Working Groups
MassRobotics Working Groups
Working groups are established to meet industry needs and improve the use and adoption of robotics
Working Groups have objectives, missions and visions and work on specific ideas to drive development and adoption of robotics for both industry and for public benefit. These groups are driven by our industry partners, startups and stakeholders in the robotics space.
Working groups have currently been established in the areas of Drones, AMRs, Autonomous Vehicles and Healthcare.
AMR Interoperability Working Group
The MassRobotics AMR Interoperability Working Group helps improve the use and adoption of autonomous mobile robots.
The group’s mission is to develop standards that will allow organizations to deploy autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) and other automation and collaborative equipment so that they may work together in the same environment, better realizing the promise of warehouse and factory automation. These standards will allow information sharing so they can better coexist on a warehouse or factory floor.
The AMR Interoperability Working Group will not address safety standards of AMRs and will not duplicate the efforts of ISO under the TC 299 WG (TS 15066, 18646, etc.), the IEEE RAS (such as 1872-2015 or 1873-2015 or active work 1872.2 and P2751) or the RIA (TR 15.606 or ANSI/RIA 15.06).
The AMR Interoperability Standard 1.0 was released May 18, 2021. You can view the press release here.
You can find documentation needed to implement the standard on GitHub.
Read our blog post covering the AMR Standard 1.0 which provides background around the development of the standard as well the reasoning behind some of the design choices.
Download the MassRobotics AMR Interoperability Standard Implementation Steps.
DROWG (Drone Working Group)
Our vision is for the DROWG to be a common voice for the drone community.
Our mission is to educate the public and shape policy about drones so that the state is seen as a leader with a business supportive environment, an early adopter by government and industry and as a place where startups will have resources to develop and test.
Automated Vehicle Consortium
The mission is focused on how automated mobility best serves society. To promote open, engaging and candid discussion, the following rules are in place. All discussions fall under Chatham House Rules. Meetings are not open to the general public, nor is the press invited. Membership is invitation-only. To fulfill our mission, members are carefully chosen from public policymakers (local, state and federal levels), industry and academia.
Healthcare Robotics Working Group
The Healthcare Robotics Working Group comprises technologists and business people with a common interest in how robots can help in healthcare.
In October 2021, MassRobotics, FESTO, and other key players in the Healthcare Robotics space launched a Startup Catalyst Program to advance healthcare robotics companies worldwide by providing the connections, guidance, and resources they need to grow and succeed. The aim of the program is to connect healthcare robotics startups with customers, investors, suppliers, marketing, and overall support. In 2022, Mitsubishi Electric, Novanta, and MITRE joined FESTO in the Steering Committee of the Working Group and Startup Catalyst Program.
The program focuses on startups working in clinical care, public safety, laboratory and supply chain automation, out-of-hospital care, quality of life, as well as continuity of work and education, healthcare professionals’ training and support.
Socially Aware Autonomous Mobility (SAAM) Consortium
SAAM is spearheaded by Paul Schmitt, MassRobotics’ automated vehicles director. SAAM’s mission is to connect industry, academia and public policy to share perspectives and updates around community and human/robot Interaction challenges. Additionally SAAM advances ideas that improve awareness of issues and the community experience of automated mobility.
SAAM functions at a global level with current members from Europe, Canada and the U.S. SAAM’s inaugural guest speaker was Bruce Mehler from the MIT AGELab who presented “Status and Direction of AV and Pedestrian Interactions at the United Nations.”
Clean Tech Robotics Working Group
The Clean Tech Robotics Working Group is a new working group being launched by MassRobotics with support from the MassTech Collaborative. The working group will bring together: technologists, researchers, startups and industry representatives to share pain points and opportunities for clean energy and robotics. Please fill out this form if you have interest in participating or contact us info@massrobotics.org.
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