots with obstacles (Santiago de Chile, 2002). Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MRA.2008.931645
MARCH 2009
Minirobots soccer (Bauru, Brazil, 2003).
In 2004, LARC established an yearly Latin American Robotics Symposium (LARS) directed to students and researchers. LARS is technically cosponsored by RAS, with proceedings published by IEEE Xplore. The symposium is held together with the competitions and provides an opportunity for students and researchers in the region and outside to present and discuss their latest technical and scientific work. Additionally, since 2007, LARC organizes a summer school in robotics directed toward graduate students, researchers, and professionals in the region. The school is held at the end of each year in Santiago, Chile. Student participation in national competitions is estimated at well over 100 participants (students usually participate in teams of (continued on page 116)
Quadruped soccer competition with natural lighting (Santiago de Chile, 2006).
IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine 115
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By Pedro Sanz
Robotics: State of the Art and Future Challenges George Bekey, Robert Ambrose, Vijay Kumar, David Lavery, Arthur Sanderson, Brian Wilcox, Junku Yuh, and Yuan Zheng, Imperial College Press, 2008. ISBN: 978-1-84816006-4, 1-84816-006-2 This book presents the results of an assessment of the state of robotics in Japan, South Korea, Western Europe, and Australia and a comparison of robotics R&D programs in these countries with those in the United States. The comparisons include areas like robotic vehicles, space robotics, service robots, humanoid robots, networked robots, and robots for biological and medical
applications, and based on criteria such as quality, scope, funding, and commercialization. This study identifies a number of areas where the traditional lead of the United States is being overtaken by developments in other countries. Separate chapters are devoted to robotic vehicles, space robotics, humanoid robots, industrial, service, and personal robots, robotics in biology and medicine, and networked robots. The book is based in part on a study sponsored by the U.S. National Science Foundation. Some of the material was presented in the IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine in December 2007 and March 2008.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MRA.2009.932132
I N D U S T R Y / R E S E A R C H
N E W S
(continued from page 114) and more. See where your students take them from there! (www.OReilly.com). World Robotics 2008 Reports Mixed Industry Growth The detailed World Robotics Report produced by the International Federation of Robotics presents statistics on worldwide sales, manufacture, and implementation of robots in 50 countries. In 2007, 114,365 industrial robots (arms) were installed worldwide, with a value of approximately US$6 billion, excluding software, peripherals, and systems engineering. However, the results in major regions differed considerably,
with a decline in Asia, recovery in the Americas, continuing growth in parts of the European Union (EU), and strong emerging markets, especially China (+14%). The report also includes data on commercial service robots, domestic service robots, and entertainment robots. The study has found that in 2007, 49,000 commercial service robots, 3.4 million domestic service robots, and 2.0 million entertainment robots were installed. The most common service applications are defense, security, and field (agricultural and lawn care) robots; the most common domestic application is floor cleaning (http://www.worldrobotics.org/downloads/2008_Pressinfo_ english.pdf).
R E G I O N A L (continued from page 115) three to four persons) in each of the member countries, while the regional LARC competition, RoboCup Open, and the LARS symposium attract over 200 participants. Additionally, the summer school attracts close to 120 participants. Altogether, LARC activities attract more than 1,000 participants every year, including undergraduates, graduates, and researchers. One particular support LARC offers is student travel awards to top teams in the region in order for them to compete at the regional competitions. These awards have been partially funded by IEEE and RAS in the past. Since our first event in 2002, which had about 100 participants from Chile and Mexico, we have observed a large increase 116 IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine
in robotics activities in the region. In this period, activities have spread from two to six different countries, with the new ones possibly joining in 2009. We are currently working toward a wider extension of our activities to support the creation of networks of researchers working in robotics in the region. For additional information on LARC, contact the following: Dr. Javier Ruiz-del-Solar (Chair) at
[email protected] Dr. Alfredo Weitzenfeld at
[email protected] Dr. Alejandro Aceves at
[email protected] Dr. Luiz Marcos Goncalvez at
[email protected] LARC Web site at http://ewh.ieee.org/reg/9/robotica/. MARCH 2009
