EMERGENCE: Tackling Frailty - Facilitating the Emergence of Healthcare Robots from Labs into Service

Lead Research Organisation: University of Nottingham
Department Name: School of Computer Science

Abstract

The EMERGENCE network aims to create a sustainable eco-system of researchers, businesses, end-users, health and social care commissioners and practitioners, policy makers and regulatory bodies in order to build knowledge and capability needed to enable healthcare robots to support people living with frailty in the community.

By adopting a person-centred approach to developing healthcare robotics technology we seek to improve the quality of life and independence of older people at risk of, and living with frailty, whilst helping to contain spiralling care costs. Individuals with frailty have different needs but, commonly, assistance is needed in activities related to mobility, self-care and domestic life, social activities and relationships. Healthcare can be enhanced by supporting people to better self-manage the conditions resulting from frailty, and improving information and data flow between individuals and healthcare practitioners, enabling more timely interventions.

Providing cost-effective and high-quality support for an aging population is a high priority issue for the government. The lack of adequate social care provisions in the community and funding cuts have added to the pressures on an already overstretched healthcare system. The gaps in ability to deliver the requisite quality of care, in the face of a shrinking care workforce, have been particularly exposed during the ongoing Covid-19 crisis.

Healthcare robots are increasingly recognised as solutions in helping people improve independent living, by having the ability to offer physical assistance as well as supporting complex self-management and healthcare tasks when integrated with patient data. The EMERGENCE network will foster and facilitate innovative research and development of healthcare robotic solutions so that they can be realised as pragmatic and sustainable solutions providing personalised, affordable and inclusive health and social care in the community.

We will work with our clinical partners and user groups to translate the current health and social care challenges in assessing, reducing and managing frailty into a set of clear and actionable requirements that will inspire novel research and enable engineers to develop appropriate healthcare robotics solutions.

We will also establish best practice guidelines for informing the design and development of healthcare robotics solutions, addressing assessment, reduction and self-management of frailty and end-user interactions for people with age-related sensory, physical and cognitive impairments. This will help the UK develop cross-cutting research capabilities in ethical design, evaluation and production of healthcare robots.

To enable the design and evaluation of healthcare robotic solutions we will utilize the consortium's living lab test beds. These include the Assisted Living Studio in the Bristol Robotics Lab covering the South West, the National Robotarium in Edinburgh together with the Health Innovation South East Scotland's Midlothian test bed, the Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre and HomeLab in Sheffield, and the Robot House at the University of Hertfordshire covering the South East. Up to 10 funded feasibility studies will drive co-designed, high quality research that will lead to technologies capable of transforming community health and care.

The network will also establish safety and regulatory requirements to ensure that healthcare robotic solutions can be easily deployed and integrated as part of community-based frailty care packages.

In addition, we will identify gaps in the skills set of carers and therapists that might prevent them from using robotic solutions effectively and inform the development of training content to address these gaps. This will foster the regulatory, political and commercial environments and the workforce skills needed to make the UK a global leader in the use of robotics to support the government's ageing society grand challenge.

Organisations

 
Title EMERGENCE Conceptual Artwork 
Description Following the WP1 Workshop in Sheffield, the EMERGENCE network employed the graphic facilitation services of Sam Church Illustration to produce conceptual artwork that encapsulated the initial thoughts and ideas that participants had around the opportunities for the use of assistive robotics to address the challenges faced by those living with frailty. The artwork produced depicted 5 concepts that had been suggested by participants and included a rough sketch to give a suggestion of potential size and shape along with annotations with suggested potential functionality. 
Type Of Art Artwork 
Year Produced 2022 
Impact The resulting artwork was used within the WP1 "Define" workshops as a conversation starter to give participants the opportunity to discuss their feelings about each concept with a view to discussing more generally the challenges that exist to the acceptability and deployment of assistive robotic solutions into people's daily lives. 
 
Title EMERGENCE Discover Workshop Illustrations 
Description The EMERGENCE network employed the graphic facilitation services of Sam Church Illustration during each of the discovery workshops that took place as part of the WP1 activities. Sam attended each workshop in person, listening in on discussions and taking notes to facilitate the production of artwork which translated the comments and ideas of the workshop participants into drawings with a distinctive style which encapsulate key points of conversation whilst conveying a sense of the emotions and feelings behind the words, something which is often lost with traditional transcriptions. Following each workshop, Sam produced a set of summary drawings highlighting the top themes emerging from the discussions around the challenges faced by older people living with frailty using phrases taken directly from participants' dialogues with accompanying imagery. 
Type Of Art Artwork 
Year Produced 2022 
Impact The resulting artwork was used in presentations at subsequent events to underpin the analysis of the outcomes from WP1 activities and to increase awareness around the challenges to be addressed via the Robotics for Frailty Challenge. The artwork was also made available to participants of the co-creation methodology workshops where it sparked conversations and ideas that led to new collaborations, initial proposals and full proposals being submitted to the network for consideration for funding. 
 
Description The Emergence mission is to create and catalyse a robotics for healthcare community, connecting together researchers, health and social care professionals, service users, regulators and policy makers, to bring about a change in how assistive robots are conceptualised, designed and developed. While the potential of assistive robots is recognised, there are few real-world solutions for people living with frailty.
We have found a significant gap between what is developed and tested in research labs, and the types of solutions that would be cost-effective, sustainable and accepted by users in real-world contexts. As part of the Emergence project we have run a series of co-design workshops with people with lived experience of frailty, carers and healthcare professionals. We found that using a persona-based approach to facilitate conversations helped to surface deep emotional, social and psychological issues. Foundational engineering and scientific research that underpins the development of healthcare technologies will not result in impact unless it addresses pragmatic issues relating to how technology will fit into people's lives.
Through a range of Emergence network activities we have been working with the research community to improve understanding of how assistive robotics solutions targeted at people with lived experience of frailty also need to consider the larger context of psychosocial and economic challenges. Feelings of loneliness, despair and anxiety, and financial pressures compound the physical and cognitive manifestations of frailty, and any assistive solution needs to be developed in the context of this complex inter- play of psycho-social and environmental factors. We have organised a series of co-design methodology workshops, seminars, and robotics and care "mash-up" events in our consortium test beds, providing resources and direct access to a diverse range of experts to encourage a paradigm shift in how the research community approaches the design of AI and robotics technology based solutions, and to propose projects that fundamentally rethink how robots will operate in challenging environments and interact with people who might have a range of physical, cognitive and sensory impairments. The Emergence network has funded a diverse range of pilot projects that will be instrumental in accelerating the design of assistive robots that can make the leap from the laboratory to the home, by looking at architectural requirements, modularity, middleware, regulations, as well as future training needs of health and social care professionals.
Exploitation Route The research projects that we have funded will be well-placed to apply for further funding. We ensured that the teams that we have funded were inter-disciplinary and needed to work alongside experts and people with lived experience of frailty. As a result this is drawing in a growing circle of health and social care professionals who are now better connected regionally to continue their collabations. The projects we have funded will be publishing their findings as part of the deliverables, and their outputs will become part of the Emergence Body of Knowledge made available on our network website. This will lead to the outcomes being accessible not just nationally, but also internationally.
Sectors Communities and Social Services/Policy

Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software)

Education

Healthcare
URL https://www.emergencerobotics.net/robotics-for-frailty-challenge
 
Description Our project has been creating and facilitating co-designed research opportunities to accelerate the realisation of healthcare robots as pragmatic and sustainable solutions for personalised, affordable and inclusive assessment, self-management and reduction of frailty. Building on the aim of bringing healthcare robots out of the labs and into service, our activities have engaged the robotics research community in understanding best practice in co-production approaches that are person-centric and clinically informed, By using creative means, such as graphically illustrated empathy cards, we have captured and communicated the voices of people with lived experience of frailty to generate more insightful understanding of the psychological and social impact of frailty. The resources that we have generated are helping other researchers navigate regulatory and ethical requirements, ensuring clinical and market viability, as well as user acceptance. We have supported the co-production of projects that are focussed on wider issues that can become a barrier to successful deployment and adoption, such as the spaces that robots will need to operate in, and sustainable solutions. We have also organised continuing professional development workshops for health and social care professionals so that they can interact with emerging robotics technologies and feel confident to deliver a successful technology-enabled future.
First Year Of Impact 2023
Sector Communities and Social Services/Policy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Healthcare
Impact Types Societal

Policy & public services
 
Description IEEE Robotics and Automation Society TECHNICAL COMMITTEE FOR ROBOT ETHICS
Geographic Reach Multiple continents/international 
Policy Influence Type Participation in a guidance/advisory committee
URL https://www.ieee-ras.org/robot-ethics/contact
 
Description Update of the BSI 8611-2023 - Robots and robotic devices - Ethical design and application of robots and robotic systems
Geographic Reach Multiple continents/international 
Policy Influence Type Participation in a guidance/advisory committee
URL https://standardsdevelopment.bsigroup.com/projects/2022-00279#/section
 
Description Blackwood Innovate UK Robotics - Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP)
Amount £154,000 (GBP)
Funding ID 13068 
Organisation Research Councils UK (RCUK) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 09/2022 
End 09/2024
 
Description Facilitating health and wellbeing by developing systems for early recognition of urinary tract infections - Feather
Amount £1,100,918 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/W031493/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 08/2022 
End 08/2025
 
Description I'M-ACTIVE : Intelligent Multimodal Assessment and Coaching Through Identification of Vulnerabilities in older pEople
Amount £400,481 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/W031809/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 01/2023 
End 06/2024
 
Title Development of Empathy Cards 
Description The EMERGENCE network have developed a deck of empathy cards titled "Let's talk about people-centered robotics" as a research tool to facilitate discussions and reflections about the design of future robotics and intelligent assistive technologies. The illustrations on these cards are based on our EPSRC EMERGENCE Network+ workshops where stakeholders joined focus groups to share information about experiences of frailty and assistive robotics technologies in health and social care. The illustrations capture the essence of the conversations among the workshop participants. The cards are intended both as an engaging record of discussions and to enable people to reflect on issues and serve as a tool to help technologists, researchers, other stakeholders and the general public to engage with a diverse range of views in their consideration of emerging robotics technologies. The cards can be used in a variety of different ways, depending on the audience, context and need. The cards are made available through a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0) license. The cards are available as physical cards or digitally via an app. 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2023 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact The EMERGENCE network have used the empathy cards at a number of events during 2023 and 2024. By using these graphically illustrated empathy cards, we have captured and communicated the voices of people with lived experience of frailty, in a way which has not been done before, to generate more insightful understanding of the psychological and social impact of frailty and these cards are helping other researchers navigate regulatory and ethical requirements, ensuring clinical and market viability, as well as user acceptance. 
URL https://cardographer.cs.nott.ac.uk/sessions/654a3d5a9393c396b602faf2/cards
 
Title Use of personas for co-production 
Description We have generated, based on existing evidence-based sources, a set of 10 personas specifically intended for participatory co-production activities. These personas depict, in easy-to-digest formats, the backgrounds, health statuses and characteristics of (fictitious) older people who are pre-frail but managing; who are vulnerable or living with mild frailty; and who are living with moderate to severe frailty. This range of personas allows their use in different contexts and for different purposes. 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2022 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact The personas were validated by the project steering group and subsequently used successfully in a series of co-production workshops with older people, their carers and other health and care professionals. The personas will be made publicly available for other research purposes through the project website. 
 
