*** NOTE THE "WARNING" SECTION BELOW ABOUT SPECIAL *** *** IDENTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS FOR THIS MEETING *** IEEE Robotics and Automation Society New England Chapter Tuesday, January 9, 2001 Informal Discussion: 6:00 PM; Program: 6:30 PM THE SECOND MOST POWERFUL ROBOT IN THE WORLD Presented by Dr. Mike Brenner ABSTRACT This lecture is open to the public and is recommended for anyone interested in robots, eCommerce, or B2B, or anyone who thinks they might be interested in math, science, or electronics. This specific application of robotics is particularly interesting because it is peaceful, involving no weapons, destruction, or conflicts. Instead, it builds into the robot the relationships that people have established with their banks, marketers, vendors, manufacturers, and customers. Robots come in all sizes, from nano-machines to interplanetary-sized networks. They do all sorts of physical work for us, but few do as much work as B2B. B2B is the business-to-business robot connecting hundreds of millions of people to tens of millions of businesses, warehouses, manufacturers, vendors, packers, shippers, banks, clearing houses, laptops, and wireless phones, and spending trillions of dollars. B2B works because it is made up of a mix of many technologies, such as robot arms in warehouses; automatic product packing and wrapping systems; web languages such as Java and Python; mathematics such as calculus and algebra; relational databases; transactions, credit card clearinghouses, and bank float; computers, satellites, and radios; hyperlinks and nonproprietary standards such as HTML. But the most important technology is semantics: the ability of all of these technologies to communicate with each other. How different parts of B2B communicate meaningful messages to each other is the most important and most difficult thing about it. These issues will be discussed and demonstrated. There are different levels of communication. At the lowest level, there is integration, which can mean nothing more than that the technologies can coexist. For example, if two robots can work in the same area without cutting each other's arms off, or if two computer games can play on the same computer in two different frames, we say that they are integrated. At the next level, technologies can send messages to each other. For example, a robot can signal (say by emitting body odor, shedding vibratory dandruff flecks, or transmitting radio wave pulses) that it is nearby, in order to avoid collisions. At a very high level, technologies can interoperate. At this level they not only SEND signals to each other, but they correctly RECEIVE and ACT on those signals. For example, upon detecting the body odor of the passing robot, we are interoperable with them if we can actually avoid the collision instead of just intending to avoid it. To do this requires still more technology to make it all work reliably. Thus the whole galaxy of technologies hinges on how we can ensure that B2B can do the job correctly, with dignity and trust. ABOUT THE SPEAKER Mike Brenner (alias Mike the Mathematician) is the Vice Chair of the New England Chapter of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society. Mike uses mathematical Shape Theory to think about robotics problems. These problems include how to control large numbers of nano-robots, how to recognize patterns in the human genome database, how to teach robots what things really mean using hyperlinks from syntax and semantics to real situations called contexts, the topology of coupling and constraints, defending against denial-of-service attacks, and business-to-business software. Mike uses Shape Theory to lay out designs, analyze missing parts, see hidden relationships, solve complex problems, and tell interesting stories. Mike's current research in business-to-business software started from analyzing the growth of Voronoi regions on discrete spaces, such as braid groups, musical scales, and natural languages. At the MITRE Corporation in Bedford, Massachusetts, Mike works on various projects, especially large distributed systems such as the B2B robot and four-dimensional airspace deconfliction. At City University of New York, Mike is a visiting researcher in the Mathematics Department, working on non-Abelian group theory applications, such as cryptography. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION The IEEE Robotics and Automation Society will meet Tuesday, January 9, 2001, at MITRE in Bedford, MA, at 6:00 PM for informal discussions and for the formal presentation between 6:30 and 7:30 PM. The group will have dinner afterwards at a local restaurant, where more conversations can take place with the speaker. The meetings are open to the general public; however, note the WARNING below. Everyone is welcome at the dinner afterwards. For more information contact: Mike Brenner MikeTheMathematician@IEEE.org 781-271-3806 WARNING All visitors to MITRE must present POSITIVE PHOTO IDENTIFICATION, such as a drivers license. In addition, non-citizens will be asked to present any specific paperwork that they are required by law to carry, such as green cards, passports, and visas. DIRECTIONS Take I95 (128) to the Burlington MA exit marked Highway 3 North (not 3A). Take the first exit from Route 3, which comes at approximately 2 miles. At the end of the exit ramp, turn right onto Hwy 62. After approximately 1/8 mile, turn left at the light into the MITRE complex. Bear left at the fork and park in the covered parking lot. The M-building guard will check your photo ID and let you in. For more information about our section, visit our web site at http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/cleary/ieee/ ------- This is the mailing list of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, Central New England Chapter. Tell others who are interested in our meetings that they may subscribe to this list by sending a blank email message to: Robotics.Boston-subscribe@topica.com To unsubscribe, send a blank message to: Robotics.Boston-UNsubscribe@topica.com If you have any questions, contact the chapter secretary, Jay Sage, at Jay.Sage@ieee.org (mailto:Jay.Sage@ieee.org)