Ongoing Developments in Advanced Robotics in the U.S.A.

Over the many years, developments in advanced robotics in the U.S. have been driven by the needs of hazardous work environments, including those related to construction. However, as reported in the previous ISARC proceedings, the primary technology drivers include applications in the cleanup of hazardous waste, unexploded ordnance, autonomous navigation in unknown terrain, and in space teleoperation. This work is performcd largely for government owners, including the U.S. Armed Forces, National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy (DoE). Some of the advances in these applications will be introduced below. The construction industry in general remains skeptical about the ability of most of the existing robotic technologies and the corresponding robot prototypes to perform useful tasks on construction site's with acceptable levels of reliability, quality and productivity.