Description ADVANCED CARE RESEARCH CENTRE, University of Edinburgh 
Organisation University of Edinburgh
Department Usher Institute
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Access to research expertise. Invitations extended to all network activities and events. Invitation extended to invite a member of the organisation to sit on the Steering Group for the network.
Collaborator Contribution Attendance at the following events: Project Partner Introductions; Robotics for Frailty Challenge Launch Event; The ACRC Implementation Lead (Health & Social Care Data Driven Innovation) has contributed to advertise and attended WP1 and WP4 workshops. He also reviewed some of the proposals that were submitted to the network. The two EMERGENCE WP1 workshops organised by Heriot-Watt in July 2022 (http://care.hw.ac.uk/blog/2022/08/11/News.html) were hosted at the University of Edinburgh with the support of the Advanced Care Research Centre.
Impact No outputs/outcomes to date
Start Year 2022
 
Description Architecture vs Robots - Assessing constraints of the physical environment 
Organisation Cardiff University
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution This project is funded by the first Robotics for Frailty Challenge Funding Call. The EMERGENCE network held co-creation methodology workshops to facilitate the development of multi-disciplinary collaborations, robust co-creation methodologies and dissemination of findings from research into understanding the requirements to assess, self-manage and reduce frailty. Initial proposals submitted to the call were reviewed by the EMERGENCE management team, steering group and advisory board and a further co-creation workshop was held for successful project teams to provide guidance in bid writing. Full proposals were subject to a further rigorous review process. Successful projects have been supported and mentored by members of the EMERGENCE team, steering group and advisory board. Project Team pages hosted by the EMERGENCE website have been maintained with project information and updates and teams have been invited to present at consortium wide events. The EMERGENCE network held a shared learning, knowledge exchange and mentoring event for all funded project teams to enable the identification of common themes and synergies between projects and focus on building connections and collaborations with the wider network.
Collaborator Contribution Members of the project team attended a co-creation methodology workshop ahead of submission of an initial bid submission for funding under the first Robotics for Frailty Challenge Funding Call. Following a successful review, members of the project team attended a co-creation workshop and submitted a successful full proposal. Members of the project team have presented at two consortium wide events held by the EMERGENCE network and attended the shared learning, knowledge exchange and mentoring event for all funded projects. The project will explore factors affecting cohabitation of robots and people with lived experience of frailty within homes from a built environment perspective and develop a framework for residential built environments for frailty and robot cohabitation.
Impact Multi-disciplinary collaboration with involvement from Cardiff University, UCL (University College London), and Hobbs Rehabilitation (Neurological Specialists) including the following disciplines: Healthcare Architecture, Human computer interaction, Accessibility, Robot Computer Interaction, Population Health, Physiotherapy. The project is also supported by Gloucester City Homes. No outputs yet. Expected outputs: framework; grant submission; conference submission; journal submission; local NHS newsletter; dissemination event, resources for Emergence Body of Knowledge hosted on the project website.
Start Year 2023
 
Description Architecture vs Robots - Assessing constraints of the physical environment 
Organisation University College London
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution This project is funded by the first Robotics for Frailty Challenge Funding Call. The EMERGENCE network held co-creation methodology workshops to facilitate the development of multi-disciplinary collaborations, robust co-creation methodologies and dissemination of findings from research into understanding the requirements to assess, self-manage and reduce frailty. Initial proposals submitted to the call were reviewed by the EMERGENCE management team, steering group and advisory board and a further co-creation workshop was held for successful project teams to provide guidance in bid writing. Full proposals were subject to a further rigorous review process. Successful projects have been supported and mentored by members of the EMERGENCE team, steering group and advisory board. Project Team pages hosted by the EMERGENCE website have been maintained with project information and updates and teams have been invited to present at consortium wide events. The EMERGENCE network held a shared learning, knowledge exchange and mentoring event for all funded project teams to enable the identification of common themes and synergies between projects and focus on building connections and collaborations with the wider network.
Collaborator Contribution Members of the project team attended a co-creation methodology workshop ahead of submission of an initial bid submission for funding under the first Robotics for Frailty Challenge Funding Call. Following a successful review, members of the project team attended a co-creation workshop and submitted a successful full proposal. Members of the project team have presented at two consortium wide events held by the EMERGENCE network and attended the shared learning, knowledge exchange and mentoring event for all funded projects. The project will explore factors affecting cohabitation of robots and people with lived experience of frailty within homes from a built environment perspective and develop a framework for residential built environments for frailty and robot cohabitation.
Impact Multi-disciplinary collaboration with involvement from Cardiff University, UCL (University College London), and Hobbs Rehabilitation (Neurological Specialists) including the following disciplines: Healthcare Architecture, Human computer interaction, Accessibility, Robot Computer Interaction, Population Health, Physiotherapy. The project is also supported by Gloucester City Homes. No outputs yet. Expected outputs: framework; grant submission; conference submission; journal submission; local NHS newsletter; dissemination event, resources for Emergence Body of Knowledge hosted on the project website.
Start Year 2023
 
Description Barnsley Assistive Technology Team 
Organisation Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution Access to research expertise. Invitations extended to all network activities and events. Invitation extended to invite a member of the organisation to sit on the Advisory Board for the network.
Collaborator Contribution Attendance at the following events: Project Partner Introductions (12/01/2022); Robotics for Frailty Challenge Launch Event (28/09/2022) ; Co-creation Methodology Workshop (08/11/2022); SHared Learning, KNowledge Exchange and Mentoring Event (19/02/2024); Consortium Networking Event (20/02/2024) A representative of Barnsley Assistive Technology Team sits on the EMERGENCE Network Advisory Board giving input into the selection of pilot projects. Zoe Clarke, EC Service Lead for the Assistive Technology Team at Barnsley Hospital NHS Trust, gave a keynote talk titled "Assistive Technology: The importance of appropriate development and provision" at the EMERGENCE Consortium Networking Event (20/02/2024)
Impact No outputs/outcomes to date
Start Year 2022
 
Description Blackwood Group 
Organisation Blackwood
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution Access to research expertise. Invitations extended to all network activities and events. Invitation extended to invite a member of the organisation to sit on the Advisory Board for the network. Representatives from Blackwood Group are involved collaboratively, as project team members, with the work being undertaken by funded feasiblity study "CPD ecosystems: wearable robotics for frailty" directly influencing the direction of their work.
Collaborator Contribution Attendance at the following event: Project Partner Introductions (12/01/2022); WP1 Workshop activity (04/07/2022 and 15/07/2022) Assistance with recruitment to WP1 Workshop activities in Edinburgh Assistance with recruitment to Steering Group Supported initial proposal for the Robotics for Frailty Challenge
Impact No outputs/outcomes to date
Start Year 2022
 
Description Bristol Health Partners 
Organisation Bristol Health Partners
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution Access to research expertise. Invitations extended to all network activities and events. Invitation extended to invite a member of the organisation to sit on the Advisory Board for the network.
Collaborator Contribution Attendance at the following events: Project Partner Introductions (12/01/2022); Robotics for Frailty Challenge Launch Event (28/09/2022); Co-creation Methodology Workshop (14/11/2022) A representative of Bristol Health Partners sits on the EMERGENCE Network Advisory Board giving input into the selection of pilot projects
Impact No outputs/outcomes to date
Start Year 2022
 
Description CATLYP - Connecting all the Lonely People 
Organisation King's College London
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution This project is funded by the second Robotics for Frailty Challenge Funding Call. The EMERGENCE network held co-creation methodology workshops to facilitate the development of multi-disciplinary collaborations, robust co-creation methodologies and dissemination of findings from research into understanding the requirements to assess, self-manage and reduce frailty. Initial proposals submitted to the call were reviewed by the EMERGENCE management team, steering group and advisory board and a further co-creation workshop was held for successful project teams to provide guidance in bid writing. Full proposals were subject to a further rigorous review process. Successful projects have been supported and mentored by members of the EMERGENCE team, steering group and advisory board. Project Team pages hosted by the EMERGENCE website have been maintained with project information and updates and teams have been invited to present at consortium wide events. The EMERGENCE network held a shared learning, knowledge exchange and mentoring event for all funded project teams to enable the identification of common themes and synergies between projects and focus on building connections and collaborations with the wider network.
Collaborator Contribution Members of the project team attended a co-creation methodology workshop ahead of submission of an initial bid submission for funding under the first Robotics for Frailty Challenge Funding Call. Following a successful review, members of the project team attended a co-creation workshop and submitted a successful full proposal. Members of the project team have presented at two consortium wide events held by the EMERGENCE network and attended the shared learning, knowledge exchange and mentoring event for all funded projects. The project is funded under the mitigation research theme and will assess the acceptability and feasibility of older adults affected by loneliness and social isolation to host and interact with social robots in their homes.
Impact Multi-disciplinary collaboration with involvement from Computer Science, Robotics, Public Health and Community Care, Engineering, Architecture from the University of Hertfordshire, King's College London and University of Sheffield. No outputs yet. Expected outputs: report; conference presentations; resources for Emergence Body of Knowledge hosted on the project website;
Start Year 2023
 
Description CATLYP - Connecting all the Lonely People 
Organisation University of Hertfordshire
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution This project is funded by the second Robotics for Frailty Challenge Funding Call. The EMERGENCE network held co-creation methodology workshops to facilitate the development of multi-disciplinary collaborations, robust co-creation methodologies and dissemination of findings from research into understanding the requirements to assess, self-manage and reduce frailty. Initial proposals submitted to the call were reviewed by the EMERGENCE management team, steering group and advisory board and a further co-creation workshop was held for successful project teams to provide guidance in bid writing. Full proposals were subject to a further rigorous review process. Successful projects have been supported and mentored by members of the EMERGENCE team, steering group and advisory board. Project Team pages hosted by the EMERGENCE website have been maintained with project information and updates and teams have been invited to present at consortium wide events. The EMERGENCE network held a shared learning, knowledge exchange and mentoring event for all funded project teams to enable the identification of common themes and synergies between projects and focus on building connections and collaborations with the wider network.
Collaborator Contribution Members of the project team attended a co-creation methodology workshop ahead of submission of an initial bid submission for funding under the first Robotics for Frailty Challenge Funding Call. Following a successful review, members of the project team attended a co-creation workshop and submitted a successful full proposal. Members of the project team have presented at two consortium wide events held by the EMERGENCE network and attended the shared learning, knowledge exchange and mentoring event for all funded projects. The project is funded under the mitigation research theme and will assess the acceptability and feasibility of older adults affected by loneliness and social isolation to host and interact with social robots in their homes.
Impact Multi-disciplinary collaboration with involvement from Computer Science, Robotics, Public Health and Community Care, Engineering, Architecture from the University of Hertfordshire, King's College London and University of Sheffield. No outputs yet. Expected outputs: report; conference presentations; resources for Emergence Body of Knowledge hosted on the project website;
Start Year 2023
 
Description CATLYP - Connecting all the Lonely People 
Organisation University of Sheffield
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution This project is funded by the second Robotics for Frailty Challenge Funding Call. The EMERGENCE network held co-creation methodology workshops to facilitate the development of multi-disciplinary collaborations, robust co-creation methodologies and dissemination of findings from research into understanding the requirements to assess, self-manage and reduce frailty. Initial proposals submitted to the call were reviewed by the EMERGENCE management team, steering group and advisory board and a further co-creation workshop was held for successful project teams to provide guidance in bid writing. Full proposals were subject to a further rigorous review process. Successful projects have been supported and mentored by members of the EMERGENCE team, steering group and advisory board. Project Team pages hosted by the EMERGENCE website have been maintained with project information and updates and teams have been invited to present at consortium wide events. The EMERGENCE network held a shared learning, knowledge exchange and mentoring event for all funded project teams to enable the identification of common themes and synergies between projects and focus on building connections and collaborations with the wider network.
Collaborator Contribution Members of the project team attended a co-creation methodology workshop ahead of submission of an initial bid submission for funding under the first Robotics for Frailty Challenge Funding Call. Following a successful review, members of the project team attended a co-creation workshop and submitted a successful full proposal. Members of the project team have presented at two consortium wide events held by the EMERGENCE network and attended the shared learning, knowledge exchange and mentoring event for all funded projects. The project is funded under the mitigation research theme and will assess the acceptability and feasibility of older adults affected by loneliness and social isolation to host and interact with social robots in their homes.
Impact Multi-disciplinary collaboration with involvement from Computer Science, Robotics, Public Health and Community Care, Engineering, Architecture from the University of Hertfordshire, King's College London and University of Sheffield. No outputs yet. Expected outputs: report; conference presentations; resources for Emergence Body of Knowledge hosted on the project website;
Start Year 2023
 
Description CENSIS 
Organisation Innovation Centre for Sensor and Imaging Systems CENSIS
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution Access to research expertise. Invitations extended to all network activities and events. Invitation extended to invite a member of the organisation to sit on the Advisory Board for the network.
Collaborator Contribution Attendance at the following events: Project Partner Introductions(12/01/2022)
Impact No outputs/outcomes to date
Start Year 2022
 
Description CIREI - Challenges of Integrating Robots with Embodied Intelligence in the Homes of Older People Living with Frailty: Towards a Smart Middleware Architecture 
Organisation King's College London
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution This project is funded by the first Robotics for Frailty Challenge Funding Call. The EMERGENCE network held co-creation methodology workshops to facilitate the development of multi-disciplinary collaborations, robust co-creation methodologies and dissemination of findings from research into understanding the requirements to assess, self-manage and reduce frailty. Initial proposals submitted to the call were reviewed by the EMERGENCE management team, steering group and advisory board and a further co-creation workshop was held for successful project teams to provide guidance in bid writing. Full proposals were subject to a further rigorous review process. Successful projects have been supported and mentored by members of the EMERGENCE team, steering group and advisory board. Project Team pages hosted by the EMERGENCE website have been maintained with project information and updates and teams have been invited to present at consortium wide events. The EMERGENCE network held a shared learning, knowledge exchange and mentoring event for all funded project teams to enable the identification of common themes and synergies between projects and focus on building connections and collaborations with the wider network.
Collaborator Contribution Members of the project team attended a co-creation methodology workshop ahead of submission of an initial bid submission for funding under the first Robotics for Frailty Challenge Funding Call. Following a successful review, members of the project team attended a co-creation workshop and submitted a successful full proposal. Members of the project team have presented at two consortium wide events held by the EMERGENCE network and attended the shared learning, knowledge exchange and mentoring event for all funded projects. The project is funded under the better management research theme and will collate data from connected devices to help automate and support residents with daily activities and expose the anonymised collected data to a wealth of innovative and evidence-based solutions.
Impact Multi-disciplinary collaboration with involvement from the following disciplines: Computer Science; Mental Health and Digital Technology; Cybersecurity and Privacy; Human-Computer Interaction across the following institutions: Sheffield Hallam University, King's College London, Sheffield University and the University of Nottingham. The team also draws on expertise from health and social care professionals and TEC specialists from Darnall Wellbeing and Astraline. No outputs yet. Expected outputs: survey report; software requirements specification; source codes and documentation of proof-of-concept implementation; prototype of data analytics application; journal paper, resources for Emergence Body of Knowledge hosted on the project website.
Start Year 2023
 
