RoboEarth Cloud Engine: a cloud platform and “collective intelligence” for robots

Researchers from five European universities have joined forces to develop the world's first cloud platform for robots Rapyuta: RoboEarth Cloud Engine . The idea is that robots send complex tasks to the cloud, they can share information and coordinate with other robots. It turns out something like a "collective mind."

The project looks pretty scary, but in fact it is a normal cloud service that performs a utilitarian task. When using Rapyuta, it is not necessary to equip each robot with a powerful computer. Robots will become both cheaper and simpler - and at the same time “smarter”, if I may say so.


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“The service can be especially useful for mobile devices that process very large amounts of data for navigation: for example, drones or unmanned vehicles,” says the project’s technical director. “It provides significant advantages for working robots who work alongside people and need access to a large knowledge base, as well as for deploying groups of robots.”

On February 18, 2013, the first public version of the Rapyuta platform was released, as well as the application framework. The project is created on the principles of Open Source ( source code on github ), all developers of robots, both large companies and private individuals are invited to participate.

Below is a cartoon explaining the concept of Rapyuta.



For more information, see the article “Rapyuta: The RoboEarth Cloud Engine” ( pdf ), prepared for the ICRA 2013 International Conference on Robotics and Automation.