Ubiquitous robot is a term used in an analogous way to Ubiquitous computing

Ubiquitous computing

Ubiquitous computing is a post-desktop model of human-computer interaction in which information processing has been thoroughly integrated into everyday objects and activities. In the course of ordinary activities, someone "using" ubiquitous computing engages many computational devices and systems...

. Software useful for "integrating robotic technologies with technologies from the fields of ubiquitous and pervasive computing, sensor networks, and ambient intelligence" under GPL and LGPL licenses.

Emergence of mobile phone, wearable computer and ubiquitous computing predicts human beings will live in a ubiquitous world in which all devices are fully networked. The existence of ubiquitous space resulting from developments in computer and network technology will provide motivations to offer desired services by any IT device at any place and time through user interactions and seamless applications. This shift has hastened the ubiquitous revolution, which has further manifested itself in the new multidisciplinary research area, ubiquitous robotics. It initiates the third generation of robotics following the first generation of the industrial robot and the second generation of the personal robot.

Ubiquitous robot (Ubibot) is a robot incorporating three components including virtual software robot

Robot

A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...

 or avatar

Avatar (computing)

In computing, an avatar is the graphical representation of the user or the user's alter ego or character. It may take either a three-dimensional form, as in games or virtual worlds, or a two-dimensional form as an icon in Internet forums and other online communities. It can also refer to a text...

, real-world mobile robot and embedded sensor system in surroundings. Software robot within a virtual world can control a real-world robot as a brain and interact with human beings. Researchers of KAIST, Korea describe these three components as a Sobot (Software robot), Mobot (Mobile robot

Mobile robot

A mobile robot is an automatic machine that is capable of movement in a given environment.-Overview:Mobile robots have the capability to move around in their environment and are not fixed to one physical location...

), and Embot (Embedded robot).

Related Technical literature

• Tae-Hun Kim, Seung-Hwan Choi, and Jong-Hwan Kim. "Incorporation of a Software Robot and a Mobile Robot Using a Middle Layer." IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics - Part C: Applications and Reviews, Vol. 37, No. 6, Nov. 2007.
• Jong-Hwan Kim et al., “Ubiquitous Robot: A New Paradigm for Integrated Services,” in Proc. of IEEE Int’l Conf. on Robotics and Automation, Rome, Italy, April 2007.
• Jong-Hwan Kim, ``Ubiquitous Robot: Recent Progress and Development,'‘ (Keynote Speech Paper) in SICE-ICASE International Joint Conference 2006, Busan, Korea, pp. I-25 - I-30, Oct. 2006.
• Jong-Hwan Kim et al., “The 3rd Generation of Robotics: Ubiquitous Robot,” (Keynote Speech Paper) in Proc. of the International Conference on Autonomous Robots and Agents, Palmerston North, New Zealand, 2004.
• Jong-Hwan Kim, ``Ubiquitous Robot, in Computational Intelligence, Theory and Applications (edited by B. Reusch), in Springer, pp. 451–459, 2004 (Keynote Speech Paper of the 8th Fuzzy Days International Conference, Dortmund, Germany, Sep. 2004).