Description CIREI - Challenges of Integrating Robots with Embodied Intelligence in the Homes of Older People Living with Frailty: Towards a Smart Middleware Architecture 
Organisation Sheffield Hallam University
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution This project is funded by the first Robotics for Frailty Challenge Funding Call. The EMERGENCE network held co-creation methodology workshops to facilitate the development of multi-disciplinary collaborations, robust co-creation methodologies and dissemination of findings from research into understanding the requirements to assess, self-manage and reduce frailty. Initial proposals submitted to the call were reviewed by the EMERGENCE management team, steering group and advisory board and a further co-creation workshop was held for successful project teams to provide guidance in bid writing. Full proposals were subject to a further rigorous review process. Successful projects have been supported and mentored by members of the EMERGENCE team, steering group and advisory board. Project Team pages hosted by the EMERGENCE website have been maintained with project information and updates and teams have been invited to present at consortium wide events. The EMERGENCE network held a shared learning, knowledge exchange and mentoring event for all funded project teams to enable the identification of common themes and synergies between projects and focus on building connections and collaborations with the wider network.
Collaborator Contribution Members of the project team attended a co-creation methodology workshop ahead of submission of an initial bid submission for funding under the first Robotics for Frailty Challenge Funding Call. Following a successful review, members of the project team attended a co-creation workshop and submitted a successful full proposal. Members of the project team have presented at two consortium wide events held by the EMERGENCE network and attended the shared learning, knowledge exchange and mentoring event for all funded projects. The project is funded under the better management research theme and will collate data from connected devices to help automate and support residents with daily activities and expose the anonymised collected data to a wealth of innovative and evidence-based solutions.
Impact Multi-disciplinary collaboration with involvement from the following disciplines: Computer Science; Mental Health and Digital Technology; Cybersecurity and Privacy; Human-Computer Interaction across the following institutions: Sheffield Hallam University, King's College London, Sheffield University and the University of Nottingham. The team also draws on expertise from health and social care professionals and TEC specialists from Darnall Wellbeing and Astraline. No outputs yet. Expected outputs: survey report; software requirements specification; source codes and documentation of proof-of-concept implementation; prototype of data analytics application; journal paper, resources for Emergence Body of Knowledge hosted on the project website.
Start Year 2023
 
Description CIREI - Challenges of Integrating Robots with Embodied Intelligence in the Homes of Older People Living with Frailty: Towards a Smart Middleware Architecture 
Organisation University of Nottingham
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution This project is funded by the first Robotics for Frailty Challenge Funding Call. The EMERGENCE network held co-creation methodology workshops to facilitate the development of multi-disciplinary collaborations, robust co-creation methodologies and dissemination of findings from research into understanding the requirements to assess, self-manage and reduce frailty. Initial proposals submitted to the call were reviewed by the EMERGENCE management team, steering group and advisory board and a further co-creation workshop was held for successful project teams to provide guidance in bid writing. Full proposals were subject to a further rigorous review process. Successful projects have been supported and mentored by members of the EMERGENCE team, steering group and advisory board. Project Team pages hosted by the EMERGENCE website have been maintained with project information and updates and teams have been invited to present at consortium wide events. The EMERGENCE network held a shared learning, knowledge exchange and mentoring event for all funded project teams to enable the identification of common themes and synergies between projects and focus on building connections and collaborations with the wider network.
Collaborator Contribution Members of the project team attended a co-creation methodology workshop ahead of submission of an initial bid submission for funding under the first Robotics for Frailty Challenge Funding Call. Following a successful review, members of the project team attended a co-creation workshop and submitted a successful full proposal. Members of the project team have presented at two consortium wide events held by the EMERGENCE network and attended the shared learning, knowledge exchange and mentoring event for all funded projects. The project is funded under the better management research theme and will collate data from connected devices to help automate and support residents with daily activities and expose the anonymised collected data to a wealth of innovative and evidence-based solutions.
Impact Multi-disciplinary collaboration with involvement from the following disciplines: Computer Science; Mental Health and Digital Technology; Cybersecurity and Privacy; Human-Computer Interaction across the following institutions: Sheffield Hallam University, King's College London, Sheffield University and the University of Nottingham. The team also draws on expertise from health and social care professionals and TEC specialists from Darnall Wellbeing and Astraline. No outputs yet. Expected outputs: survey report; software requirements specification; source codes and documentation of proof-of-concept implementation; prototype of data analytics application; journal paper, resources for Emergence Body of Knowledge hosted on the project website.
Start Year 2023
 
Description CIREI - Challenges of Integrating Robots with Embodied Intelligence in the Homes of Older People Living with Frailty: Towards a Smart Middleware Architecture 
Organisation University of Sheffield
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution This project is funded by the first Robotics for Frailty Challenge Funding Call. The EMERGENCE network held co-creation methodology workshops to facilitate the development of multi-disciplinary collaborations, robust co-creation methodologies and dissemination of findings from research into understanding the requirements to assess, self-manage and reduce frailty. Initial proposals submitted to the call were reviewed by the EMERGENCE management team, steering group and advisory board and a further co-creation workshop was held for successful project teams to provide guidance in bid writing. Full proposals were subject to a further rigorous review process. Successful projects have been supported and mentored by members of the EMERGENCE team, steering group and advisory board. Project Team pages hosted by the EMERGENCE website have been maintained with project information and updates and teams have been invited to present at consortium wide events. The EMERGENCE network held a shared learning, knowledge exchange and mentoring event for all funded project teams to enable the identification of common themes and synergies between projects and focus on building connections and collaborations with the wider network.
Collaborator Contribution Members of the project team attended a co-creation methodology workshop ahead of submission of an initial bid submission for funding under the first Robotics for Frailty Challenge Funding Call. Following a successful review, members of the project team attended a co-creation workshop and submitted a successful full proposal. Members of the project team have presented at two consortium wide events held by the EMERGENCE network and attended the shared learning, knowledge exchange and mentoring event for all funded projects. The project is funded under the better management research theme and will collate data from connected devices to help automate and support residents with daily activities and expose the anonymised collected data to a wealth of innovative and evidence-based solutions.
Impact Multi-disciplinary collaboration with involvement from the following disciplines: Computer Science; Mental Health and Digital Technology; Cybersecurity and Privacy; Human-Computer Interaction across the following institutions: Sheffield Hallam University, King's College London, Sheffield University and the University of Nottingham. The team also draws on expertise from health and social care professionals and TEC specialists from Darnall Wellbeing and Astraline. No outputs yet. Expected outputs: survey report; software requirements specification; source codes and documentation of proof-of-concept implementation; prototype of data analytics application; journal paper, resources for Emergence Body of Knowledge hosted on the project website.
Start Year 2023
 
Description Continuing Professional Development ecosystems: wearable robotics for frailty 
Organisation University College London
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution This project is funded by the second Robotics for Frailty Challenge Funding Call. The EMERGENCE network held co-creation methodology workshops to facilitate the development of multi-disciplinary collaborations, robust co-creation methodologies and dissemination of findings from research into understanding the requirements to assess, self-manage and reduce frailty. Initial proposals submitted to the call were reviewed by the EMERGENCE management team, steering group and advisory board and a further co-creation workshop was held for successful project teams to provide guidance in bid writing. Full proposals were subject to a further rigorous review process. Successful projects have been supported and mentored by members of the EMERGENCE team, steering group and advisory board. Project Team pages hosted by the EMERGENCE website have been maintained with project information and updates and teams have been invited to present at consortium wide events. The EMERGENCE network held a shared learning, knowledge exchange and mentoring event for all funded project teams to enable the identification of common themes and synergies between projects and focus on building connections and collaborations with the wider network.
Collaborator Contribution Members of the project team attended a co-creation methodology workshop ahead of submission of an initial bid submission for funding under the first Robotics for Frailty Challenge Funding Call. Following a successful review, members of the project team attended a co-creation workshop and submitted a successful full proposal. Members of the project team have presented at two consortium wide events held by the EMERGENCE network and attended the shared learning, knowledge exchange and mentoring event for all funded projects. The project is funded under the self-management and better management research themes and will establish an innovation training ecosystem which ensures that the responsible innovation of robotic systems for frailty co-evolves with the provision of training, or continued professional development (CPD) that meets the needs of health and care professionals who will increasingly share their workplace with autonomous systems.
Impact Multi-disciplinary collaboration with involvement from Social Sciences, Robotics, Neuro-physiotherapy and Care policy from UCL, University of Aberdeen, UWE Bristol. The project also draws on expertise from project partners Blackwood Homes and Care. No outputs yet. Expected outputs: actionable report; peer-reviewed article; pilot CPD curriculum; final report; presentation of findings that will form part of the resources for Emergence Body of Knowledge hosted on the project website
Start Year 2023
 
Description Continuing Professional Development ecosystems: wearable robotics for frailty 
Organisation University of Aberdeen
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution This project is funded by the second Robotics for Frailty Challenge Funding Call. The EMERGENCE network held co-creation methodology workshops to facilitate the development of multi-disciplinary collaborations, robust co-creation methodologies and dissemination of findings from research into understanding the requirements to assess, self-manage and reduce frailty. Initial proposals submitted to the call were reviewed by the EMERGENCE management team, steering group and advisory board and a further co-creation workshop was held for successful project teams to provide guidance in bid writing. Full proposals were subject to a further rigorous review process. Successful projects have been supported and mentored by members of the EMERGENCE team, steering group and advisory board. Project Team pages hosted by the EMERGENCE website have been maintained with project information and updates and teams have been invited to present at consortium wide events. The EMERGENCE network held a shared learning, knowledge exchange and mentoring event for all funded project teams to enable the identification of common themes and synergies between projects and focus on building connections and collaborations with the wider network.
Collaborator Contribution Members of the project team attended a co-creation methodology workshop ahead of submission of an initial bid submission for funding under the first Robotics for Frailty Challenge Funding Call. Following a successful review, members of the project team attended a co-creation workshop and submitted a successful full proposal. Members of the project team have presented at two consortium wide events held by the EMERGENCE network and attended the shared learning, knowledge exchange and mentoring event for all funded projects. The project is funded under the self-management and better management research themes and will establish an innovation training ecosystem which ensures that the responsible innovation of robotic systems for frailty co-evolves with the provision of training, or continued professional development (CPD) that meets the needs of health and care professionals who will increasingly share their workplace with autonomous systems.
Impact Multi-disciplinary collaboration with involvement from Social Sciences, Robotics, Neuro-physiotherapy and Care policy from UCL, University of Aberdeen, UWE Bristol. The project also draws on expertise from project partners Blackwood Homes and Care. No outputs yet. Expected outputs: actionable report; peer-reviewed article; pilot CPD curriculum; final report; presentation of findings that will form part of the resources for Emergence Body of Knowledge hosted on the project website
Start Year 2023
 
Description Continuing Professional Development ecosystems: wearable robotics for frailty 
Organisation University of the West of England
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution This project is funded by the second Robotics for Frailty Challenge Funding Call. The EMERGENCE network held co-creation methodology workshops to facilitate the development of multi-disciplinary collaborations, robust co-creation methodologies and dissemination of findings from research into understanding the requirements to assess, self-manage and reduce frailty. Initial proposals submitted to the call were reviewed by the EMERGENCE management team, steering group and advisory board and a further co-creation workshop was held for successful project teams to provide guidance in bid writing. Full proposals were subject to a further rigorous review process. Successful projects have been supported and mentored by members of the EMERGENCE team, steering group and advisory board. Project Team pages hosted by the EMERGENCE website have been maintained with project information and updates and teams have been invited to present at consortium wide events. The EMERGENCE network held a shared learning, knowledge exchange and mentoring event for all funded project teams to enable the identification of common themes and synergies between projects and focus on building connections and collaborations with the wider network.
Collaborator Contribution Members of the project team attended a co-creation methodology workshop ahead of submission of an initial bid submission for funding under the first Robotics for Frailty Challenge Funding Call. Following a successful review, members of the project team attended a co-creation workshop and submitted a successful full proposal. Members of the project team have presented at two consortium wide events held by the EMERGENCE network and attended the shared learning, knowledge exchange and mentoring event for all funded projects. The project is funded under the self-management and better management research themes and will establish an innovation training ecosystem which ensures that the responsible innovation of robotic systems for frailty co-evolves with the provision of training, or continued professional development (CPD) that meets the needs of health and care professionals who will increasingly share their workplace with autonomous systems.
Impact Multi-disciplinary collaboration with involvement from Social Sciences, Robotics, Neuro-physiotherapy and Care policy from UCL, University of Aberdeen, UWE Bristol. The project also draws on expertise from project partners Blackwood Homes and Care. No outputs yet. Expected outputs: actionable report; peer-reviewed article; pilot CPD curriculum; final report; presentation of findings that will form part of the resources for Emergence Body of Knowledge hosted on the project website
Start Year 2023
 
Description DHCIC 
Organisation Government of Scotland
Department Digital Health & Care Innovation Centre
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution Access to research expertise. Invitations extended to all network activities and events. Invitation extended to invite a member of the organisation to sit on the Advisory Board for the network.
Collaborator Contribution Attendance at the following events: Project Partner Introductions (12/01/2022)
Impact No outputs/outcomes to date
Start Year 2022
 
