00100	SECTION ON WHY ADVANCED AUTOMATION STUDIES
00200		WHY GENERAL PURPOSE ASSEMBLY DEVICES  (TOB)
00300	PROTOTYPE ASSEMBLY STATION  (GENERAL SYSTEM LEVEL--LOU)
00400		MODULAR SUBSYSTEMS
00500		HARDWARE
00600		PERFORMANCE DEMOS
00700		CALIBRATION & SELF-CALIBRATION
00800	RESEARCH IN ADVANCED AUTOMATION
00900	
01000	SYSTEM SUPPORT
01100		HARDWARE
01200		SOFTWARE
     

00100	We assume that present manipulators have a small but stable market, and
00200	that most will have minicomputers soon (Sundstrand does now).  Will
00300	the incremental cost of touch, force and visual sensors be offset
00400	by the opening of new capabilities, and will the cost be offset by
00500	reduced cost of system design for machines which allow loose alignment
00600	tolerances?  We estimate hardware costs in a separate paragraph, and
00700	estimate that by 1977, the incremental cost of visual sensors will
00800	be roughly $1100, with about $300 additional for a laser ranging scheme
00812	as we use now. With the additional memory requirements, and the multiple
00856	of two in marketing, that
00900	will add $4k to $6k to the selling price, or about 15%-20% of current
01000	manipulator prices.  Presumably labor costs will inflate also,
01100	so that cost comparisons will not change appreciably
01200	over that time scale unless significant new mechanical designs are
01300	made.   A conclusion is that sensor-equipped robots will be available
01400	at slight additional cost.  We do not expect mechanical production
01500	costs to drop dramatically as electronics costs fall with integration.
01600	The most promising cost reduction development would be high-production
01700	standard modules such as robots.  At some stage we expect that design
01800	will be cheaper with standard robot modules than with special purpose
01900	designs, just as it is now more economical to use mini-computer
02000	controllers than special purpose controllers.  To some extent, the
02100	dehumanized industrial worker fills that role now, so that we do not
02200	expect discontinuous change.  An inhibiting factor will be that large
02300	companies who can automate first, have large enough volume to afford
02400	large costs for special design.  That suggests a need for governmental
02500	support which will aid medium scale industry to get over the hump.
02600	But given sensor-equipped robots at little extra cost, they will
02700	have visual ability to sense color, strong contrasts in brightness,
02800	recognize known objects from two dimensional outlines (top view of
02900	flat object) or three dimensionally using depth, to a certain extent
03000	they will be able to recognize three dimensional objects using
03100	monocular recognition.  They will be able to visually align mating
03200	parts in assembly operations, increase reliability by self-calibration
03300	and flaw and disaster detection, and permit large tolerances in
03400	parts transfer, even permitting parts to be taken from a bin.  Several
03500	of these abilities are not yet available in the laboratory, but with
03600	known conditions and objects, and some engineering (color coding) are
03700	achievable within that time span.  
03800	
03900	To bring about a transfer of technology from the laboratory to pilot
04000	production, several concurrent phases are necessary:
04100		systematize hardware (cost conscious)
04105			Scheinman arm
04110			sensor study
04115			standard interface and pan/tilt for visual devices
04120			adopt commercial visual hardware
04200		systematize software and interaction
04205			hand/eye system
04210			drawing program
04215			experience with low/cost graphics
04300		ease of problem specification
04305			visual representation
04310			geometric editor
04315			visual input
04320			perceptual strategies
04400		standardize economical computer configuration
04405			alternative is de facto standards at lower level
04410			powerful force for guiding manufacturers of minis
04500		provide powerful modules to broaden engineering choices
04600		design inherent reliability.
04605			continuous self-calibration
04610			disaster detection and contingency planning
04615			wide latitude in tolerances
04620			low incremental cost in quality control
04625			continuous monitoring of function and product quality
04630	
04700	Our past work has included many of these functions.
04800	We have made color region finders [Binford, Bajcsy],
04900	texture analysis programs [Bajcsy], representation of complex objects
05000	[Binford], laser depth ranging devices [Binford, Agin], description
05100	of complex objects using depth information [Agin], visual feedback
05200	systems for stacking, picking up and inserting [Gill, Davis], standardized
05300	software systems [hand/eye system Feldman, Sproull, Pingle], performed
05400	sensor studies [Binford, Earnest], and maintained calibrated systems
05500	[Sobel, Gill].
     

00100	A plant would normally have a central time-sharing system which would
00200	monitor and schedule operations of machines and subsystems.  That
00300	provides a natural subdivision of abilities between the small computers
00400	which would control one or more machines, and the central system which
00500	would provide file storage and software support for large programs.
00600	Thus, we would find that the central computer would support:
00700		interactive job specification
00800			mechanical computer-aided design (CAMD)
00900		strategies
01000		complex vision for recovery (interrupt basis from minis)
01100	while the small machines would have, in addition to the arm control
01200	and contingency planning described above:
01300		visual feedback prediction and verification (Gill)
01400		edge and line finder (Hueckel)
01500		corner finder (Gill)
01550		region finder (Baumgart)
01600		color regions
01700		2-D template matching of shape
01800		access to large machine for contingency
     

00100	It might seem at first that our work on the representation of complex
00200	shapes might have little relevance to the transfer of technology to
00300	industry, since earliest applications might use the simplest facilities.
00400	In fact, one of the earliest needs will be for convenient man/machine
00500	communication.  Present non-intelligent robots are programmed by leading
00600	them through a path which is to be repeated ad nauseum.  An incremental
00700	addition will allow contingency trajectories to be executed in case of
00800	small variations from routine.  The engineer must then specify what
00900	normal function is, and how to monitor it, how to recognize recoverable
01000	situations.  To do so, he can specify this symbolically in interaction
01100	with an input program.  The language in which he specifies these
01200	normal/abnormal descriptions  involves the shape of objects for assembly,
01300	the mating of parts, and schematic descriptions of operations for insertion.
01400	The significance of our representation of shape is that it provides a
01500	natural way of speaking about shape, in terms of part/whole with
01600	primitives which resemble many fabrication operations.  It also provides
01700	considerable intuition for the program as to the intent of the operation,
01800	since it has powerful representation of shape, and an elaboration of
01900	form=function heuristics.  One function of a flat surface is to support
02000	objects (a table is a flat surface at a given height); the function of
02100	a room is to be a box, ie to enclose space.
02200	
02300	Another use of the representation of shape in interaction is for output
02400	of the machine's concepts to the user.  Computer display is a vigorous
02500	field now; our representation provides a more efficient representation
02600	for display and could lead to such facilities being available on 
02700	small machines.  For the machine's perception, this allows greater
02750	use of predictive mechanisms based on internal models.
02800	
02900	The representation aids input in that the information can be conveyed
03000	by human interaction or visual input.  An adequate description of an
03100	object could be to place it in front of the system (or in front of a
03200	big master system) and let the results be inferred.  The representation
03300	is useful for monocular vision also.
03400	
03500	The shape representation is relevant also for automating design of
03600	numerically machined parts.  The specification of machining operations
03700	is relatively straightforward in this framework, and sensor-controlled
03800	machines can be monitored in a much more efficient way.  A particular
03900	feature is that the user and the system would speak the same language
04000	of subparts, which could have variable tolerance for critical parts,
04100	instead of all having identical tolerances.  Lower reject rate and
04200	less waste effort would result from scheduling critical operations
04300	efficiently and selective use of high accuracy.