Becoming the Microsoft of the Robot World

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Ronald Fearing, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley, says he is in favor of open-source robotics, though open-source software wouldn't necessarily benefit the tiny robots he is designing.

"We're hopeful we can make the hardware for the robots open-source as well," says Fearing. "A couple of people with access to laser cutters have downloaded our designs and built them up."

Breaking the Walking Record

A further complication is that because robotics is still in its relative infancy, no dominant technology or manufacturer has yet emerged. Because in most cases the motions performed by today's robots are so simplistic—walking, rolling, welding—there is always the possibility that a better mousetrap can still be developed. For example, two robots designed solely for the purpose of walking might use completely different architecture. That is the case with a robot—the battery-powered Cornell Ranger—that broke the record for nonstop distance walked by an untethered-legged robot this year. The robot that previously held the record was BigDog, a deer-size, combustion engine robot.

Andy Ruina, a professor of mechanical engineering at Cornell University who created the Ranger, says too many robots are just sticks connected by hinges, and the angles at the hinges are controlled functions of time. He says robots should have a more natural swinging function—uncontrolled dynamics—that conserve energy.

Ruina says he would love an operating system to fit the Ranger. But at this point, there isn't one broad enough to work for, say, both BigDog and the Ranger. As Ruina puts it: "The operating system has to be versatile enough to include uncontrolled dynamics as part of the motion but not too versatile to be cumbersome."

Warbots and Spybots

Open-source software can simplify design phases but at the same time make systems more vulnerable. The very ubiquity of the Windows operating system makes it a favorite with hackers. This long-debated issue in the software community becomes especially important because so many robots are being designed for war and espionage purposes.

"The forces propelling robots in war are overwhelming," says Ray Kurzweil, an author and inventor who is a member of the Army Science Board. "An army and a nation [are] always going to prefer to sacrifice equipment over human soldiers."

Prototype robotic soldiers based on the Talon robots (built by QinetiQ North America in McLean, Va.) that disarm improvised explosive devices were shipped to Iraq in 2007. But controversy followed the robots after reported malfunctions. Army officials said the three robots never fired a shot outside of testing.

"It turns out to be next to impossible to debug software," Calo says. "You can have a sense of what a program is going to do, but getting it 100 percent right is not possible."

Overriding the Software

Bob Quinn, vice-president for Talon operations, is secretive about the software and security on the newest version of the robotic soldier—Modular Advance Armed Robotic System (Maars), which is now being tested by Special Forces in the U.S. Quinn does say, however: "There are multiple redundant safety controls. We simply don't rely on software alone."

Since many robots are designed with espionage in mind—such as a fly-size robot that could be outfitted with a camera designed by Harvard roboticists and a project at the University of California at Berkeley that has created robots no larger than a cockroach—it wouldn't make sense to have them all based on the same software. Many of them have far less computing capacity, anyway, than something like PR2.

For the more complicated robots, however, the operating system will become only more important. It's one thing when a robot vacuums a room and another when it is outfitted, like the Maars, with 40mm high-explosive grenades and an M240B machine gun with 450 rounds.

"This is software that can touch you," Calo says. "Unlike devices in the past, these machines can cause physical damage."

Click here to see a roundup of the world's most advanced robots.

Stonington is a reporter for Bloomberg News.

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