Description IBM 
Organisation IBM
Department IBM UK Ltd
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Access to research expertise. Invitations extended to all network activities and events. Invitation extended to invite a member of the organisation to sit on the Advisory Board for the network.
Collaborator Contribution Attendance at the following events: Project Partner Introductions (12/01/2022); Robotics for Frailty Challenge Launch Event (28/09/2022) A representative of IBM sits on the EMERGENCE Network Advisory Board giving input into the selection of pilot projects.
Impact No outputs/outcomes to date
Start Year 2022
 
Description Johnnie Johnson Housing 
Organisation Johnnie Johnson Housing
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution Access to research expertise. Invitations extended to all network activities and events. Invitation extended to invite a member of the organisation to sit on the Advisory Board for the network.
Collaborator Contribution Attendance at the following events: Project Partner Introductions(12/01/2022); Robotics for Frailty Challenge Launch Event (28/09/2022); Co-creation Methodology Workshop (08/11/2022); Co-creation Workshops (13/01/2023) Assistance with recruitment to WP1 Workshops Provision of location for WP1 Workshops Support for project teams with initial and full proposals for Robotics for Frailty Challenge
Impact EMERGENCE Co-Production Workshop: Discover Challenges of Assisted Daily Living (Sheffield) EMERGENCE Co-Production Workshop: Define Challenges of Assisted Daily Living (Sheffield)
Start Year 2022
 
Description NHS Lothian 
Organisation NHS Lothian
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution Access to research expertise. Invitations extended to all network activities and events. Invitation extended to invite a member of the organisation to sit on the Advisory Board for the network. Attendance at EMERGENCE Robotics for Rehabilitation Therapy Workshop; EMERGENCE Robotics for Home-Activity Monitoring and Frailty Assessment Workshop; Robotics + Care Mashup 2023
Collaborator Contribution Attendance at the following events: Project Partner Introductions (12/01/2022); Robotics for Frailty Challenge Launch Event (28/09/2022); Co-creation Workshop (20/01/2023). A representative of NHS Lothian sits on the EMERGENCE Network Advisory Board giving input into the selection of pilot projects.
Impact No outputs/outcomes to date
Start Year 2022
 
Description National Rehabilitation Center - South Korea 
Organisation National Rehabilitation Center
Country Korea, Republic of 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution Professor Praminda Caleb-Solly visited South Korea and presented at International Symposium on Technology, Environment, and AI for Older Adults and People with Disabilities (ISTEA) on 13th July 2023. Prof Caleb-Solly shared the Emergence Empathy cards with the team at the NRC.
Collaborator Contribution A delegation from the NRC attended a cross-cultural assistive robotics knowledge-exchange visits at University of Sheffield and gave a talk that highlighted the innovative ways in which their research is situated within a healthcare deliverly facility. As part of her visit to the NRC, Prof Caleb-Solly was taken to a range of healthcare providers in Seoul, including an innovation hub which has a unique model of facilitating access for researchers to end-users of the techology. This has helped to develop new ideas for how the Emergence consortium test-beds in the UK could work in similar ways.
Impact Professor Praminda Caleb-Solly visited South Korea and presented at International Symposium on Technology, Environment, and AI for Older Adults and People with Disabilities (ISTEA) on 13th July 2023. A delegation from the NRC Attended cross-cultural assistive robotics knowledge-exchange visits at University of Sheffield and gave a talk. The visit led to a partnership agreement for in-kind contribution to an EPSRC AI hub grant.
Start Year 2022
 
Description North Bristol NHS Trust 
Organisation North Bristol NHS Trust
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Access to research expertise. Invitations extended to all network activities and events. Invitation extended to invite a member of the organisation to sit on the Advisory Board for the network.
Collaborator Contribution Attendance at the following events: Project Partner Introductions (12/01/2022); Robotics for Frailty Challenge Launch Event (28/09/2022); A representative of North Bristol NHS Trust sits on the EMERGENCE Network Advisory Board giving input into the selection of pilot projects.
Impact No outputs/outcomes to date
Start Year 2022
 
Description RoStER - Robotics Standard Expert Review 
Organisation University of Hertfordshire
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution This project is funded by the second Robotics for Frailty Challenge Funding Call. The EMERGENCE network held co-creation methodology workshops to facilitate the development of multi-disciplinary collaborations, robust co-creation methodologies and dissemination of findings from research into understanding the requirements to assess, self-manage and reduce frailty. Initial proposals submitted to the call were reviewed by the EMERGENCE management team, steering group and advisory board and a further co-creation workshop was held for successful project teams to provide guidance in bid writing. Full proposals were subject to a further rigorous review process. Successful projects have been supported and mentored by members of the EMERGENCE team, steering group and advisory board. Project Team pages hosted by the EMERGENCE website have been maintained with project information and updates and teams have been invited to present at consortium wide events. The EMERGENCE network held a shared learning, knowledge exchange and mentoring event for all funded project teams to enable the identification of common themes and synergies between projects and focus on building connections and collaborations with the wider network.
Collaborator Contribution Members of the project team attended a co-creation methodology workshop ahead of submission of an initial bid submission for funding under the first Robotics for Frailty Challenge Funding Call. Following a successful review, members of the project team attended a co-creation workshop and submitted a successful full proposal. Members of the project team have presented at two consortium wide events held by the EMERGENCE network and attended the shared learning, knowledge exchange and mentoring event for all funded projects. The project is funded under the all three research themes and will engage with healthcare regulators, practitioners, manufacturers, and end-user groups to develop a draft standard that is contextually relevant, generalizable across different assistive robot platforms and acceptable to user communities, ready for submission to standards agencies.
Impact Multi-disciplinary collaboration with involvement from Robotics, Healthcare Technology, Human Factors, Safety Engineering of Robotics, Governance and Regulation from UWE, University of Hertfordshire and University of Nottingham. No outputs yet. Expected outputs: draft standard; academic publications; presentation at UK healthcare workshop; video summary; technical presentations, resources for Emergence Body of Knowledge hosted on the project website;
Start Year 2023
 
Description RoStER - Robotics Standard Expert Review 
Organisation University of Nottingham
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution This project is funded by the second Robotics for Frailty Challenge Funding Call. The EMERGENCE network held co-creation methodology workshops to facilitate the development of multi-disciplinary collaborations, robust co-creation methodologies and dissemination of findings from research into understanding the requirements to assess, self-manage and reduce frailty. Initial proposals submitted to the call were reviewed by the EMERGENCE management team, steering group and advisory board and a further co-creation workshop was held for successful project teams to provide guidance in bid writing. Full proposals were subject to a further rigorous review process. Successful projects have been supported and mentored by members of the EMERGENCE team, steering group and advisory board. Project Team pages hosted by the EMERGENCE website have been maintained with project information and updates and teams have been invited to present at consortium wide events. The EMERGENCE network held a shared learning, knowledge exchange and mentoring event for all funded project teams to enable the identification of common themes and synergies between projects and focus on building connections and collaborations with the wider network.
Collaborator Contribution Members of the project team attended a co-creation methodology workshop ahead of submission of an initial bid submission for funding under the first Robotics for Frailty Challenge Funding Call. Following a successful review, members of the project team attended a co-creation workshop and submitted a successful full proposal. Members of the project team have presented at two consortium wide events held by the EMERGENCE network and attended the shared learning, knowledge exchange and mentoring event for all funded projects. The project is funded under the all three research themes and will engage with healthcare regulators, practitioners, manufacturers, and end-user groups to develop a draft standard that is contextually relevant, generalizable across different assistive robot platforms and acceptable to user communities, ready for submission to standards agencies.
Impact Multi-disciplinary collaboration with involvement from Robotics, Healthcare Technology, Human Factors, Safety Engineering of Robotics, Governance and Regulation from UWE, University of Hertfordshire and University of Nottingham. No outputs yet. Expected outputs: draft standard; academic publications; presentation at UK healthcare workshop; video summary; technical presentations, resources for Emergence Body of Knowledge hosted on the project website;
Start Year 2023
 
Description RoStER - Robotics Standard Expert Review 
Organisation University of the West of England
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution This project is funded by the second Robotics for Frailty Challenge Funding Call. The EMERGENCE network held co-creation methodology workshops to facilitate the development of multi-disciplinary collaborations, robust co-creation methodologies and dissemination of findings from research into understanding the requirements to assess, self-manage and reduce frailty. Initial proposals submitted to the call were reviewed by the EMERGENCE management team, steering group and advisory board and a further co-creation workshop was held for successful project teams to provide guidance in bid writing. Full proposals were subject to a further rigorous review process. Successful projects have been supported and mentored by members of the EMERGENCE team, steering group and advisory board. Project Team pages hosted by the EMERGENCE website have been maintained with project information and updates and teams have been invited to present at consortium wide events. The EMERGENCE network held a shared learning, knowledge exchange and mentoring event for all funded project teams to enable the identification of common themes and synergies between projects and focus on building connections and collaborations with the wider network.
Collaborator Contribution Members of the project team attended a co-creation methodology workshop ahead of submission of an initial bid submission for funding under the first Robotics for Frailty Challenge Funding Call. Following a successful review, members of the project team attended a co-creation workshop and submitted a successful full proposal. Members of the project team have presented at two consortium wide events held by the EMERGENCE network and attended the shared learning, knowledge exchange and mentoring event for all funded projects. The project is funded under the all three research themes and will engage with healthcare regulators, practitioners, manufacturers, and end-user groups to develop a draft standard that is contextually relevant, generalizable across different assistive robot platforms and acceptable to user communities, ready for submission to standards agencies.
Impact Multi-disciplinary collaboration with involvement from Robotics, Healthcare Technology, Human Factors, Safety Engineering of Robotics, Governance and Regulation from UWE, University of Hertfordshire and University of Nottingham. No outputs yet. Expected outputs: draft standard; academic publications; presentation at UK healthcare workshop; video summary; technical presentations, resources for Emergence Body of Knowledge hosted on the project website;
Start Year 2023
 
Description Robobrico: A Modular Robotic Platform Co-designed with Users 
Organisation Heriot-Watt University
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution This project is funded by the first Robotics for Frailty Challenge Funding Call. The EMERGENCE network held co-creation methodology workshops to facilitate the development of multi-disciplinary collaborations, robust co-creation methodologies and dissemination of findings from research into understanding the requirements to assess, self-manage and reduce frailty. Initial proposals submitted to the call were reviewed by the EMERGENCE management team, steering group and advisory board and a further co-creation workshop was held for successful project teams to provide guidance in bid writing. Full proposals were subject to a further rigorous review process. Successful projects have been supported and mentored by members of the EMERGENCE team, steering group and advisory board. Project Team pages hosted by the EMERGENCE website have been maintained with project information and updates and teams have been invited to present at consortium wide events. The EMERGENCE network held a shared learning, knowledge exchange and mentoring event for all funded project teams to enable the identification of common themes and synergies between projects and focus on building connections and collaborations with the wider network.
Collaborator Contribution Members of the project team attended a co-creation methodology workshop ahead of submission of an initial bid submission for funding under the first Robotics for Frailty Challenge Funding Call. Following a successful review, members of the project team attended a co-creation workshop and submitted a successful full proposal. Members of the project team have presented at two consortium wide events held by the EMERGENCE network and attended the shared learning, knowledge exchange and mentoring event for all funded projects. The Robobrico project has been funded under the self-management and mitigation research themes and will combine co-design practices, informed by participatory design research and robotics knowledge to co-produce a hydration module with end users.
Impact Multi-disciplinary collaboration with involvement from Computer Science, Psychology, Design Research, Robotics, Electrical & Electronic Engineering across Heriot-Watt University and University of Edinburgh. The project team also draws on expertise from industry in participatory design, user experience and product design. No outputs yet. Expected outputs: co-designed mulitcomponent robotic modules; journal paper; publications, resources for Emergence Body of Knowledge hosted on the project website.
Start Year 2023
 
Description Robobrico: A Modular Robotic Platform Co-designed with Users 
Organisation University of Edinburgh
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution This project is funded by the first Robotics for Frailty Challenge Funding Call. The EMERGENCE network held co-creation methodology workshops to facilitate the development of multi-disciplinary collaborations, robust co-creation methodologies and dissemination of findings from research into understanding the requirements to assess, self-manage and reduce frailty. Initial proposals submitted to the call were reviewed by the EMERGENCE management team, steering group and advisory board and a further co-creation workshop was held for successful project teams to provide guidance in bid writing. Full proposals were subject to a further rigorous review process. Successful projects have been supported and mentored by members of the EMERGENCE team, steering group and advisory board. Project Team pages hosted by the EMERGENCE website have been maintained with project information and updates and teams have been invited to present at consortium wide events. The EMERGENCE network held a shared learning, knowledge exchange and mentoring event for all funded project teams to enable the identification of common themes and synergies between projects and focus on building connections and collaborations with the wider network.
Collaborator Contribution Members of the project team attended a co-creation methodology workshop ahead of submission of an initial bid submission for funding under the first Robotics for Frailty Challenge Funding Call. Following a successful review, members of the project team attended a co-creation workshop and submitted a successful full proposal. Members of the project team have presented at two consortium wide events held by the EMERGENCE network and attended the shared learning, knowledge exchange and mentoring event for all funded projects. The Robobrico project has been funded under the self-management and mitigation research themes and will combine co-design practices, informed by participatory design research and robotics knowledge to co-produce a hydration module with end users.
Impact Multi-disciplinary collaboration with involvement from Computer Science, Psychology, Design Research, Robotics, Electrical & Electronic Engineering across Heriot-Watt University and University of Edinburgh. The project team also draws on expertise from industry in participatory design, user experience and product design. No outputs yet. Expected outputs: co-designed mulitcomponent robotic modules; journal paper; publications, resources for Emergence Body of Knowledge hosted on the project website.
Start Year 2023
 
