Scientists launch internet for robots

by Lauren O'Neil Posted: March 11, 2013 5:17 PM Last Updated: March 12, 2013 10:37 AM

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View the story "Scientists launch internet for robots" on StorifyScientists launch internet for robotsResearchers from five European universities have officially launched the "world wide web for Robots" in hopes of making our machines faster, cheaper and more intelligent.Storified by CBC News Community· Mon, Mar 11 2013 14:16:33ImgurHumans have been using the internet to learn more about their machines for decades (have you everturned to Google for help in setting your PVR?) It's only fair, some might argue, that machines now have a web of their own to learn about humans, too.European scientists have officially launched the "world wide web for Robots" in hopes of makingour utilitarian machines smarter, faster, cheaper and better.The RoboEarth Cloud Engine is aninformational database that serves as a communal-brain of sorts that robots canaccess through the internet.

Also called 'Rapyuta,' the database's moniker was inspired by a 1986 Japanese anime film of the same name about a mythical land of robots in the sky.

Rapyuta: The RoboEarth Cloud EnginegajansgarageConnected machines can catalog objects and situationsthey encounter in the human world, sharing that knowledge with the database. This makes complex tasks easier and faster for other robots connected to Rapyuta.

"Bringing a new meaning to the phrase "experience is the bestteacher", the goal of RoboEarth is to allow robotic systems to benefit from theexperience of other robots," reads the project's website. "[Rapyuta is] pavingthe way for rapid advances in machine cognition and behaviour, and ultimately,for more subtle and sophisticated human-machine interaction."

What is RoboEarth ?What is RoboEarth? At its core, RoboEarth is a World Wide Web for robots: a giant network and database repository where robots can share ...

The project's developers hail from five different university research centres and have been working on RoboEarth since 2009.

They say that by moving some of thiscomputation into the cloud, robots can become more mobile, longer-running,easier to build and thus, cheaper to buy.

While most of the examples given in the project's explainer videoinclude helpful household and work robots like automatic vaccums, lab equipmentand robotic pets, Rapyuta could make more impactful changes inthe future.

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"The RoboEarth Cloud Engine is particularly useful formobile robots, such as drones or autonomous cars, which require lots ofcomputation for navigation," said the project's technical lead MohanarajahGajamohan to BBC News. "It also offers significant benefits for robot co-workers, such asfactory robots working alongside humans, which require large knowledgedatabases, and for the deployment of robot teams.".

Rapyuta

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