A Robot Training Buddy for adults with ASD
Lead Research Organisation:
Heriot-Watt University
Department Name: S of Mathematical and Computer Sciences
Abstract
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) affects 695,000 people in the UK, and about 547,000 of these are 18 or over (1.3% of the adults in working age). The unemployment rate among adults with an ASD is higher than 85%, nearly double the unemployment rate of 48% for the wider disabled population. One reason for this is that people with an ASD struggle to interpret social signals, those expressive behavioural cues through which people manifest what they feel or think (facial expressions, vocalisations, gestures, etc.). This project will develop a Socially-Competent Robot Training Buddy that will help adults with ASD to better deal with social signals in work-related scenarios.
The project is inherently interdisciplinary and falls in the new research area of Socially Assistive Robotics, at the crossroads between robotics, psychology, and social signal processing. So far, autonomous robots have largely been seen as functionally engineered to carrying out well-defined tasks in an efficient manner. However Socially Assistive Robots (SARs) must fit into normal human social environments and follow interaction rules that do not disrupt an office or a home or upset their human interaction partners. This project will focus on high-functioning adults with an ASD, and just as physically assistive robots enable people to make movements that are difficult because of physical impairments, the SAR of this project enables people with an ASD to perform social tasks that are difficult - if not impossible - due to social cognition impairments.
The main goal is to reduce the cost of Behavioural Skills Training (BST) through the development of a Robot Training Buddy. BST is recognized as one of the most effective approaches to alleviate ASD effects, but cannot be applied extensively because it is labour intensive. Using an autonomous robot would reduce the human effort and cost of BST and make it more widely available. The main technological challenge is the development of a novel affective architecture that makes a robot suitable for behaviour rehearsal, a critical stage of BST. In behaviour rehearsal, the robot must reinforce the use of appropriate social signals by its human interaction partner while inhibiting the use of inappropriate ones. The team will work with stakeholders involved with training for adults with an ASD to develop workplace-relevant scenarios in which to develop and evaluate the Training Buddy with end-users.
This work will develop the necessary scientific basis for the introduction of socially-competent robots into human social environments, opening the way to a multitude of domestic, educational and assistive applications.
The project is inherently interdisciplinary and falls in the new research area of Socially Assistive Robotics, at the crossroads between robotics, psychology, and social signal processing. So far, autonomous robots have largely been seen as functionally engineered to carrying out well-defined tasks in an efficient manner. However Socially Assistive Robots (SARs) must fit into normal human social environments and follow interaction rules that do not disrupt an office or a home or upset their human interaction partners. This project will focus on high-functioning adults with an ASD, and just as physically assistive robots enable people to make movements that are difficult because of physical impairments, the SAR of this project enables people with an ASD to perform social tasks that are difficult - if not impossible - due to social cognition impairments.
The main goal is to reduce the cost of Behavioural Skills Training (BST) through the development of a Robot Training Buddy. BST is recognized as one of the most effective approaches to alleviate ASD effects, but cannot be applied extensively because it is labour intensive. Using an autonomous robot would reduce the human effort and cost of BST and make it more widely available. The main technological challenge is the development of a novel affective architecture that makes a robot suitable for behaviour rehearsal, a critical stage of BST. In behaviour rehearsal, the robot must reinforce the use of appropriate social signals by its human interaction partner while inhibiting the use of inappropriate ones. The team will work with stakeholders involved with training for adults with an ASD to develop workplace-relevant scenarios in which to develop and evaluate the Training Buddy with end-users.
This work will develop the necessary scientific basis for the introduction of socially-competent robots into human social environments, opening the way to a multitude of domestic, educational and assistive applications.
Planned Impact
The following specific impacts are associated with this project:
1.An improved training approach for adults with high-functioning ASD that might eventually lead to an increase in employment opportunities. The use of a robot would enable the more widespread application of behavioural skills training in social signal perception since the availability and cost of trained role-play therapists is a major bottleneck. Partnership in this project by Autism Initiatives provides an important channel for this impact as does involvement of a variety of stakeholders in the project Steering Committee.
2.Development of understanding in public policy makers of the usefulness of social robots for training. The technology and ASD symposium proposed is a specific channel for impacting the policy of the Scottish Government and raising policy-maker understanding of the use of social robots in training applications.
3.Changes in the public perception of robots from seeing them as threatening towards understanding their potential social usefulness. The public engagement activities of the project will help the public to arrive at a more realistic understanding of the use of robots rather than fearing them as sources of job loss or as a generalised threat to humanity.
4.Increased uptake by robot manufacturers of social signal generation and processing in their products
New generations of social robots are just beginning to be built, such as the Aldebaran pepper robot. The project will demonstrate the usefulness of robust social signal processing in social robots and thus promote the incorporation of this technology into these new products. the presence of Aldebaran on the Steering Committee is a channel for this type of technology transfer.
1.An improved training approach for adults with high-functioning ASD that might eventually lead to an increase in employment opportunities. The use of a robot would enable the more widespread application of behavioural skills training in social signal perception since the availability and cost of trained role-play therapists is a major bottleneck. Partnership in this project by Autism Initiatives provides an important channel for this impact as does involvement of a variety of stakeholders in the project Steering Committee.
2.Development of understanding in public policy makers of the usefulness of social robots for training. The technology and ASD symposium proposed is a specific channel for impacting the policy of the Scottish Government and raising policy-maker understanding of the use of social robots in training applications.