Description SHIL 
Organisation Scottish Health Innovations Ltd (SHIL)
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Access to research expertise. Invitations extended to all network activities and events. Invitation extended to invite a member of the organisation to sit on the Advisory Board for the network.
Collaborator Contribution Attendance at the following events: Project Partner Introductions (12/01/2022); Robotics for Frailty Challenge Launch Event (28/09/2022) A representative of SHIL sits on the EMERGENCE Network Advisory Board giving input into the selection of pilot projects.
Impact No outputs/outcomes to date
Start Year 2022
 
Description Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) 
Organisation Scottish Social Services Council
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution Access to research expertise. Invitations extended to all network activities and events. Invitation extended to invite a member of the organisation to sit on the Advisory Board for the network. SSSC have been involved in the activities of WP4 (Future care workforce skills for integration of healthcare robotics into care and support (Lead: Dr Dragone)).
Collaborator Contribution Attendance at the following events: Project Partner Introductions; Robotics for Frailty Challenge Launch Event; SSSC has also helped to advertise and recruit participants from the care sector for the joint workshop the EPSRC NetworkPlus EMERGENCE organised with the Empowering Future Care Workforces project from the Trustworthy Autonomous System (TAS) network. The workshop run at Heriot-Watt University's campus in Edinburgh, on November 15th, between 10AM and 12PM. SSSC is also contributing to the design of further four workshops to identify gaps in clinical and engineering education to enable healthcare technology skills development, in conjunction with other partner organisations, including Skills for Care and NHS Health Education England and Scotland.
Impact No outputs/outcomes to date
Start Year 2022
 
Description Sheffield Teaching Hospitals 
Organisation Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution Access to research expertise. Invitations extended to all network activities and events. Invitation extended to invite a member of the organisation to sit on the Advisory Board and Steering Group for the network.
Collaborator Contribution Attendance at the following events: Project Partner Introductions (12/01/2022); Robotics for Frailty Challenge Launch Event (28/09/2022) A representative of Sheffield Teaching Hospitals sits on the EMERGENCE Network Steering Group giving input into selection of pilot projects.
Impact No outputs/outcomes to date
Start Year 2022
 
Description Skills for Care 
Organisation Skills for Care
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution Access to research expertise. Invitations extended to all network activities and events. Invitation extended to invite a member of the organisation to sit on the Advisory Board for the network.
Collaborator Contribution Attendance at the following events: Project Partner Introductions(12/01/2022); Robotics for Frailty Challenge Launch Event (28/09/2022);
Impact No outputs/outcomes to date
Start Year 2022
 
Description Toyota 
Organisation Toyota Motor Corporation
Department Toyota Motor Europe NV SA
Country Belgium 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Access to research expertise. Invitations extended to all network activities and events. Invitation extended to invite a member of the organisation to sit on the Advisory Board for the network.
Collaborator Contribution Attendance at the following events: Project Partner Introductions (12/01/2022); Robotics for Frailty Challenge Launch Event (28/09/2022); Co-creation Methodology Workshop (14/11/2022) A representative of Toyota Motor Europe sits on the EMERGENCE Network Advisory Board giving input into the selection of pilot projects.
Impact Robotics for Frailty Challenge Launch Event
Start Year 2022
 
Description WEAHSN 
Organisation West of England Academic Health Science Network
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Access to research expertise. Invitations extended to all network activities and events. Invitation extended to invite a member of the organisation to sit on the Advisory Board for the network.
Collaborator Contribution Attendance at the following events: Project Partner Introductions(12/01/2022)
Impact No outputs/outcomes to date
Start Year 2022
 
Description 2022 International Symposium on Rehabilitation Research, South Korea 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Invited as a keynote speaker to give a 30 minute lecture for session 2 of the symposium program, 'Expansion of Robotic Technology from Hospitals to Homes'. The presentation included the work of the Emergence team and ongoing findings on the potential of expansion of robotic technology from hospitals to homes, with a view to promote future rehabilitation research and development of rehabilitation using assistive robots.
The International Symposium on Rehabilitation Research is participated in by persons with disabilities and experts from Korea and abroad in the field of rehabilitation policy, rehabilitative health care services, and rehabilitation research, and promotes multilateral information exchange and international cooperation on promoting the health of persons with disabilities and rehabilitation research.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL http://nrc.go.kr/eng/html/content.do?depth=n_ri&menu_cd=02_04_01
 
Description 7th IEEE UK & Ireland RAS Conference (RAS 2024) - Talk 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Professor Praminda Caleb-Solly chaired a session at the 7th IEEE UK & Ireland RAS Conference hosted by the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University on 21st-22nd February 2024.
Title of session: "Human-Robot Interaction, Social and Ethical Challenges"
Professor Praminda Caleb-Solly spoke on "Benchmarking Competitions for Trustworthy Robots - An approach to improve standards and regulations for assistive robots" and has initiated interest for a working group to develop a national assistive robot benchmarking competition. Additionally, the session has sparked off a connection with the Robotics Lead at the Technology and Innovative Regulation Directorate and the Robotics Growth Partnership.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
URL https://docs.google.com/document/d/16c2TmTqTw44r82Ic_yULwrKqHSRblMt-Rv7o7-AWkJY/edit
 
Description Assistive Robotics & AI Enabled Technologies Roundtable (Yorkshire) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact A roundtable of policy makers and practitioners, as well as some industry representatives to discuss the use of robots in health and social care in Yorkshire
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description British Society of Gerontology 52nd Annual Conference 2023: Inclusive Ageing - a Society for All 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Professor Praminda Caleb-Solly presented at the British Society of Gerontology 52nd Annual Conference on 4th July 2023 on "Co-producing a new generation of assistive robots that address real-world challenges: Exploring the experiences and aspirations of people with lived experience of frailty, carers and healthcare professionals". This disseminated the findings from Emergence WP1 activities. Showcased the Emergence empathy cards.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.britishgerontology.org/events-and-courses/past-conferences/2023-uea-norwich
 
Description Centre for Artificial Intelligence and RObotics (CAIRO) Invited Speakers Series - Technical University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Invited talk "How can bio-inspired robotic platforms help develop new artificial intelligence (AI) services to benefit society?" given at the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and RObotics (CAIRO) Invited Speakers Series - Technical University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt
The talk contributed to strenghten the collaboration between CAIRO and the SHU Department of Computing, including an agreement to exchange staff and postgraduate students, with a particular focus on the topics covered by the talk.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.thws.de/forschung/institute/cairo/invited-speakers-series/
 
Description Cross-cultural assistive robotics knowledge-exchange visits 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Hosted fact-finding visit by researchers from the National Rehabilitation Center, Korea to dementia-care and independent-living facilities in Sheffield region, including engagement with care professionals at dementia-care home and "coffee morning" event about assistive robotics with residents of independent-living scheme.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description EMERGENCE Co-Creation Methodology Workshop (Hertfordshire) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact A co-production methodology workshop was held at the University of Hertfordshire on 27/04/2023. The focus and intended purpose of the workshop was to generate awareness of the research challenges for Robotics for Frailty and to provide opportunities for collaboration and engagement. The workshops were aimed at individuals interested in submitting proposals for the Robotics for Frailty Challenge funding call as well as those interested in learning more about co-creation for designing healthcare robotics solutions. Following attendance at the workshop, attendees were eligible to apply for feasibility funding via the Robotics for Frailty Challenge Call. The workshop was attended by 28 individuals with representatives from academia, industry and health care. The workshop, which was one of a series of workshops at different locations, was designed as a dynamic and interactive event in collaboration with an external facilitator to ensure consistency of experience for all participants. During the workshop, the EMERGENCE team gave updated presentations of the network aims, objectives and work to date along with an overview of findings into lived experiences of frailty, management and support. The workshop also incorporated interactive sessions to allow opportunities to network with researchers in assistive robotics and to share expertise, skills and experiences to build collaborative links with the EMERGENCE network community. Additionally, the workshop provided an opportunity to share and learn about a range of co-production and co-creation approaches from other attendees. Formal feedback was positive with attendees reporting new learning about formal methodologies for co-creation, utilisation of ideas for unconnected bids and new connections. Several of the attendees went on to submit initial proposals for the Robotics for Frailty Challenge Call. A total of 14 innovative project ideas were generated.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description EMERGENCE Co-Creation Workshop (Edinburgh) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact The EMERGENCE team invited the members of four project teams to attend a co-creation workshop at the National Robotarium at Heriot-Watt University. The focus and intended purpose of the workshop was to support project teams to address issues highlighted during the review process of the initial proposals submitted to the Robotics for Frailty Challenge funding call to facilitate the production of a stronger application at the full proposal stage.

The workshop was facilitated by experts in grant writing GrantCraft Ltd and was designed to support the development of all initial proposals in a way that would be beneficial to all participants. The workshops were predominantly group work focused and guided participants through the components of the full proposal form to assist participants in building key messages, arguments and justifications into their projects against the funding remit. There was also a focus on the positioning of the projects in terms of how they fit into the bigger picture of each team's work, discussions about potential funding options following project completion and identification of alternative funding streams and strategies.

Formal feedback from attendees was positive and full proposals were received from all of the teams attending.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description EMERGENCE Co-Creation Workshop (Nottingham) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact The EMERGENCE team invited the members of two project teams to attend a co-creation workshop at the University of Nottingham. The focus and intended purpose of the workshop was to support project teams to address issues highlighted during the review process of the initial proposals submitted to the Robotics for Frailty Challenge funding call to facilitate the production of a stronger application at the full proposal stage.

The workshop was facilitated by experts in grant writing GrantCraft Ltd and was designed to support the development of all initial proposals in a way that would be beneficial to all participants. The workshops were predominantly group work focused and guided participants through the components of the full proposal form to assist participants in building key messages, arguments and justifications into their projects against the funding remit. There was also a focus on the positioning of the projects in terms of how they fit into the bigger picture of each team's work, discussions about potential funding options following project completion and identification of alternative funding streams and strategies.

Formal feedback from attendees was positive and full proposals were received from both of the teams attending.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description EMERGENCE Co-Creation Workshop (Online) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact The EMERGENCE team invited the members of six project teams to attend an online co-creation workshop on 25th July 2023. The focus and intended purpose of the workshop was to support project teams to address issues highlighted during the review process of the initial proposals submitted to the second Robotics for Frailty Challenge funding call to facilitate the production of a stronger application at the full proposal stage. The workshop was designed to support the development of all initial proposals in a way that would be beneficial to all participants. The workshops were predominantly group work focused and guided participants through the components of the full proposal form to assist participants in building key messages, arguments and justifications into their projects against the funding remit. There was also a focus on the positioning of the projects in terms of how they fit into the bigger picture of each team's work, discussions about potential funding options following project completion and identification of alternative funding streams and strategies. Formal feedback from attendees was positive and full proposals were received from all six of the teams attending.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description EMERGENCE Co-Creation Workshop (Sheffield) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact The EMERGENCE team invited the members of three project teams to attend a co-creation workshop at the Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre at Sheffield Hallam University. The focus and intended purpose of the workshop was to support project teams to address issues highlighted during the review process of the initial proposals submitted to the Robotics for Frailty Challenge funding call to facilitate the production of a stronger application at the full proposal stage.

The workshop was facilitated by experts in grant writing GrantCraft Ltd and was designed to support the development of all initial proposals in a way that would be beneficial to all participants. The workshops were predominantly group work focused and guided participants through the components of the full proposal form to assist participants in building key messages, arguments and justifications into their projects against the funding remit. There was also a focus on the positioning of the projects in terms of how they fit into the bigger picture of each team's work, discussions about potential funding options following project completion and identification of alternative funding streams and strategies.

Formal feedback from attendees was positive and full proposals were received from two of the teams attending.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description EMERGENCE Co-Production Methodology Workshop (Edinburgh) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact A co-production methodology workshop was held as a hybrid event at the National Robotarium at Heriot-Watt University and online via Microsoft Teams on 14/11/2022. The focus and intended purpose of the workshop was to generate awareness of the research challenges for Robotics for Frailty and to provide opportunities for collaboration and engagement. The workshops were aimed at individuals interested in submitting proposals for the Robotics for Frailty Challenge funding call as well as those interested in learning more about co-creation for designing healthcare robotics solutions. Following attendance at the workshop, attendees were eligible to apply for feasibility funding via the Robotics for Frailty Challenge Call.

The workshop was attended by 38 individuals with representatives from academia, industry and health care.

The workshop, which was one of a series of workshops at different locations, was designed as a dynamic and interactive event in collaboration with an external facilitator to ensure consistency of experience for all participants.

During the workshop, the EMERGENCE team gave updated presentations of the network aims, objectives and work to date along with an overview of findings into lived experiences of frailty, management and support. The workshop also incorporated interactive sessions to allow opportunities to network with researchers in assistive robotics and to share expertise, skills and experiences to build collaborative links with the EMERGENCE network community. Additionally, the workshop provided an opportunity to share and learn about a range of co-production and co-creation approaches from other attendees.

