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

University Of Illinois At Urbana-Champaign, Urbana IL

Investigators

Abstract

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.