Mapping the co-evolution of artificial intelligence, robotics, and the internet of things over 20 years (1998-2017).

Understanding the emergence, co-evolution, and convergence of science and technology (S&T) areas offers competitive intelligence for researchers, managers, policy makers, and others. This paper presents new funding, publication, and scholarly network metrics and visualizations that were validated via expert surveys. The metrics and visualizations exemplify the emergence and convergence of three areas of strategic interest: artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and internet of things (IoT) over the last 20 years (1998-2017). For 32,716 publications and 4,497 NSF awards, we identify their topical coverage (using the UCSD map of science), evolving co-author networks, and increasing convergence. The results support data-driven decision making when setting proper research and development (R&D) priorities; developing future S&T investment strategies; or performing effective research program assessment.
Competing Interests: The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. NSWC Crane did not play a role in the study design, analysis, and decision to publish. The specific role of Jonathan Dilger is articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. Other authors were not employed by the NSWC Crane.