Formal feedback was positive with attendees reporting new learning about formal methodologies for co-creation, utilisation of ideas for unconnected bids and new connections. Several of the attendees went on to submit initial proposals for the Robotics for Frailty Challenge Call. A total of 21 innovative project ideas were generated.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description EMERGENCE Co-Production Methodology Workshop (Nottingham) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact A co-production methodology workshop was held as a hybrid event at the University of Nottingham and online via Microsoft Teams on 03/11/2022. The focus and intended purpose of the workshop was to generate awareness of the research challenges for Robotics for Frailty and to provide opportunities for collaboration and engagement. The workshops were aimed at individuals interested in submitting proposals for the Robotics for Frailty Challenge funding call as well as those interested in learning more about co-creation for designing healthcare robotics solutions. Following attendance at the workshop, attendees were eligible to apply for feasibility funding via the Robotics for Frailty Challenge Call.

The workshop was attended by 15 individuals with representatives from academia, industry and health care.

The workshop, which was one of a series of workshops at different locations, was designed as a dynamic and interactive event in collaboration with an external facilitator to ensure consistency of experience for all participants.

During the workshop, the EMERGENCE team gave updated presentations of the network aims, objectives and work to date along with an overview of findings into lived experiences of frailty, management and support. The workshop also incorporated interactive sessions to allow opportunities to network with researchers in assistive robotics and to share expertise, skills and experiences to build collaborative links with the EMERGENCE network community. Additionally, the workshop provided an opportunity to share and learn about a range of co-production and co-creation approaches from other attendees.

Formal feedback was positive with attendees reporting increased understanding of how robotics can support health and social care and a better insight into the work currently being done in EMERGENCE areas. Several of the attendees went on to submit initial proposals for the Robotics for Frailty Challenge Call. A total of 21 innovative project ideas were generated.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description EMERGENCE Co-Production Methodology Workshop (Sheffield) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact A co-production methodology workshop was held as a hybrid event at the Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre at Sheffield Hallam University and online via Microsoft Teams on 08/11/2022. The focus and intended purpose of the workshop was to generate awareness of the research challenges for Robotics for Frailty and to provide opportunities for collaboration and engagement. The workshops were aimed at individuals interested in submitting proposals for the Robotics for Frailty Challenge funding call as well as those interested in learning more about co-creation for designing healthcare robotics solutions. Following attendance at the workshop, attendees were eligible to apply for feasibility funding via the Robotics for Frailty Challenge Call.

The workshop was attended by 19 individuals with representatives from academia, industry and health care.

The workshop, which was one of a series of workshops at different locations, was designed as a dynamic and interactive event in collaboration with an external facilitator to ensure consistency of experience for all participants.

During the workshop, the EMERGENCE team gave updated presentations of the network aims, objectives and work to date along with an overview of findings into lived experiences of frailty, management and support. The workshop also incorporated interactive sessions to allow opportunities to network with researchers in assistive robotics and to share expertise, skills and experiences to build collaborative links with the EMERGENCE network community. Additionally, the workshop provided an opportunity to share and learn about a range of co-production and co-creation approaches from other attendees.

Formal feedback was positive with attendees finding the event well delivered, well organised and informative with appropriate and interesting content. Several of the attendees went on to submit initial proposals for the Robotics for Frailty Challenge Call. A total of 21 innovative project ideas were generated.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description EMERGENCE Co-Production Workshop: Define Challenges of Assisted Daily Living (Sheffield) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact A co-production workshop was held at Scampton Lodge, a retirement housing facility in Sheffield managed by project partners Johnnie Johnson Housing Trust, on 08/07/2022. The focus and intended purpose of the workshop was to identify and evaluate the acceptability and feasibility of potential health technology solutions which address the barriers identified in the previous workshop.

Participants were recruited from two residential independent living facilities with the help of project partners Johnnie Johnson Housing Trust. In total, 5 residents and 2 carers attended the workshop which was facilitated by 4 members of the EMERGENCE team.

The workshop comprised of a series of discussions for which the participants were split into two groups. Participants were asked to consider a series of conceptual artworks depicting potential assistive robotics solutions which had been produced by illustrator Sam Church in response to the outputs from the previous workshop. Participants were encouraged to explore their reactions to these concepts and to discuss the practicalities of each in terms of any concerns they might have about adopting something similar into their own lives. Through this, the team sought to identify barriers that exist to the deployment of assistive robotics solutions for this cohort.

All discussions were recorded with key points being captured on post it notes throughout the workshop. The analysis of the workshop outcomes were used to inform the priority areas and requirements for the Robotics for Frailty Challenge funding calls.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description EMERGENCE Co-Production Workshop: Define Challenges of Self-Monitoring of Frailty (Edinburgh) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact A co-production workshop was held at the University of Edinburgh on 15/07/2022. The focus and intended purpose of the workshop was to work with active pre-frail older adults and healthcare professionals with experience in self-management and prevention of frailty to identify and evaluate the acceptability and feasibility of potential health technology solutions addressing the issues identified in the previous workshop.

Participants were recruited from healthcare settings, regional residential housing associations and the general public. In total, 11 participants attended comprising 3 healthcare professionals and 8 older adults.

The workshop was comprised of three main sessions. During the first and second session, participants were split into two groups and asked to consider a series of conceptual artworks depicting potential assistive robotics solutions which had been produced by illustrator Sam Church in response to the outputs from a previous workshop. Participants were encouraged to explore their reactions to these concepts and to discuss the practicalities of each in terms of any concerns they might have about adopting something similar into their own lives. Through this, the team sought to identify barriers that exist to the deployment of assistive robotics solutions for this cohort.

The final session comprised of a robot showcase where a number of robotic devices were demonstrated to participants.

All discussions were recorded with key points being captured on post it notes throughout the workshop. The analysis of the workshop outcomes were used to inform the priority areas and requirements for the Robotics for Frailty Challenge funding calls.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description EMERGENCE Co-Production Workshop: Discover & Define Challenges of Assisted Daily Living (Hertfordshire) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact A co-production workshop was held at the University of Hertfordshire College Lane Campus, on 26/09/2022. The focus and intended purpose of the workshop was to explore the experiences and aspirations of people with lived experience of frailty and their carers in relation to assisted daily living with frailty and identify and evaluate the acceptability and feasibility of potential health technology solutions which address the barriers identified.

Participants were recruited from regional residential independent living facilities. In total, 4 residents and 4 carers attended the workshop which was facilitated by 4 members of the EMERGENCE team.

The workshop comprised of two main discussion sessions with the participants split into two groups. During the first session, participants were asked to consider a number of fictional personae living with frailty and discuss the challenges they felt would be faced under various categories of daily living such as, for example, getting out and about, cooking, cleaning, shopping and bathing and encouraged to explore how technology might provide solutions to these challenges.

The second session introduced the concept of assistive robotics with a number of current assistive devices being demonstrated to participants. Participants were asked to discuss whether they felt that these had potential for addressing challenges for daily living for people living with frailty, whether it was something they would use themselves and their thoughts on any barriers they felt existed to the practicalities of using them within their own residential settings.

Participants were also asked to consider a series of conceptual artworks depicting potential assistive robotics solutions which had been produced by illustrator Sam Church in response to the outputs from a previous workshop. Participants were encouraged to explore their reactions to these concepts and to discuss the practicalities of each in terms of any concerns they might have about adopting something similar into their own lives. Through this, the team sought to identify barriers that exist to the deployment of assistive robotics solutions for this cohort.

All discussions were recorded with key points being captured on post it notes throughout the workshop. The workshop was also attended by an illustrator, Sam Church, who took notes and produced summary artwork to capture the discussion in a way that maintained elements of expression, emotion and feeling.

The analysis of the workshop outcomes were used to inform the priority areas and requirements for the Robotics for Frailty Challenge funding calls.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description EMERGENCE Co-Production Workshop: Discover & Define Challenges of Monitoring Frailty (Nottingham) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact A co-production workshop was held as a hybrid event both in person at the Postgraduate Medical Education Centre in Nottingham and online via Microsoft Teams, on 15/09/2022. The focus and intended purpose of the workshop was to further explore the experiences and aspirations of healthcare professionals in relation to the pathways for frailty support and the ways in which frailty is monitored. Additionally, there was a second focus on identifying and evaluating the acceptability and feasibility of potential healthcare technology solutions associated with the issues identified by healthcare professionals.

Participants were initially asked to consider the patients they came into contact with as healthcare professionals and discuss common problems they saw as being associated with frailty, the problems seen most often in patients, difficulties faced on discharge and the symptoms that are hardest to manage, and why. Following this, participants were then asked to consider and discuss existing technology in use within their workplaces and the opportunities they felt existed for the development of new technologies.

All discussions were recorded with key points being captured on post it notes throughout the workshop. The analysis of the workshop outcomes were used to inform the priority areas and requirements for the Robotics for Frailty Challenge funding calls.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description EMERGENCE Co-Production Workshop: Discover Challenges of Assisted Daily Living (Sheffield) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact A co-production workshop was held at Scampton Lodge, a retirement housing facility in Sheffield managed by project partners Johnnie Johnson Housing Trust, on 24/06/2022. The focus and intended purpose of the workshop was to explore the experiences and aspirations of people with lived experience of frailty and their carers in relation to assisted daily living with frailty.

Participants were recruited from two residential independent living facilities with the help of project partners Johnnie Johnson Housing Trust. In total, 8 residents and 1 carer attended the workshop which was facilitated by 4 members of the EMERGENCE team.

The workshop was comprised of three main sessions. During the first session, participants were split into two groups and asked to consider two fictional personae living with frailty and discuss the challenges they felt would be faced under various categories of daily living such as, for example, getting out and about, cooking, cleaning, shopping and bathing. The second session was a repetition of the first with a different set of personae and participants were encouraged to explore how technology might provide solutions to these challenges.

The third session introduced the concept of assistive robotics. Participants were shown a series of short videos of current technology on the market and asked to discuss whether they felt that these had potential for addressing challenges for daily living for people living with frailty, whether it was something they would use themselves and their thoughts on any barriers they felt existed to the practicalities of using them within their own residential settings.

All discussions were recorded with key points being captured on post it notes throughout the workshop. The workshop was also attended by an illustrator, Sam Church, who took notes and produced summary artwork to capture the discussion in a way that maintained elements of expression, emotion and feeling. In addition, the illustrator also produced conceptual artwork depicting a number of potential assistive robotic solutions suggested by the workshop participants.

The analysis of the workshop outcomes were used to inform the priority areas and requirements for the Robotics for Frailty Challenge funding calls.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description EMERGENCE Co-Production Workshop: Discover Challenges of Monitoring Frailty (Nottingham) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact A co-production workshop was held as a hybrid event both in person at the University of Nottingham and online via Microsoft Teams, on 26/07/2022. The focus and intended purpose of the workshop was to discover the experiences and aspirations of healthcare professionals in relation to the pathways for frailty support and the ways in which frailty is monitored.

Participants were recruited from the NHS with the help of project partners from the Department of Healthcare of Older People at Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham. 4 participants attended in total and the workshop was facilitated by 3 members of the EMERGENCE team.

During the workshop, participants were initially asked to consider two fictional personae living with frailty and briefly discuss the challenges they felt would be faced under various categories of daily living such as, for example, getting out and about, cooking, cleaning, shopping and bathing. Following on from this, participants were then asked to consider, in their roles as healthcare professionals working with people living with frailty, the impact of what they typically see emerging as a result of these challenges, and where the biggest difficulties might lie for these individuals and healthcare professionals in supporting them.

All discussions were recorded with key points being captured on post it notes throughout the workshop. The workshop was also attended by an illustrator, Sam Church, who took notes and produced summary artwork to capture the discussion in a way that maintained elements of expression, emotion and feeling.

The analysis of the workshop outcomes were used to inform the priority areas and requirements for the Robotics for Frailty Challenge funding calls.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description EMERGENCE Co-Production Workshop: Discover Challenges of Self-Monitoring of Frailty (Edinburgh) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact A co-production workshop was held at the University of Edinburgh on 04/07/2022. The focus and intended purpose of the workshop was to work with active pre-frail older adults and healthcare professionals with experience in self-management and prevention of frailty to discover their experiences and aspirations with a focus on NHS England's Practical Guide to Healthy Ageing.

Participants were recruited from academia, healthcare settings, regional residential housing associations and the general public. In total, 13 participants attended comprising 2 occupational therapists, 1 telecare admin, 1 carer, 1 academic and 8 older adults.

The workshop was comprised of three main sessions. During the first and second session, participants were split into two groups and asked to consider a fictional persona living with frailty and explore what issues they might face when following the NHS guidelines.

The third session introduced the concept of assistive robotic technologies, giving an overview of possible roles of robots with demonstrations of cognitive, physical and social assistive robots. Participants were then split into breakout groups again in order to explore opportunities for technology and/or robotic automation.

All discussions were recorded with key points being captured on post it notes throughout the workshop. The workshop was also attended by an illustrator, Sam Church, who took notes and produced summary artwork to capture the discussion in a way that maintained elements of expression, emotion and feeling.

