Manufacturing and Industrial Robotics have reached a point where to be more useful to small and medium sized manufacturers, the systems must become more agile and must be able to adapt to changes in the environment. This paper describes the process for creating and the lessons learned over multiple years of the Agile Robotics for Industrial Automation Competition (ARIAC) being run by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

We provide an overview and guidance for the Speed and Separation Monitoring methodology as presented in the International Organization of Standardization's technical specification 15066 on collaborative robot safety. Such functionality is provided by external, intelligent observer systems integrated into a robotic workcell. The SSM minimum protective distance function equation is discussed in detail, with consideration for the input values, implementation specifications, and performance expectations. We provide analytical analyses and test results of the current equation, discuss considerations for implementing SSM in human-occupied environments, and provide directions for technological advancements toward standardization.

Over the past two decades, the bulk of gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopic procedures has shifted away from diagnostic and therapeutic interventions for symptomatic disease toward cancer prevention in asymptomatic patients. This shift has resulted largely from a decrease in the incidence of peptic ulcer disease in the era of antisecretory medications coupled with emerging evidence for the efficacy of endoscopic detection and eradication of dysplasia, a histopathological biomarker widely accepted as a precursor to cancer. This shift has been accompanied by a drive toward minimally-invasive, in situ optical diagnostic technologies that help assess the mucosa for cellular changes that relate to dysplasia. Two competing but complementary approaches have been pursued. The first approach is based on broad-view targeting of "areas of interest" or "red flags." These broad-view technologies include standard white light endoscopy (WLE), high-definition endoscopy (HD), and "electronic" chromoendoscopy (narrow-band-type imaging). The second approach is based on multiple small area or point-source (meso/micro) measurements, which can be either machine (spectroscopy) or human-interpreted (endomicroscopy, magnification endoscopy), much as histopatholgy slides are. In this paper we present our experience with the development and testing of a set of familiar but "smarter" standard tissue-sampling tools that can be routinely employed during screening/surveillance endoscopy. These tools have been designed to incorporate fiberoptic probes that can mediate spectroscopy or endomicroscopy. We demonstrate the value of such tools by assessing their preliminary performance from several ongoing clinical studies. Our results have shown promise for a new generation of integrated optical tools for a variety of screening/surveillance applications during GI endoscopy. Integrated devices should prove invaluable for dysplasia surveillance strategies that currently result in large numbers of benign biopsies, which are of little clinical consequence, including screening for colorectal polyps and surveillance of "flat" dysplasia such as Barrett's esophagus and chronic colitis due to inflammatory bowel diseases.