News

Autoware accelerators, application-specific system-on-chip (Soc) and software platform for autonomous vehicles (robots)

Source: Acceleration Robotics, August 18, 2023 [1]
Axell's and Tier IV's groundbreaking System-on-Chip tailored for autonomous driving and the unmatched prowess of Autoware Accelerators. The synergy between the two promises unparalleled performance in the future of autonomous vehicle technologies.

How Intel, Samsung and TSMC are changing the world

Source: Semiwiki, August 21, 2023 [2]
The term "Rock Star" now refers to leaders, innovators, and significant individuals or organizations in the semiconductor industry. Advanced chip designers and packaging engineers are now considered rock stars due to the revolution of multi-die design, which is expected to significantly change the semiconductor industry and the world.

Semiconductor skills shortage may escalate to ‘crisis’ by 2030

Source: All About Circuits, August 14, 2023 [3]
Although the semiconductor industry is historically one of the most lucrative and fast-paced industries in the world, it now faces an unprecedented challenge.

LiDAR on a chip puts self-driving cars in the fast lane

Source:IEEE Spectrum , August 20, 2023 [4]
UTO accidents cause 1.3 million deaths annually, affecting millions. Self-driving cars and trucks could save lives, but implementing this technology has been challenging. The success of these cars depends on whether they require lidar sensors, which provide a detailed 3D map of the vehicle's environment. Despite significant research and progress, achieving this goal remains a challenge.

Intel’s chiplet strategy accelerates FPGA development

Source: Forbes, August 21, 2023 [5]
Intel's Programmable Solutions Group (PSG) has been using chiplet technology for its Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) since 2016, using Intel's embedded multi-die interconnect bridge (EMIB) packaging technology. This design approach allows Intel to rapidly add new members to its FPGA product families, benefiting its customers for various reasons.

China pledges to boost robot use in manufacturing

Source: South China Morning Post, August 20, 2023 [6]
China has said it will increase the use of robots in manufacturing and industry, viewing the technology as a key engine for growth and for moving the country up the industrial chain.

Researchers introduce HADAR, a new machine perception system

Source: Geo Week News, August 9, 2023 [7]
A team of researchers from Purdue University and Michigan State University have unveiled, HADAR, a machine learning-powered algorithm for thermal imaging.

Europe spent €600 million to recreate the human brain in a computer. How did it go?

Source: Nature, August 22, 2023 [8]
The Human Brain Project, funded by the European Union, aimed to understand the human brain by modeling it in a computer. Over a decade, around 500 scientists published thousands of papers and made significant strides in neuroscience, including 3D maps of 200 brain regions, brain implants, and using supercomputers to model functions like memory and consciousness.

Papers

An overview of a framework for designing robot autonomy stacks in simulation

Source: ECCOMAS, July 24, 2023 [9]
This paper presents a software framework and hardware platform for designing and analyzing robot autonomy algorithms in simulation and reality. The software, open source, containerized, and OS independent, includes a ROS 2 interface to a vehicle simulation framework, a basic ROS 2-based autonomy stack, and a development ecosystem. The hardware platform, a 1/6th scale vehicle with reconfigurable mountings, allows physical testing and improvement of algorithms and sensor configurations.

Toward reproducible version-controlled perception platforms: embracing simplicity in autonomous vehicle dataset acquisition

Source: StachnissLab , August, 2023 [10]
This article explores the challenge of creating reliable perception platforms for autonomous vehicles, focusing on capturing and processing sensor data to ensure integrity and quality. It proposes using version control systems to improve dataset acquisition efficiency, reliability, and scalability. The method aims to make setup and data more reliable and reproducible.

Previous Hardware Acceleration in Robotics Newsletters

Past ROS 2 Hardware Acceleration Working Group meetings

  1. Mayoral-Vilches, V. (2023, August 16). Autoware accelerators, application-specific system-on-chip (Soc) and software platform for autonomous vehicles (robots). Acceleration Robotics. https://news.accelerationrobotics.com/tier-iv-and-axell-unveil-autoware-accelerator-prototypes/ ↩︎

  2. Gianfagna, M. (2023, August 21). How Intel, Samsung and TSMC are changing the world. Semiwiki. Retrieved August 23, 2023, from https://semiwiki.com/semiconductor-manufacturers/333528-how-intel-samsung-and-tsmc-are-changing-the-world/ ↩︎

  3. Hertz, J. (2023, August 14). Semiconductor skills shortage may escalate to ‘crisis’ by 2030. All About Circuits. https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/news/semiconductor-skills-shortage-may-escalate-to-crisis-2030/?utm_source=All+About+Circuits+Members&utm_campaign=a2d277d1e4-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2023_08_17_04_25_COPY_02&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-a0f9b0be87-[LIST_EMAIL_ID] ↩︎

  4. Watts, m., Poulton, C., byrd, M., & Smolka, G. (2023, August 20). LiDAR on a chip puts self-driving cars in the fast lane. IEEE Spectrum. https://spectrum.ieee.org/lidar-on-a-chip ↩︎

  5. Leibson, S. (2023, August 21). Intel’s chiplet strategy accelerates FPGA development. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/tiriasresearch/2023/08/21/intels-chiplet-strategy-accelerates-fpga-development/?sh=36ee60be5561 ↩︎

  6. Dang, Y. (2023, August 20). China pledges to boost robot use in manufacturing. South China Morning Post. https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3231715/china-eyes-robot-manufacturing-way-fuel-economic-growth ↩︎

  7. Collins, M. (2023, August 9). Researchers introduce HADAR, a new machine perception system. Geo Week News. https://www.geoweeknews.com/news/hadar-heat-assisted-detection-and-ranging-imaging-thermal-machine-learning ↩︎

  8. Naddaf, M. (2023, August 22). Europe spent €600 million to recreate the human brain in a computer. How did it go? Nature. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02600-x ↩︎

  9. Hansen, T., Chatterjee, S., Ashokkumar, S., Mahajan, I., Zhang, H., Caldararu, S., Dashora, A., Young, A., Shen, H., Fang, L., & Negrut, D. (2023, July 24). An overview of a framework for designing robot autonomy stacks in simulation. ECCOMAS. https://multibody2023.tecnico.ulisboa.pt/prog_MULTIBODY_WEB/MULTIBODY2023_PAPERS/ID_142.pdf ↩︎

  10. Vizzo, I., Mersch, B., Nunes, L., Wieesmann, L., Guadagnino, T., & Stachniss, C. (2023, August). Toward reproducible version-controlled perception platforms: embracing simplicity in autonomous vehicle dataset acquisition. StachnissLab . https://www.ipb.uni-bonn.de/wp-content/papercite-data/pdf/vizzo2023itcsws.pdf ↩︎