The analysis of the workshop outcomes were used to inform the priority areas and requirements for the Robotics for Frailty Challenge funding calls.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description EMERGENCE Co-creation Methodology Workshop (Online) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact An online co-production methodology workshop was held on 09/06/2023. The focus and intended purpose of the workshop was to generate awareness of the research challenges for Robotics for Frailty and to provide opportunities for collaboration and engagement. The workshops were aimed at individuals interested in submitting proposals for the Robotics for Frailty Challenge funding call as well as those interested in learning more about co-creation for designing healthcare robotics solutions. Following attendance at the workshop, attendees were eligible to apply for feasibility funding via the Robotics for Frailty Challenge Call. The workshop was attended by 23 individuals with representatives from academia, industry and health care. The workshop, which was one of a series of workshops at different locations, was designed as a dynamic and interactive event in collaboration with an external facilitator to ensure consistency of experience for all participants. During the workshop, the EMERGENCE team gave updated presentations of the network aims, objectives and work to date along with an overview of findings into lived experiences of frailty, management and support. The workshop also incorporated interactive sessions to allow opportunities to network with researchers in assistive robotics and to share expertise, skills and experiences to build collaborative links with the EMERGENCE network community. Additionally, the workshop provided an opportunity to share and learn about a range of co-production and co-creation approaches from other attendees. Formal feedback was positive with attendees reporting new learning about formal methodologies for co-creation, utilisation of ideas for unconnected bids and new connections. Several of the attendees went on to submit initial proposals for the Robotics for Frailty Challenge Call. A total of 14 innovative project ideas were generated.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description EMERGENCE Consortium Networking Event (Nottingham) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact The EMERGENCE Healthcare Technologies Network+ invited all members of the consortium, along with those who are interested in becoming part of the network, to attend a full day of networking activities focused on the challenges associated with successfully embedding robots into the daily lives of people with lived experience of frailty. The event was open to all including, academics with research interests in this field, technologists and roboticists working to develop technology for this group, health and social care professionals working with older people, people with lived experiences of frailty or caring for individuals with frailty and any other interested members of the public. 40 participants attended to consider different perspectives, hear key speaker views, listen to funded project team members talk about their experiences, learn about current research taking place in this field and to build connections and collaborations across the wider network. The event took place at the Ingenuity Centre at the University of Nottingham on 20th February 2024.

Keynote speakers for the event were:
Zoe Clarke EC Service Lead for the Assistive Technology Team at Barnsley Hospital NHS Trust
Professor Adam Gordon Professor of the Care of Older People, Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences, University of Nottingham
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
URL https://www.emergencerobotics.net/events-and-network-activities/tackling-challenges
 
Description EMERGENCE Joint Workshop with the EPSRC Trustworthy and Autonomous Systems Hub pump-priming project (Edinburgh) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The EMERGENCE network hosted a workshop at the National Robotarium on 15/11/2022 in conjunction with the EPSRC Trustworthy and Autonomous Systems Hub pump-priming project, Empowering Future Care Workforces. The aim was to understand how health and social care professionals can benefit from using assistive robotics on their own terms. Empowering health and social care professionals through digital technologies has long been a goal in health and care policy. As governments invest in post-pandemic digital transformation, ensuring workers are empowered and not excluded by technology is more urgent than ever.

The focus of the workshop was scoping capabilities to leverage assistive robotics through co-design. As such the participants were given the opportunity to observe and interact with a range of different assistive robots in a smart home environment and provided with scenarios to help elicit a deeper understanding of what skills and training would be need for healthcare professionals to leverage emerging robotics solutions.

The healthcare professionals attending were in turn able to gain insight into issues such as what the impact of these technologies will be on their responsibilities, training needs, organizational structure, and working conditions.

The findings are informing the work on work package 4 and will inform ongoing work on developing a set of online resources with CPD material for health and social care staff.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description EMERGENCE Joint Workshop with the EPSRC Trustworthy and Autonomous Systems Hub pump-priming project (Nottingham) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The EMERGENCE network hosted a workshop at the Cobot Maker Space at Nottingham University on 07/11/2022 in conjunction with the EPSRC Trustworthy and Autonomous Systems Hub pump-priming project, Empowering Future Care Workforces. The aim was to understand how health and social care professionals can benefit from using assistive robotics on their own terms. Empowering health and social care professionals through digital technologies has long been a goal in health and care policy. As governments invest in post-pandemic digital transformation, ensuring workers are empowered and not excluded by technology is more urgent than ever.

The focus of the workshop was scoping capabilities to leverage assistive robotics through co-design. As such the participants were given the opportunity to observe and interact with a range of different assistive robots in a smart home environment and provided with scenarios to help elicit a deeper understanding of what skills and training would be needed for healthcare professionals to leverage emerging robotics solutions.

The healthcare professionals attending were in turn able to gain insight into issues such as what the impact of these technologies will be on their responsibilities, training needs, organizational structure, and working conditions.

The findings are informing the work on work package 4 and will inform ongoing work on developing a set of online resources with CPD material for health and social care staff.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description EMERGENCE Robotics for Home-Activity Monitoring and Frailty Assessment Workshop (Edinburgh) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The EMERGENCE network hosted a full day workshop from the National Robotarium, Heriot-Watt University's campus in Edinburgh, on September 8th 2023. The workshop was designed for health and social care professionals to learn about, and test, Internet of Things (IoT) and robotic solutions for home-activity monitoring and frailty assessment. The workshop was part of a series of workshops designed to understand how health and social care professionals can benefit from using assistive robotics on their own terms and the focus of the workshop was on robotic technology in support of home activity monitoring and frailty assessment.

The attendees of the workshop learned about and tested state-of-the-art Internet of Things (IoT) and robotic solutions for home-activity monitoring and frailty assessment, discussed requirements for configuring, verifying and validating systems to best match the needs of staff in dynamic care contexts and contributed to identifying gaps in clinical and engineering education to enable healthcare technology skills development, and scope continuing professional development needs.
The analysis from this and further workshops will generate insights about the kinds of policy support and interdisciplinary research infrastructure needed for new forms of human-robot collaboration in caring environments during and after digital transformation.
The workshop was open to multi-disciplinary health and social care professionals and anyone from institutional organisations and especially anyone involved in CPD and with a keen interest in technology innovation to address current and future service delivery challenges. 24 participants attended the workshop.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.emergencerobotics.net/events-and-network-activities/robotics-for-home-activity-monitorin...
 
Description EMERGENCE Robotics for Rehabilitation Therapy Workshop (Edinburgh) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The EMERGENCE network hosted a full day workshop from the National Robotarium, Heriot-Watt University's campus in Edinburgh, on July 21st 2023. The workshop was designed for health and social care professionals to learn about, and test, robotics for rehabilitation therapy and to identify CPD requirements. The workshop was part of a series of workshops designed to understand how health and social care professionals can benefit from using assistive robotics on their own terms and the focus of the workshop was on robotic technology in support of physical rehabilitation therapies.

The attendees of the workshop learned about and tested state-of-the-art rehabilitative robotic platforms, including examples of social robots and wearable robotics, discussed requirements for configuring, verifying and validating systems to best match the needs of staff in dynamic care contexts and contributed to identifying gaps in clinical and engineering education to enable healthcare technology skills development, and scope continuing professional development needs.
The analysis from this and further workshops will generate insights about the kinds of policy support and interdisciplinary research infrastructure needed for new forms of human-robot collaboration in caring environments during and after digital transformation.
The workshop was open to multi-disciplinary health and social care professionals and anyone from institutional organisations and especially anyone involved in CPD and with a keen interest in technology innovation to address current and future service delivery challenges. 15 participants attended the workshop.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.emergencerobotics.net/events-and-network-activities/robotics-for-rehabilitation-therapy-...
 
Description EMERGENCE Shared Learning, Knowledge Exchange and Mentoring Event (Nottingham) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact The EMERGENCE network hosted a networking event for members of the funded feasibility project teams, steering group and advisory board to focus on building connections and collaborations between project teams and the wider network by sharing learning from the projects, exchanging knowledge and experiences and engaging in mentoring opportunities. Project team members worked together to identify common themes and synergies and to develop an understanding of opportunites for connections and collaborations. The project teams also took part in some initial formative evaluation of the other projects.
20 participants representing all six funded project teams attended with a further 8 mentors joining online for a hybrid mentoring exercise.
Project teams engaged in useful discussions and built new collaborative ways of working across projects with a number of teams agreeing to move forward with new mentoring links from within the steering group and advisory board memberships.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
URL https://www.emergencerobotics.net/events-and-network-activities/shared-learning
 
Description EMERGENCE Telepresence Robotics Workshop (Nottingham) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The EMERGENCE network hosted a full day workshop from the University of Nottingham, on October 13th 2023. The workshop was designed for health and social care professionals to learn about, and test, telepresence robotics. The workshop was part of a series of workshops designed to understand how health and social care professionals can benefit from using assistive robotics on their own terms and the focus of the workshop was on telepresence robotic technology.

The attendees of the workshop learned about and tested telepresence robot platforms, discussed requirements for configuring, verifying and validating systems to best match the needs of staff in dynamic care contexts and contributed to identifying gaps in clinical and engineering education to enable healthcare technology skills development, and scope continuing professional development needs.
The analysis from this and further workshops will generate insights about the kinds of policy support and interdisciplinary research infrastructure needed for new forms of human-robot collaboration in caring environments during and after digital transformation.
The workshop was open to multi-disciplinary health and social care professionals and anyone from institutional organisations and especially anyone involved in CPD and with a keen interest in technology innovation to address current and future service delivery challenges. 22 participants attended the workshop.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.emergencerobotics.net/events-and-network-activities/telepresence-robotics-workshop
 
Description EMERGENCE Trailblazers Webinar 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact The EMERGENCE Healthcare Technologies Network+ held a webinar on Tuesday 12th September 2023 featuring a number of key speakers to complement the themes of our trailblazer projects funded by the first Robotics for Frailty Challenge funding call. Each trailblazer project team presented the challenges, opportunities, aims and objectives of their projects along with an update of their progress to date. The webinar also included opportunities for networking with other attendees to allow for further in-depth exploration of our trailblazer themes. 30 people registered to attend the event with more joining as a result of an open invitation extended via social media on the day of the event.

Keynote speakers at the event were:
Professor Roy Sandbach OBE, Newcastle University
Professor. Filippo Cavallo, University of Florence, Italy
Philippa Hemmings, UKRI
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.emergencerobotics.net/events-and-network-activities/emergence-trailblazers-webinar
 
Description Exhibition at the IEEE International Conference of Robotics and Automation (ICRA) 2023 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact ICRA is the largest robotics conference. 6000 attendees overall from academia, industry, media and the public.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.icra2023.org/
 
Description IROS 2022 Workshop 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The EMERGENCE network hosted a half-day workshop at IROS 2022 in Kyoto, Japan in conjunction with the EPSRC Trustworthy and Autonomous Systems Hub pump-priming project Empowering Future Care Workforces project. The workshop focused on assistive robots in the real world and supporting healthcare professionals to leverage autonomous assistive devices.

The objectives of the workshop were to:

Review how designers and operators can expose machine decision making to verify and validate safe operations in dynamic care environments.

Review how diverse stakeholders can best inform the creation and revision of standards such as ISO 13482 on personal care robots which at present does not consider issues of verification and validation in the face of changing patient needs, for instance.

Assess how we can put measures of wellbeing at the heart of evidencing the efficacy of RAS to systematically assess the wellbeing implications of assistive robotics on health and care professionals, and the people they care for.

Review how roboticists and care professionals can be empowered to overcome already existing inequalities in the care landscape that mean that marginalised people who most need care are often excluded from benefitting from emerging technologies and services.

Identify what kind of interdisciplinary collaborations, research infrastructures and innovation policies are needed to support this work.

Identify how robotics research can overcome issues of local specificity, safely adapting emerging RAS in care to best suit complex local settings where care actually happens.

The workshop was carefully designed to encourage collaborative discussion, co-learning and possibilities for agenda setting and future collaborations through a mixture of creative small group activities alongside five invited talks, research reports and poster sessions.

During the workshop, participants listened to the following talks:

"The problematic marriage between care and technology" - Prof. Luc de Witte, Professor of Technology for Health Care, Technology for Health Care Group, The Hague University of Applied Sciences.

