EURON Key AreasDisseminationThe Dissemination Key Area aims to provide the necessary mechanisms for dissemination of information about robotics in Europe. The dissemination effort is in terms of scientific reporting of results from the initiative, and a general press and media service. EURON was influential in encouraging Springer to set up a new book series devoted to robotics, entitled "Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics" (STAR). This series has turned into their most successful new series ever. Springer is now producing the 1500-page "Handbook of Robotics", due out in March 2007. From their 2006 catalogue: "Robotics is undergoing a major transformation in scope and dimension. Starting from a predominantly industrial focus, robotics has been rapidly expanding into the challenges of unstructured environments. The Springer Handbook of Robotics incorporates these new developments and therefore basically differs from other handbooks of robotics focusing on industrial applications. It presents a widespread and well-structured conglomeration of new emerging application areas of robotics. The handbook is an ideal resource for robotics experts but also for people new to this expanding eld such as engineers, medical doctors, computer scientists, designers; edited by two internationally renowned experts." EURON has a regular tri-monthly column in the IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine (RAM), an official publication of the Robotics and Automation Society (RAS), and several RAS special issues have been produced. RAM has a large international audience of researchers and practitioners (10,000 copies) and a high impact ratio. A number of new dissemination activities are also taking place, such as a series of promotional leaflets for handing out at meetings, etc. The different leaflets have different emphases and different intended audiences. The first leaflet aimed at a general readership of intelligent people with some interest in science. pdf. The second EURON leaflet encourages people to contribute to and use the Education Key Area initiatives. pdf. A DVD with videos from EU research laboratories, etc. was produced in order to advertise EURON at the Automatica Trade Fair. |
Robot of the WeekSurgery wormAn aid for heart surgeons
Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) replaces the wide incision used for classic operations with a few small incisions, through which the tips of robot arms are inserted: one holding a camera and others holding surgical tools. These arms are controlled by the surgeons carrying out the operation. Our surgery worm is an articulated arm designed for heart surgery, more precisely Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG). The articulated snake-like forearm can carry various tools along twisting paths, minimising impact on the patient. This reduces patient trauma, postoperative pain and recovery time The fixture is a good example of a Micro Electro Mechanical System (MEMS), with force-actuation and shape-control being intrinsic properties. A prototype of the surgical instrument has been machined in Paris and will be tested in vivo. We are currently developing new task-oriented end-effectors, such as a self-operating sewing rig able to operate with a single thread. The surgery worm was developed by a collaboration between the PMAR Lab of EURON member 95, the University of Genova, Italy, and the LRP laboratory of the University of Paris 6, France.
| ||
