Programme

Plenary 01: Autonomous Robots: Adaptation and Software Integration

SPRING’s software architecture [Slides, Recording]

Dr. Séverin Lemaignan, PAL Robotics

Autonomous Robots in the Wild – Adapting from and for Interaction [Slides, Recording]

Prof. Marc Hanheide, University of Lincoln (@MarcHanheide)

Abstract: Robots that are released “into the wild” are moving away from the controlled environments and laboratories in which they were developed. They are now forced to contend with constantly changing environments and uncertainty, learn on the job, and adapt continuously and over the long term. The paradigm of long-term autonomy and adaption is what enables the deployment of robots away from factory floors and warehouses where they already are omnipresent into equally challenging and promising application domains. In the winter school course, we will look at how robots can “survive” (operate reliably and effectively) in dynamic environments, ranging from agricultural fields to museums, experiencing slow changes due to seasons and acute uncertainty from interaction with humans. We will look at selected recent robotic developments in mapping, navigation, interaction, and perception and discuss the challenges and opportunities of deploying autonomous robots in the wild.

Bio: Marc Hanheide is a Professor of Intelligent Robotics & Interactive Systems in the School of Computer Science at the University of Lincoln, UK, and the director of the University’s cross-disciplinary research centre in Robotics, the Lincoln Centre for Autonomous Systems (L-CAS). He received the Diploma in computer science from Bielefeld University, Germany, in 2001 and the Ph.D. degree (Dr.-Ing.) also in computer science also from Bielefeld University in 2006. In 2001, he joined the Applied Informatics Group at the Technical Faculty of Bielefeld University. From 2006 to 2009 he held a position as a senior researcher in the Applied Computer Science Group. From 2009 until 2011, he was a research fellow at the School of Computer Science at the University of Birmingham, UK. Marc Hanheide is a PI in many national and international research projects, funded by H2020, EPSRC, InnovateUK, DFG, industry partners, and others, as well as the director of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Doctoral Training in Agri-Food Robotics (AgriFoRwArdS). The STRANDS, ILIAD, RASberry, and NCNR projects are among the bigger projects he is or was involved with. In all his work, he researches autonomous robots, human-robot interaction, interaction-enabling technologies, and system architectures. Marc Hanheide specifically focuses on aspects of long-term robotic behaviour and human-robot interaction and adaptation. His work contributes to robotic applications in care, logistics, nuclear decommissioning, security, agriculture, museums, and general service robotics. He features regularly in public media, has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles, and is actively engaged in promoting the public understanding of science through appearances in dedicated events, media appearances, and public lectures.

Plenary 02: Experimental Robotics: from Results to Policies

Experimental Validation of the SPRING-ARI robotic platform [Slides, Recording]

Cyril Liotard, ERM Automatismes

AI and Children’s Rights: Lessons Learnt from the Implementation of the UNICEF Policy Guidance to Social Robots for Children [Slides, Recording]

Dr. Vasiliki Charisi, University College London

Abstract: The rapid development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) places children in a constantly changing environment with new applications that utilize Generative AI, Social Robots and Virtual Reality impacting their online and offline lives. To ensure the development of responsible AI for children, UNICEF developed a Policy Guidance on AI and Children’s Rights, drawing on inputs from international experts, governments, industry and children and invited organizations and industry to pilot their implementation in different kinds of applications. In this talk, I will describe the process of piloting some of the proposed recommendations in a social robot for children. The talk will tackle the following three aspects: A. How can recommendations and guidelines for AI and Children’s Rights be embedded in industry strategies and translated into concrete technical specifications for AI products that protect children’s privacy, safety, cyber-security, inclusion and non-discrimination and their rights in the digital world? B. How can we ensure children’s inclusion in the whole cycle of product design, development, implementation, and evaluation? C. How can governments and intergovernmental institutions support a transparent interaction between policy, industry, and civil society and ensure accountability?

Bio: Vicky Charisi is a Research Scientist at the European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Unit of Digital Transformation, Digital Economy and Society and at the EU Policy Lab. She studies the impact of Artificial Intelligence on Human Behaviour, and her research supports policymaking at the European Commission and internationally. She is particularly interested in understanding how interactive and intelligent systems, including social robots, affect human cognitive development, such as the processes of structure emergence especially in early childhood and how social interactions affect development. At the same time, she works on ethical considerations in the design and development of social robots and she has ongoing collaborations with UNICEF, United Nations ITU, IEEE Standards Association and other organizations for the consideration of human rights in the design of robots for children. In addition, her work tries to understand cross-cultural differences in the perception of fairness and she conducts studies in Europe, Africa and Asia. Vicky finished her Ph.D. studies at the UCL Institute of Education and worked at the University of Twente in the Human-Media Interaction group. Vicky has published more than 60 scientific publications and science-for-policy reports, and she serves as a Chair of the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society, Cognitive and Developmental Systems, TF of Human-Robot Interaction.