"Assistive Technologies (from ICT to AAR)" - Professor Tomohiro Shibata, Professor of Graduate School of Life Science and Systems Engineering, Kyutech, Japan

"Barriers and opportunities for adoption of robotics in healthcare" - Prof. Nigel Harris, Visiting Professor, University of the West of England and the Department of Health at the University of Bath

"Design and Control of Wearable Robotics for Real-World Applications" - Dr. Brokoslaw Laschowski, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Canada

"Personal Care Robots for frailty and neurodegenerative diseases" - Prof Filippo Cavello, Professor in Biomedical Robotics and Head of BioRobotics Lab, Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Florence

This workshop included a unique contribution from healthcare professionals and end-users on their lived experiences, highlighting the barriers and opportunities. These videos provided by our external stakeholders were used to prompt reflection and ideation for solutions and approaches to address the issues highlighted. These videos have been made available on the Emergence website and continue to be used.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.emergencerobotics.net/events/iros-2022-workshop
 
Description Involvement in "Devices for Dignity, Revolutionising HealthTech for Long Term Conditions" event 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Invited involvement (poster presentation) in the event "Devices for Dignity, Revolutionising HealthTech for Long Term Conditions", celebrating 15 years of the NIHR Devices for Dignity Medtech Co-operative.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
URL https://www.emergencerobotics.net/resources/poster
 
Description Lectures @ PERSEO Summer School 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact The 2022 Summer School on Service-Based and Cloud Robotics was organised by the PERSEO ETN European Doctoral Training Network on Personalised Robotics. The school will consist of lectures from the international experts in the field. Lectures sparked questions and discussions increasing the knowledge and interest of the PG students in the topics.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://perseo-summer-school.github.io/
 
Description Participant feedback visits 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Patients, carers and/or patient groups
Results and Impact Presentation of early care robot concepts at 2 coffee mornings with sheltered housing residents and care staff
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Presentation at the HONDA HARU Fest 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Haru Fest 2022
Recently Tokyo hosted to the inaugural Haru Fest 2022! Attended by over 100 academics, engineers, and writers from around the world, Haru Fest was an opportunity not only to celebrate the social robots of Honda Research Institute Japan's, but also for the academics and professionals who designed Haru to share their work and discuss the future of social robots.
Haru Fest's theme was empathy, integration, and diversity, and it focused on issues in empathy, bond and trust with social robots and their integration into society. It took place over 2 days jam-packed with inspiring invited talks, insightful panel sessions, and informative flash talks featuring visionaries from industry and academia.
Last but not least, Haru Fest featured awe-inspiring demonstrations of capabilities from both Honda's pioneering social robot, ASIMO, and from Haru itself. Attendees left feeling knowledgeable about, connected to, and optimistic about Haru's social robotics community.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://mypersonalrobots.org/events/2022/10/29/haru-fest-2022-a-gathering-of-the-tribes
 
Description Presentation to company Board 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Presentation to the Board of a telecare company. Raised awareness of the state of care robotics and of participatory research methods
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Project Partner Introductions Event 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Supporters
Results and Impact This event was held online for the purpose of building connections and working relationships with the partners that had conveyed their support for the EMERGENCE network project. It was attended by the EMERGENCE project team and representatives from 17 separate project partner institutions/companies. The EMERGENCE project team gave a presentation that covered details of their research labs and test beds, an overview of the EMERGENCE project aims and objectives and details pertaining to the work packages and associated activities planned. Each project partner contributed by introducing themselves, their backgrounds and their planned contribution to the network.
This was the first opportunity for project partners to meet in the context of the EMERGENCE work and the event sparked questions and discussions around the EMERGENCE priorities from a variety of perspectives bringing clinical partners, healthcare service providers, healthcare innovation services, care workforce representatives, international academic partners and technology companies together for the first time.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Public lecture 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Professorial inaugural lecture, open and widely advertise to the public. Around 100 participants, including form the public, e.g. 15 registered participants were from the university of third age.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://blog.shu.ac.uk/awrc/2023/05/17/prof-alessandro-di-nuovo-inaugural-lecture/
 
Description Research projects presentation at the 7th IEEE UK and Ireland Robotics and Autonomous Systems Conference 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact The conference attracted over 200 participants of which 118 were postgraduate or undergraduate students, 20 from industry/business.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
URL https://www.ieee-ukandireland.org/event/ras-2024-7th-annual-ieee-uk-and-ireland-robotics-and-automat...
 
Description Robotics + Care Mashup 2023 (Edinburgh) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact The network sponsored an week long hackathon event hosted by the CARE Group from the National Robotarium at Heriot-Watt University, the Robotics + Care Mashup in October 2023 to bring together students, academics, end-users, care providers and technologists to develop solutions that could help people live more independent lives. The event featured talks, hands-on workshops and tutorials for technologists and care providers, with leading experts in healthcare, assistive technology and robotics - all centred around a 5-day long hackathon. A number of the sessions were also available online. The event was attended by innovators, healthcare experts, students, researchers and industry experts.
40 participants attended in person and a further 10 attended online over 5 days, 14 of them MSc students from different Universities involved in the hackathon. One of the days was integrated with the DHI Healthcare Cluster meeting, where their attendees were asked to provide their feedback on the concepts being developed in the hackathon. There were also contributions from 2 clinicians from NHS Lothian and Blackwood Homes and Care. The DHI has expressed an interest in being more involved in the organisation of the next mashup. The event brought more people to join the EMERGENCE network, and helped to start new collaborations with Napier University. We are designing CPD for their MSc Social Care and Occupational Therapist programmes, centred around the use of tele-presence robotics.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.emergencerobotics.net/events-and-network-activities/robotics-care-mashup-2023
 
Description Robotics for Frailty Challenge Launch Event 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact A challenge launch event was held as a hybrid event at the University of Nottingham and online via Microsoft Teams on 28/09/2022. The focus and intended purpose of the event was to introduce attendees to the EMERGENCE network, engage with talks from invited speakers, share an overview of the emerging research outputs from our work package 1 activities and to announce the Robotics for Frailty Challenge funding call.

Participants listened to a number of excellent key speakers speak from a variety of perspectives on the challenges around robotic assistive systems and frailty with particular reference to the challenges that exist for deployment of existing technology into service within the homes of those living with frailty.

Presentation slides and recordings from all key speakers and project team presentations given during the event are available at the URL given below.

Key speakers for the event included:

Philippa Hemmings, Head of Healthcare Technologies, EPSRC

Dr. Elizabeth Mestheneos, Administrative Board and Founder Member, 50+Hellas

Mark Van Loock, Technology Manager Robotics, Toyota Motor Europe

Michael Gray, Implementation Lead (Health & Social Care Data Driven Innovation) at Usher Institute, The University of Edinburgh

Sara Cooper, Robotics Software Engineer, PAL Robotics

Following the talks, the EMERGENCE team shared the emerging themes from the outputs of work package 1 workshop activities and announced the Robotics for Frailty Challenge funding call to fund research-driven proposals that engage with these findings and advance the state of the art of robotics towards being capable of transforming community health and care, with an emphasis on real-world adoption and deployment.

Attendees were encouraged to register to attend one of a series of co-creation methodology workshops aimed at individuals who are interested in submitting proposals for the Robotics for Frailty Challenge call and also at those who are interested in learning more about co-creation for designing healthcare robotics solutions.

Informal feedback from the event was positive and led to 97 registrations for attendance at our co-creation methodology workshop events.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.emergencerobotics.net/events/robotics-for-frailty-challenge
 
Description Shonan Meeting 177: Natural Interaction with Humanoid Robots 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact The group worked intensively for 4 days and explored possible challenges and jointly developed a research agenda for main research directions in the topic. The meeting establish an international collaboration for follow-up research.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://shonan.nii.ac.jp/seminars/177/
 
Description Talk Social Applications of Multimodal Cognitive Robots 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact This workshop shared synergetic contribution of different research areas e.g., Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet-of-Things (IoT), Robotics, and Social Science to develop innovative and effective research and technologies for the ageing society and assistance in general.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Talk and co-design workshop to co-create accessible lab workspaces using robotics and AI 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact The Cell & Gene Therapy Catapult, University of East Anglia and Heriot Watt University have coordinated this 'Laboratory Access Challenges, Data Capture, and Solutions' workshop to explore the disability access issues faced by laboratory operators and consider new approaches to creating more data to inform solutions.
The in-person workshop was divided into two phases: a morning session facilitated by Dr. Dr Katherine Deane (University of East Anglia) focussing on the results of the Access All Areas in Labs survey followed by ideation to explore obvious and unobvious access solutions, and an afternoon session facilitated by Dr. Mauro Dragone (Heriot-Watt University), outlining data capture and analysis techniques following by feedback on their application in a laboratory context and whether a more extensive dataset is required.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
URL https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/laboratory-access-challenges-data-capture-and-solutions-workshop-tick...
 
Description Talk at Digital Healthcare Innovation (DHI) Cluster event 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact On 18th October the Healthy Ageing Innovation Cluster meeting will focus on the caregiving/ co-ordination challenge and will cover the following areas.
Healthcare framework for Care Homes healthcare-framework-adults-living-care-homes-health-care-home.pdf (www.gov.scot)
Care Homes Assessment tool (CHAT) Care Homes Assessment Tool Proof of Concept: Stage 2 Report - Executive Summary - Strathprints · Home - Robobrico & MAAH and tours of National Robotarium Labs
Scottish Care
Care Home Data and its use in innovation David Cruickshank and Ellen Lynch Scottish Government · The GEARED-UP Project (napier.ac.uk) with Dr Lucy Johnstone (Napier) and Dr Susan Shenkin (Edinburgh)
DHI is funded to work with all academic partners in Scotland and this event will coincide with the Care and Robotics Mash Up, who will join us for our meeting at the National Robotarium, Heriot-Watt University
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
URL https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/healthy-ageing-innovation-cluster-meeting-tickets-710188130817?aff=eb...
 
Description Talk at the 6th IEEE UK and Ireland Robotics and Autonomous Systems Conference, Social Applications of Multimodal Cognitive Robots 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Talk on Social Applications of Multimodal Cognitive Robots
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description The Future of Social Care Technology - Implementing Robotics & AI 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact This was an online event organised by Skilld for Care, Digital Social Care and the National Care Forum. Invited to give a presentation on the practical barriers and challenges of using emerging technologies in social care. Discussed the scope and work of the Emergence network and introduced the consortium members and their test beds. 6 March 2023
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-future-of-social-care-technology-implementing-robotics-ai-tickets...
 
Description The Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition 2023 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Professor Praminda Caleb-Solly participated in the organisation of The Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition 2023 in London UK on 4th July 2023 and joined colleagues from Loughborough University and the National Rehabilitation Centre running an interactive exhibit to enable members of the general public to experiment with telepresence robots and discuss how these could be utlised for daily activities of living for people with lived experience of Fraily and discussed other Emergence Network related topics with the attendees such as safety, regulations and future health and social care workforce development when introducing assistive robots.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/revolutionising-rehabilitation/royal-society-exhibition/
 
Description Toyota Webinar 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Participation to monthly Toyota Robotics community, and delivery of project update outlining the use of the Toyota Human Support Robot (HSR) in EMERGENCE continuous professional development activities targeting the care workforce.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
 
Description Trialling Telepresence Robots in Extra Care and Cultural Settings - Social, Logistic, Technical Challenges and Opportunities 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Professor Praminda Caleb-Solly gave a talk at the Geriatronics Summit 2023 on Sunday 2nd July 2023 titled: "Trialling Telepresence Robots in Extra Care and Cultural Settings - Social, Logistic, Technical Challenges and Opportunities". This has led to new collaborations with the Technical University of Munich and University of Cornell, where we are working on further funding initiatives.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://geriatronics.mirmi.tum.de/en/geriatronics-summit-2023/
 
Description Turing Knowledge Cafe 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The EMERGENCE network hosted a knowledge café event in the Cobot Maker Space at the University of Nottingham on 15/09/2022 in conjunction with the Alan Turing Institute Network and the Horizon Digital Economy Research Institute.

The focus and intended purpose of the event was to provide opportunities for members of the general public to increase their awareness of AI in healthcare and supporting responsible research and innovation.

During the event, participants were introduced to the themes of artificial intelligence and the ways in which AI models are trained and evaluated using data and how that data is collected from research participants to assist researchers in designing, programming, constructing and testing robots. A demonstration of the robots within the Cobot Maker space gave participants the opportunity to see assistive robots in action, after which they were invited to participate in a discussion on the benefits and risks of the robots, how their data is used and how GDPR, and AI regulation, and ethics attempt to minimise these risks.

The workshop was also attended by an illustrator, Sam Church, who took notes and produced summary artwork to capture the discussion in a way that maintained elements of expression, emotion and feeling.

The Knowledge café worked as a successful forum to help attendees understand what personal data could be collected from assistive robots and how it might be used. This in turn help them to reflect on and articulate concerns in the context of their own lived experiences, in addition to highlighting a range of other potential concerns, as well as opportunities to inform future design of ethical robots. The discussion as captured by the illustrator is being converted into an Ethical Design of Assistive Robotics Technologies card deck which will be used in subsequent workshops and activities to prompt engineers and designers to focus on specific responsible research and innovation.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Visit from Care Home organisation, Scotland 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Patients, carers and/or patient groups
Results and Impact Heriot-Watt's team hosted a visit from a delegation from Care Home Edinburgh (https://www.carehomeedinburgh.co.uk), involving interactive demonstrations of robotic concepts, including the RoboBrico robot funded by the network at Heriot-Watt, and discussion of further collaboration especially to pilot the use of robotic technology and the involvement of a number of care homes in the WP4 work stream dedicated to co-create continuous professional development for the care workforce in relation to AI and Robotics.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
 
Description Visit from MND Scotland 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Supporters
Results and Impact Heriot-Watt's team hosted a visit from the chair of MND Scotland, providing interactive demonstrations of robotic technology, including the RoboBrico robot funded vy EMERGENCE, highlighting the work of the network on the skills training work stream, and discussing possible collaborations with MND Scotland
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
 
Description White Paper on Security and Privacy in Assistive Robotics: Cybersecurity Challenges for Healthcare 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The UK-RAS white papers serve as a basis for discussing the future technological roadmaps, engaging the wider community and stakeholders, as well as policy makers in assessing the potential social, economic and ethical/legal impact of RAS.
This white paper explores the security and privacy needs for Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS) working in healthcare. RAS devices in the care domain will enable people a greater degree of independence, with less reliance on other people, and this in turn could enable people to remain longer in their own homes.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.ukras.org.uk/publications/white-papers/security-and-privacy-in-assistive-robotics/