Mobile Cloud Robotics: Developments, Applications, Challenges

Mobile Cloud Robotics: Developments, Applications, Challenges

October 4, 2022

Mobile Cloud Robotics: Developments, Applications, Challenges

Mobile Cloud Robotics: Developments, Applications, Challenges

After the Industrial and Digital revolution, we have now reached an exciting new apex of technological shift; the Robotic Revolution.

The Robots are here, practically taking over every facet of modern life, slowly but surely.

A New Era:

With the development of science and technology in recent years, robotic systems have brought significant change to our social and economic systems. These machines are smartly replacing humans in every sector and efficiently performing all sorts of tasks, from housekeeping to supply chain, robots are now being used everywhere.

They are most abundantly used in industries to perform tedious, repetitive, and dangerous tasks, like assembly, painting, Attractive packaging, and welding.

They have proven to be very successful in industrial applications because they are highly durable, fast, and precise.

Robots and Robotics:

Robotics is an interdisciplinary branch of engineering and science that is a unique combination of electric engineering, mechanical engineering, and computer science.

It deals with the design, building, development, operation, manufacturing, and applications of Robots. The main purpose of robotics is to design machines that can help and assist humans the best.

To put it simply, robotics is the study of everything related to Robots. But what exactly are robots?

Robots are autonomous machines that are capable of sensing the environment, carrying out computations, and performing actions in the real world. These intelligent machines replace human effort and perform functions in a human-like manner.

Robots are extremely diverse, they vary in size, design, and capabilities. There are bots as small as an ant and even as large as a car.

Robots are reshaping our lives for the better by eliminating the need to perform repetitive tasks, thus enabling us to concentrate on solving complex problems.

The Cloud Computing Technology:  

Cloud computing technology is a recent breakthrough in the world of tech which enables us to save information to remote databases and access them wherever we like.

This technology makes it possible for us to access computing resources such as data storage (cloud storage), databases, networking, and servers easily over the internet.

Cloud technology efficiently eliminates the need for enterprises to procure, configure, and manage resources themselves and it’s cost-effective because this way they can only pay for what they use.

Introduction to Mobile Cloud Robotics:

Humans can use the internet to share knowledge to help each in achieving complex tasks. Until recently robots were not given the advantage of this opportunity.

So, what happens when we combine the accuracy of robots to perform tasks with the vast treasure of information available on the cloud?

We get Cloud Robots!

This opens a door to endless possibilities, for instance, imagine a robot that finds an object that it’s not familiar with—say, a pencil. The robot could simply send an image of the pencil to the cloud and receive back the object’s name, a 3-D model, and instructions on how to use it.

Another example is mobile cloud control- which means humans can now delegate tasks to robots remotely by using the cloud.  Previously, it was required to program each robot individually to perform a specific task, but now we can control them all at once directly from our mobile devices on the cloud.

The construction of such robots with access to cloud platforms comes under Mobile Cloud Robotics.

It is a revolutionary merger of the two technologies, Mobile Robotics and Cloud computing.

Mobile cloud Robotics is an emerging field rooted in cloud computing, cloud storage, and other internet technologies centered around the benefit of converged infrastructure and shared services.

Currently, several research groups are working on the idea of robots that rely on cloud-computing infrastructure to access vast amounts of processing power and data.

This technology would allow robots to offload compute-intensive tasks like image identification and voice recognition and even download new skills instantly, just like in sci-fi films.

Research and Developments in Cloud Robotics

Mobile Cloud Robotics empowers the development of cloud robots that are cheaper, lighter, more efficient, and easier to program than conventional robots.

In a Cloud robotic system, the offloading of tasks and sharing of information is possible by using a centralized, dynamic computing model. This extraordinary model utilizes resources on demand from a shared resource pool in the ubiquitous cloud.

Hence, a Mobile Cloud Robotic system can extend a robot Network’s computation and information-sharing abilities.

It enables the construction of an architectural structure that powers a unique combination of an impromptu cloud formed by communication between participating robots- Machine to Machine (M2M), and a structural cloud by machine to cloud communication (M2C). 

A lot of money is being invested in the research and development of flexible cloud computing models and Robotic applications for the betterment of the human lifestyle.

Some noteworthy projects are:

  • RoboEarth – a World Wide Web for Robots:
  • Funded by the EU, RoboEarth is designed to explore and facilitate the scope of Mobile Cloud Robotics.
  • RoboBrain
  • As the name suggests, RoboBrain is a project to create a comprehensive online ‘brain’ for robots to access by merging all the robot-related information into a single comprehensive and interconnected knowledge base.
  • It has applications in robotic research, domestic robots, and autonomous vehicles.
  • Enables the robots to socialize, collaborate, and share sensory information.
  • Noos- Bringing intelligence to Robots 
  • A cloud robotic service that provides intelligence to robotic systems.
  • Offers remote access to robots from any place and time.
  • Ensures accuracy and consistency by capturing data from the exact location every time.

