Robonomics.Network — XRT

Polkadots New Flame

11 min readJan 7, 2021

Citations in this article are primarily fetched from:

Lonshakov, S., Krupenkin, A., Kapitonov, A., Radchenko, E., Khassanov, A., & Starostin, A. (2018, May 12). Robonomics: Platform for integration of cyber physical systems into human economy. Retrieved January 02, 2021, from https://robonomics.network/community
(n.d.). Retrieved January 03, 2021, from https://wiki.robonomics.network/
Hsv. (2020, December 11). Robonomics Community AMA With Sergei Lonshakov, December 2020. Retrieved January 03, 2021, from https://hsvgts.medium.com/robonomics-community-ama-with-sergei-lonshakov-december-2020-fb4bc9be4a84
Hsv. (2020, December 03). Robonomics Network, Secure, Cost-Effective & Futuristic IoT Platform For Connecting Robotics Under… Retrieved January 02, 2021, from https://hsvgts.medium.com/robonomics-network-secure-cost-effective-futuristic-iot-platform-for-connecting-robotics-under-bcf33cde6893
Lonshakov, S., Krupenkin, A., Kapitonov, A., Radchenko, E., Khassanov, A., & Starostin, A. (2018, May 12). Robonomics: Platform for integration of cyber physical systems into human economy. Retrieved January 02, 2021, from https://robonomics.network/community

With the help of these sources, I will primarily go through 1. What Robonomics.Network is 2. What their goal is. 3. Why I am bullish. I will not go deeply into the technicalities, as they are much better explained by seeking out the whitepaper and other sources freely available on their website: https://robonomics.network/ I recommend that you take a look. The team that is working on this is extremely professional, publishing various research articles on the subject of robonomics.

Introducing Robonomic.Network(XRT)

Fundamentally, Robonomics Network is a “secure, сost-effective, and futuristic IoT platform for connecting robotics under Polkadot and Ethereum control.” The Robonomics team wants to integrate full-scale cyber-physical system(CPS) appliances in production, logistics, and urban life. Similar to an economics company, the cyber-physical system (CPS) incorporates several machines through a tightly integrated network of sensors and actuators capable of coordinated cooperation. I will be using the abbreviation CPS for cyber-physical systems. Now, by integrating CPS into these endeavors, it might allow humans to cope with the growing complexities of supply chains and deliver quality products for customers. In other words, a collaboration of autonomous CPS systems, a network based on market mechanisms.

What’s the best way to integrate a network of distribution, control, and provision adaptable to human needs? Blockchain. A Market mechanism that is directly accessible to the end-user with the help of p2p technologies. P2p network through Ethereum’s infrastructure(soon to be Polkadot), makes it possible to train CPSs to interrelate with market mechanisms.

Robonomics.Network lays the argument that Bitcoin has developed a network where robotics can be active in the economic world of human society. Machines were granted the ability to share values without human help. They argue that Bitcoin is the first robot currency. Continuing on this argument, the Ethereum network has helped us to extend the capacity of economically meaningful robots through smart contracts. Additionally, robots are now in a position to execute programs specified in the terms of the contract and to generate tokenized values based on their job.

What’s the end-goal for Robonomics? Summarized.

Robonomics providers will open robotics markets, IoT data markets, handle unmanned traffic, and start work in smart factories. Roboticists may have direct access to robot tasks that would be dependent on a subscription or charge for a particular utility to customers. The Polkadot or ETH network can protect the whole mechanism and process correctly.

Additionally, end-users can conveniently request the services of robotics. If a signed message is sent to the Robonomics network, the network will cover all the next steps. In other words; Autonomous in its true nature. The way of the future.

The scope of this project just blows my mind. They are trying to build an entirely new, and better future — by combining two of my favorite things; robotics and blockchain. How could I NOT be bullish on this?

However, that is not all. In Sergei Lonshakov’s LinkedIn, he has posted an article where Airalab(their company), and Microsoft Russia has started a blockchain platform for carbon credit transactions.. http://www.coinfox.info/news/6812-airalab-and-microsoft-russia-to-start-blockchain-platform-for-carbon-credit-trading

Honestly, I would have to write all day if I were to cover even half of what these guys are up to. Incredible and absolutely insane. I will try not to simp too hard, but I have to admit — it's difficult.

Smart cities And Smart Factories:

Yes. A goal is to BUILD smart cities and smart factories. I don’t know if you understand the gravity of that ambition. However, if this becomes a reality — Then I’d say that even trillions of $ in worth are a conservative number.

If you want even more explanation of this and the technicalities behind it, check out their 20-minute video with Dapp University: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mD-s9OBIPhU&feature=emb_title&ab_channel=DappUniversity

In Key-Points, What is Robonomics?

For this paragraph, I will be quoting HSV for his splendid summary of what Robonomics is. https://hsvgts.medium.com/robonomics-network-secure-cost-effective-futuristic-iot-platform-for-connecting-robotics-under-bcf33cde6893

A summary like this is great because I think it can be hard to really grasp and understand at first glance what XRT is trying to do. These key-points will give you a better overview:

*What is Robonomics? Robonomics is the first open-source platform that you can use to connect your robot as a service for end-users or digital markets.

*The company supports Web3 technologies that implement the exchange of technical and economic information between humans and machines.

*With the help of the XRT token, economic incentives will be created in order to maintain Robonomics by a decentralized network of providers.

*Robonomics is a purely technical and open source project. The project opens for developers a new audience of users and roboticists. To do this the company linked Ethereum and Polkadot with the Robot operating system (ROS). The number of roboticists familiar with ROS is about 22,000 developers.

*Robonomics was one of the first projects to enter the Polkadot ecosystem with work being underway since the end of 2018.

