Rapid Robot Technology Advancements Supported by R&D Tax Credits
Long awaited technology advancements for robots are now
gaining momentum and can benefit from federal and select state
R & D tax credits. Recent major technology developments in
robot-related hardware and software are supporting a new wave
of robot innovation. These innovations are serving as an
advantage across wide regions of the national economy and are
changing many industries, including the fields of surgical
equipment, hazardous waste disposal and facility maintenance,
and industrial/repetitive processes.
The Research and
Development Tax Credit
Federally enacted in 1981, the R & D
tax credit allows a credit of up to 13% of eligible spend for
new and improved products and processes. Qualified research
must meet the following four criteria:
- New or improved products,
processes, or software
- Technological in nature
- Elimination of uncertainty
- Process of experimentation
Eligible costs include employee wages, cost of supplies, cost
of testing, contract research expenses, and costs associated
with obtaining a patent.
Robot Hardware
Innovation
Surgical
Recent advances in minimally invasive surgical techniques have
made it possible to perform extremely precise procedures in
the operating room with minimal margin for human error. For
instance, the da Vinci Surgical System is capable of
performing a surgical procedure for the removal of a diseased
gallbladder with only a single incision through the belly
button of a patient. The system presents several advantages
over traditional techniques, but doctors and researchers most
frequently cite the reduced patient discomfort as the greatest
benefit. Because surgeons using robots are able to control the
operating tools with increased dexterity, only the minimum
amount of incisions need to be made to achieve the desired
result, thereby posing the least pain and complications.
In
the case of open surgery, robotic systems replace traditional
tools and enable doctors to perform certain actions with much
smoother, feedback-controlled motions than could never be
achieved by a human hand. The main advantage of robots in the
open surgery context is that they reduce or eliminate the
collateral tissue damage that is often associated with open
surgery.
To
date, the most significant obstacle to the widespread adoption
of robotic surgical procedures is the cost of the equipment,
both directly and indirectly. The direct cost of purchasing
the equipment is extremely high and future research will need
to evaluate ways to reduce these costs so that hospitals can
afford to purchase the robotic equipment. Indirectly, robotic
equipment places a strain on hospital staff because it
requires intensive training before it can be operated.
Therefore, manufacturers of robotic equipment will need to
research methods to design more user-friendly equipment.
Hazardous/Honda Humanoid/Fukishma
example
Though Honda's ASIMO robot humanoid has been around since
2000, the importance of humanoids was made much more salient
in 2011 in the wake of Japan's Fukushima nuclear meltdown.
Since the disaster, Honda's response has been to develop an
ASIMO model capable of performing dangerous clean-up tasks
that pose a threat to human lives. The increased sensitivity
to spacial cues and human-like dexterity of its limbs make the
newest humanoid capable of greatly helping humankind not only
in disaster scenarios, but also in day-to-day operations that
keep civilizations moving.
ASIMO's enhanced capability to make judgments in real time
represents a technological leap that will prompt many
countries and industries to rethink their major operations.
Most directly, governments will use the technology in
scenarios like Fukushima, where the deployment of humanoids
will allow for swift and effective responses without putting
any humans in danger. Yet in the broader industrial context,
manufacturers will be able to increase their output and
quality control by effectively using humanoid technology for
complex tasks, which will become increasingly capable over the
coming years.
For
all the progress that that heretofore occurred in the field of
humanoid technology, there is still a great way to go before
humanoids like ASIMO are fully capable of performing human
tasks. Companies that dedicate considerable time to
researching and developing improvements to the current line of
humanoids will be well-suited for large R & D tax credits.
Industrial Repetitive
Probably the most visible field of robotic hardware is
industrial repetitive equipment. We've all seen images of the
modern assembly line in large factories manufacturing things
like automobiles, sheet metal, or CNC machines: industrial
repetitive robotic equipment has replaced many workers. These
robots engage in repetitive tasks, and are typically capable
of performing only a single task or range of tasks. Industrial
repetitive robots are reliable and relatively low-maintenance,
but in order to make them maximally effective, companies will
need to invest in R & D to keep their robots up-to-date.
The
future of industrial repetitive robotics will be determined by
the rate and ease with which the technologies can be applied
to emerging technologies and adapt to new processes.
Adaptability may be the key that researchers will need to
focus on when it comes to developing new repetitive industrial
robotics, and in so doing many researchers will qualify for
the R & D tax credit.
Robot Software
Innovations
Eindhoven open
protocol
In
much the same way that the Internet began in university labs
as a way for researchers to communicate with one another with
the goal of building up their knowledge base, Eindhoven
University in the Netherlands has publicly encouraged
researchers worldwide to help them develop an open source
system for robot hardware. An open protocol will enable
researchers from any university in any country to share
information with each other and standardize processes and
products so that the robots of the future will be able to
interact with each other. The university has stated that the,
"aim is for this to become a large plug and play library to
which robot builders worldwide can add their designs or
improve existing ones. The higher goal is to accelerate the
development of applications such as care robots, and to make
them much cheaper than they are at present."
By
building a Wiki database of all existing and developing
robotics projects, Eindhoven University hopes that it will
make the development of robotics much faster and at a much
lower cost. If the rapid development of the Internet after
universities decided to share their internal network with the
public is any indication, Eindhoven's aspirations will be
realized in the not-so-distant future.
Microsoft
Since 2006, tech giant Microsoft has been developing software
designed to manage complex robot behaviors. By using
message-passing and a lightweight services-oriented runtime,
Microsoft's Robotics Developer Studio (RDS) is able to
administer asynchronous parallel tasks, which means that RDS
software will be used in a large number of the robots
discussed above. Further, from an industry standpoint,
Microsoft's entry into the robotics software market highlights
the growing importance of robots in all facets of technology
since prior to 2006, Microsoft has been almost exclusively
focused on operating systems and Internet interface
development. In fact, it was this turn towards robotics that
resulted in the company's newest video game product, its
Kinect for Xbox 360.
Google's Lab X
Google's secretive offices near the company's headquarters in
Mountain View, California have been the subject of much
speculation lately. Google X is a clandestine lab researching
a variety of truly cutting-edge technologies that they believe
will change the future. Though the company is very
close-mouthed about the project, many industry insiders
believe that Google X consists of two offices, one of which is
dedicated to logistics, the other of which is exclusively
working on robotics.
With
the brand and brain power to research robot applications in a
way very few companies can dream of, Google is betting that
robots such as their driverless car, humanoids with artificial
intelligence, and highly interconnected home appliances
represent the next wave on consumer technologies. While the
widespread use of driverless cars, for instance, might still
be many years away, Google is trying to position itself at the
forefront of the robot marketplace. Within this domain, there
is a seemingly unending amount of research and development
that will need to take place before these technologies are
available to consumers, and Google or its like-minded
competitors will be eligible for the R & D tax credit.
Conclusion
The robotics industry is very much in
its infantile stages, but there is substantial momentum in
favor of its substantial growth. Both the hardware and
software involved in creating robots are garnering attention
from governments, major companies, and university analysts,
resulting in the belief that a lot more research and
development is needed to reach a robotics tipping point akin
to the Internet's boom in the 1990's. Companies and
universities allocating a large portion of their time to such
research and development shall be able to benefit from the 13%
federal R & D tax credit, and will likely qualify for its
state equivalent.