Applications of Cloud Mobile Robotics:

Mobile cloud robotics has countless applications, from production industries to laboratories and hospitals, they are revolutionizing every sector of the modern world. Some noteworthy employments include:

Cloud Medical Robots:

Robots are being utilized in the healthcare sector for some time now, mainly for surgical purposes and repetitive tasks. But being given access to the internet by the cloud technology they are completely transforming the medical field, making concepts like remote surgeries, therapies, and diagnostics a reality.

Robots now, are not only limited to operation theatres and surgeries but play an active role in clinical setups, medical records keeping,  and intensive patient care.

The use of mobile cloud robots extends further from the hospitals to the laboratories as well. Cloud medical bots are being used in Research facilities for processing biological data and even in aiding manual experiments, enabling scientists to focus on more tactical tasks.

Domestic Robots:

Cloud robotics has led to the development of mobile household robots that can assist in domestic chores, cleaning, and housework. they are designed to provide personal assistance, keep an eye on kids, and operate home appliances.

There are robots for:

  • Vacuuming: Roomba® s9+ Self-Emptying Robot Vacuum
  • Sterilization: TMiRob Series – Intelligent Sterilization Robot (ISR)

 All these chores can be executed accurately at a single command through mobile cloud technology.

Apart from household chores, they can also help in life monitoring of babies, disabled or sick individuals, and elderly people, in case of any emergency or mishappening they can instantly notify the caregivers or call for healthcare support.

Self-driving vehicles:

Autonomous cars are one of the best applications of cloud mobile robotics technology. These vehicles can fully move about without a person driving them.

Cloud cars use cloud technology to navigate through the roads effectively. Integration of cloud computing into automobiles enables the cars to communicate with each other, download maps, and traffic conditions, to get directions to the nearest routes. This way it is time-saving, more reliable and even reduces the chances of accidents. 

A fully functional example of autonomous vehicle is Google’s self-driving car- Waymo. These cars with the help of Google maps, Google Streetview and Google’s massive database are able to locate themselves, monitor their position and movements to avoid collisions, and traffic and reach at the required destination on time.

Waymo cars also share their experience to google cloud, from where the vehicles can use this information to learn and improve their performance.

Military Robots:

The use of cloud robotics for developing combat/defence military robots is on full fledge in first-world countries.

Military robots support military efforts and reduce the need for human soldiers to put their life on the line. They can be operated remotely and sent on rescue missions, search operations, bomb disposals, navy, and air surveillance.

Most military robots are designed to help soldiers to stay alert and prevent them from being killed. One such example is the PackBot– A series of military robots by iRobot. This device can detect hazards, identify enemies (by tracking sniper sound origins), hold supplies during missions, and a lot more.

 


A more dangerous example is the Predator drone, this robotic beast can take off, track enemies, acquire targets and engage in shooting remotely through the cloud.  

Autonomous robots designed to shoot enemies may sound like a sci-fi movie, but thanks to recent technological developments, it’s no longer fiction.

Space exploration:

In the near future, Robots not humans are going to be the primary explorers in outer space. That’s right, Robots are not just taking over the earth, but space too.

Whether it’s the earth or outer space, cloud technology plays a vital role in preventing communication delays. Data can be exchanged securely and efficiently from outer space back to the space centers by using cloud infrastructure. That’s why space agencies like NASA, are actively utilizing intelligent mobile robots powered by cloud technology (IRG) for space exploration and investigation.

Instead of sending Astronauts, ‘Robonauts’ are being sent for space exploration and findings. These robots can survive in hostile environments, they are cheaper, they don’t need food unlike humans and even if they do fail their mission no one gets harmed.

Up till now, 4 robotic rovers have successfully landed on mars:

The landing sites of all four Mars rovers on a map of Mars. Credit: National Geographic Society, MOLA Science Team, MSS, JPL, NASA

Challenges and Risks of cloud Robotics:

Although there are countless benefits of cloud computing applied to robots, there are certain limitations as well. Some of them are:

  • Network issues:

A robot completely relying to the cloud for his task execution might just go ‘brainless’ if a problem persists with the network.

  • Data security and privacy concerns:

What if a cloud robot gets hacked? This is an area of major concern since a significant amount of data of an organization is stored in the cloud.

  • Ethical issues:

Mobile cloud robots are connected to a network making them vulnerable to be accessed by criminals. Who would be held accountable if a robot gets rogue and carries out illegal activities?

  • Environmental hazards:

The more the number of devices connected to the internet the more the risk of security breaches. Cloud systems are often targeted by malware, virtual machines and other attacks.

  • Safety threats:

Since cloud robots are even utilized in the military and healthcare if a bot loses control and misbehaves it can cause serious damage and even take lives.

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