*Global change of most production processes is expected in the near future due to the significant potential of robotic systems. They are able to adapt to a wide range of tasks, they are more effective in many types of operating activities and they reduce time expenditures for the production. Robotization of production is growing, the world average number of robotic units per 10,000 employees of enterprises increased by 11% from 2015 to 2016. For example, only in Central and Eastern Europe in 2017 they were equipped by 28% of robotic units more than in 2016. Most entrepreneurs see in robotics the possibility of increasing the efficiency of their production and compensating for the shortage of personnel.

XRT Token & Metrics:

According to the whitepaper the task of the Robonomics token is to ensure the operation of a decentralized network for the maintenance of Smart Cities and Industry 4.0 in the Ethereum infrastructure(Soon to be Polkadot).

In order to achieve this goal, the token economy needs to reflect the incentives for the implementation of the networks' useful function by independent providers. These incentives should be distributed between the emission and the commission in such a way as to ensure the capacity of Robonomics in Ethereum depending on the price of XRT token as well as to motivate providers to run the Robonomics program in EVM with the data ordered by users. (Lonshakov et al., 2018)

(https://twitter.com/AIRA_Robonomics/status/1296834125073125379?s=20)

Inflation, Metrics, and Distribution on Kusama:

https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmZjzJbZDhs7B3YhtRkvdg4jp6qpfkVGB67w7vH2nJBUrE/Robonomics_token_Polkadot_KUSAMA_stage_details_september_2020.pdf

To get a day-to-day update on the information check out XRT on https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/robonomics-network

and/or

https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/robonomics-network/

Robonomics Platform:

In the XRT whitepaper, Lonshakov often writes that they have used the Ethereum network by now in order to provide minimum necessary facilities for combining the technical and economic parameters of the machine’s liability to implement a behavioral model that is coordinated with the user. In other words:

• expanding the capabilities of Ethereum in order for the market of CPSs behavioral models supply and demand to emerge;

• describing the Robonomics agents operating system as the interface of the Robot Operating System compatible CPS to the robots economy network;

• giving examples of the Robonomics platform application for the implementation of the SDK developer of user dapp for Smart Cities and Industry 4.0.

Polkadot and Ethereum:

In addition to this, you can go to https://telemetry.polkadot.io/#/Robonomics to verify that Robonomics parachain will be launched on Polkadot together with the network that is run on Ethereum https://github.com/airalab/robonomics.

Yes, this means that Robonomics.Network(XRT) will eventually fully integrate into Polkadot’s chain.

Kusama Auction:

Kusama parachain auction will happen. And according to the network architect, Sergei Lonskhakov, we can expect the Kusama slot auction very soon.

“I don’t know how long we should wait until Rococo v1 release, and when we can expect the Kusama Slot auction. But from the tech side, as I see Rococo v1 still has some opened issues on the Github that need to be resolved, and I guess in the next several weeks it will be done.”

“No one knows, how long it will take to implement Rococo v1 features into Kusama. Maybe weeks. maybe months — let’s see and help parity developers on this way.”

(https://twitter.com/EnsRationis/status/1334407718384365568)

New Staking Architecture?

Sergei, in his AMA with Yakub, also dropped some breadcrumbs of a new staking architecture being worked on.

“We finished the XRT staking architecture and it’s going to be literally something new for the crypto blockchain industry.”
“To understand why our staking mechanism is not the same as regular NPoS Polkadot we need to dive into its theory.”
“Staking mechanism in the parachains has to differ from the Relay chain’s architecture because parachains doesn’t have to maintain the cyber security of your projects parachain.”
“So, our team invented a unique stacking mechanism to achieve Robonomics Web Service’s monthly subscription payments. Beneficiaries of those payments would be XRT stakers.”

If you want to be the first to learn new information about this and other XRT stuff, check out their blog: https://robonomics.network/blog/

Scientific articles And Development:

Sergei, the lead architect, is blowing my mind the more I read about him. A proper hard-working guy. He(together with other team members) designs substrate implementation of Robonomics, develops Robonomics dapp library for js devs, prepares Robotics + Blockchain R&D project and publishes scientific articles with economy robots cases. These scientific articles can be found here: https://robonomics.network/community/#science They go in-depth on how Robotic services, robonomics, blockchain, and the economy go hand-in-hand.

Why Am I Bullish On XRT?

There are too many points as to why I am personally bullish on XRT. I think the first one correlates with my fascination with open-source and decentralization. Robonomics is a technical and open source project. This just showcases to me that their goal is to further develop for the better of humanity, not only for their own profits. To me, this is how development should be done in most areas.

Also, the development that they do within robotics is highly underrated and will prove to be one of the biggest industries in the future. We’ve all witnessed the rise of robots and the inevitable place they will have in our society. The way Robonomics Network by Aira seeks to integrate them to our benefit is undoubtedly the way to go.

Additionally, Robonomics was ONE OF THE FIRST PROJECTS that entered the Polkadot ecosystem. When you combine the fact that it’s one of the first projects on DOT, while they are simply working hard and building their tech — Its hard not to be bullish. In addition to this, they have been helping Polkadot developers to test out the Relay chain.

Still not bullish? Just read through this again.. “Robonomics Network aims to be a secure, сost-effective, and futuristic IoT platform for connecting robotics under Polkadot and Ethereum control.” An IoT platform, with competent, hard-working developers and team members. Open-source. Helping other chains and projects develop. Building trust in the production of smart cities and smart factories(maintaining the importance of end-user control). Healthy partnerships. One of the first and most ambitious projects on Polkadot… The list goes on ladies and gentlemen. It is hard to pin down what XRT is in a few words — I honestly recommend checking out their website and reading through some of their comprehensive documents. I can assure you, they are well written and worthy of being called scientific articles.