I-Corps: Easy-to-Use Software for Automation

自动化可以使重复或无聊的体力劳动？就像将箱子移动到传送带上一样--这是生活中的一个琐碎的组成部分;然而，想要在他们的工作场所和/或家中使用自动化的小企业和消费者面临着进入高度技术领域的不可逾越的挑战。通常，被称为机器人集成商的外部公司被雇用来设计和实施这样的系统。虽然这个过程中使用的硬件越来越便宜，但建造和编程这些系统所需的训练有素的技术工程师的体力劳动却不是这样。这个I-Corps团队正在开发易于使用的软件，该软件将允许非技术用户设计和实施自己的自动化系统，这些系统根据自己的需求定制，而无需雇用昂贵的机器人集成商。这项新的技术正在通过一个基于网络的软件平台降低小企业主和家庭消费者的进入门槛，用户可以通过一个非技术性的、直观的用户界面构建自己的自动化程序。这个最初的原型利用了一种从行动和感知原语方面思考自动化的方式，这种方式来自大学机器人研究实验室。所提出的技术有可能极大地改变自动化及其有据可查的好处的人群。这项技术所采用的方法可以将简单的移动机器带入更多的环境。将工业自动化的用例扩展到更小的批量和更窄的利润率是实现物联网愿景的关键挑战。这一挑战在很大程度上是由于集成可用的、具有成本效益的传感器、执行器和算法所需的技术专业知识的高成本。然而，可以开发相对便宜的软件来帮助用户使现有技术适应他们的环境。所提出的技术利用两个关键技术领域。一个领域是产品的计算架构和可扩展代码架构的开发，以及对大量所谓的感知和动作原语的支持。另一个领域是人为因素，其中未受过训练的用户从上下文化用例移动到特定逻辑设计的能力是关键。在这里，一个相对复杂的过程必须被提炼成基本步骤，未经培训的用户可以在特定环境中将其与熟悉的过程联系起来。参与创新团队将使团队能够确定和研究开发和推出第一款产品的适当市场。特别是，该团队将探索哪些客户群？从家庭业余爱好者到中小型工业公司，就该技术的可行应用以及市场需求和定价而言，都非常适合所提出的技术。该团队的参与将影响技术的并行开发，并为商业计划提供信息，从而使技术商业化。

Automation can make repetitive or boring physical tasks ? like moving boxes onto a conveyor belt-a trivial component of life; however, small businesses and consumers that want to use automation in their workspace and/or home face insurmountable challenges to enter a highly technical field. Typically, external companies called robotic integrators are employed for designing and implementing such systems. While the hardware used in this process is getting cheaper and cheaper, the physical labor of highly trained technical engineers needed to build and program these systems is not. This I-Corps team is developing easy-to-use software that will allow nontechnical users to design and implement their own automated systems that are customized to their own needs without having to hire costly robotic integrators. The new, proposed technology is lowering the barrier to entry for small business owners and home consumers through a web-based software platform where users can build their own programs for automation through a nontechnical, intuitive user interface. This initial prototype leverages a way of thinking about automation in terms of action and sensing primitives that derives from a university robotics research lab. The proposed technology has the potential to dramatically transform the population of people to whom automation, and its well-documented benefits, is available. The approach taken in this technology could bring simple, moving machines into many more environments.Expanding the use cases of industrial automation to smaller batch sizes and narrower profit margins is a key challenge toward realizing the vision of the Internet of Things. This challenge is due in large part to the high cost of technical expertise required for the integration of available, cost-effective sensors, actuators, and algorithms. However, relatively inexpensive software can be developed to help users adapt existing technology to their environment. The proposed technology utilizes two key technical areas. One area is the computational architecture of the product and the development of a scalable code architecture and support for a larger number of so-called sensing and action primitives. Another area is in human factors where the ability of an untrained user to move from a contextualized use-case to specific logic design is key. Here, a relatively complex process must be distilled to essential steps that an untrained user can relate to a familiar process in a particular environment. Participation in the Innovation Corps will allow the team to identify and research the appropriate market in which to develop and launch a first product. In particular, the team will explore which customer base ? ranging from at-home hobbyists to small-to-medium sized industrial companies-is a good fit, in terms of feasible application of the technology as well as market demand and pricing, for the proposed technology. The team's participation will influence parallel development of technology and inform a business plan that will allow for commercialization of the technology.