3.Changes in the public perception of robots from seeing them as threatening towards understanding their potential social usefulness. The public engagement activities of the project will help the public to arrive at a more realistic understanding of the use of robots rather than fearing them as sources of job loss or as a generalised threat to humanity.
4.Increased uptake by robot manufacturers of social signal generation and processing in their products
New generations of social robots are just beginning to be built, such as the Aldebaran pepper robot. The project will demonstrate the usefulness of robust social signal processing in social robots and thus promote the incorporation of this technology into these new products. the presence of Aldebaran on the Steering Committee is a channel for this type of technology transfer.
Publications
Iwaya LH
(2023)
On the privacy of mental health apps: An empirical investigation and its implications for app development.
in Empirical software engineering
Aylett R
(2021)
An Architecture for Emotional Facial Expressions as Social Signals
in IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing
Aylett Ruth
(2021)
Living with Robots: What Every Anxious Human Needs to Know
McKenna P
(2020)
"Sorry to Disturb You"
Obaid M
(2019)
Endowing a Robotic Tutor with Empathic Qualities: Design and Pilot Evaluation
in International Journal of Humanoid Robotics
Fallon T
(2018)
Investigating social vulnerability in children using computer mediated role-play
in Computers & Education
Deshmukh A
(2018)
Social Impact of Recharging Activity in Long-Term HRI and Verbal Strategies to Manage User Expectations During Recharge.
in Frontiers in robotics and AI
McKenna P
(2018)
Cultural Social Signal Interplay with an Expressive Robot
McKenna P.E.
(2018)
Robot expressive behaviour and autistic traits
in Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems, AAMAS
Aylett, R.
(2017)
Evaluating Robot Facial Expressions
McKenna P
(2017)
Social Robotics
Title | A SoCoRo comic |
Description | Along with a SMR producing scientific comics we generated a two-sided comic explaining the topic and showing the robot |
Type Of Art | Image |
Year Produced | 2018 |
Impact | Used on open days and University outreach with robots |
Description | We have designed and implemented humanoid but non-human robot facial expressions and established which of these are reliably recognised by non-diagnosed participants as expressions of approval and disapproval 2. We have developed an approach to testing a system for high-functioning adults with an ASD that uses the Baran-Cohen AQ (Autism Quotient) questionnaire this allowing software to be tested initially on a non-diagnosed set of participants 3. We have designed an experiment to test the impact of interruptions in a workplace related scenario |
Exploitation Route | Our methodological advances are applicable to other work in social robotics and especially to work with adults with autism |
Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Education Government Democracy and Justice |
Description | As examples of non-threatening and indeed socially useful robot applications, countering public alarm about the impact of robotics research |
First Year Of Impact | 2017 |
Sector | Education |
Impact Types | Cultural |
Description | Expressive behaviour as a social signal for socially-competent human-robot interaction: Expre-ss |
Amount | £15,869 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/T013737/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2020 |
End | 02/2021 |
Description | Test Play - Developing and testing a new computer role play programme as a research, clinical and educational tool. |
Amount | £50,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Heriot-Watt University |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2019 |
End | 09/2019 |
Description | Autism Initiatives |
Organisation | Autism Initiatives |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | Sharing on-going results of the project |
Collaborator Contribution | Took part in one-year review of project as part of Steering group and contributed to scenario development for future experiments |
Impact | Inout to on-going internal experiment design work |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | One month research visit to University of Geneva |
Organisation | University of Geneva |
Department | Emotion, Elicitation and Expression (E3 Lab) |
Country | Switzerland |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Models of relationship between emotions and social signals |
Collaborator Contribution | Theoretical accounts of emotions and social signals |
Impact | Clarification of models and theories |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | Article about the project in The Daily Mail |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | A press release secured an article in the Daily Mail about the project |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | https://www.pressreader.com/uk/scottish-daily-mail/20171017/281788514291214 |
Description | Article in BBC Science Focus Magazine |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Invited article in BBC Science Focus Why Robots will not take over any time soon.. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.sciencefocus.com/future-technology/future-robots-society/ |
Description | Article in Heriot-Watt Newsletter |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Article on the project in the University Newsletter which goes to all staff and also to alumni |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | https://www.hw.ac.uk/about/news/cutting-edge-robot-could-reduce-autistic.htm?utm_source=newsletter&u... |
Description | Article in Sunday Herald |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Article in Scotchs Sunday Herald on the project |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/16222183.how-robot-research-could-help-save-humans-from-themselv... |
Description | BBC Blue Peter appearance |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | SoCoRo CoI Thusha Rajendra appeared on Blue Peter with the project robot, Alyx |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0911n63/credits |
Description | De of robot at UK Parliament open day |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | The Edinburgh Centre for Robotics organised an open day hosted by the UK parliament at which we demoed our robot |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Demo for DHI visit |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | SoCoRo demo for the Digital Health and Care Institute visit |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Demo of system at the Scottish parliament open evening |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | The Scottish Parliament hosted an open evening organised by the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics, of which we are members, attended by MSPs on robot technology. We ran a demo and answered questions. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | https://www.edinburgh-robotics.org/news/201711/year-robotics-parliamentary-reception%C2%A0 |
Description | Dynamic Earth demofest |
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 | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | We demoed our robot at the annual Demofest organised by the Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance (SICSA) to present ongoing research to Industry and Commerce, held in a large public venue, the Dynamic earth museum, in Edinburgh |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | http://www.sicsa.ac.uk/knowledge-exchange/industry-collaboration/demofest/ |
Description | Edinburgh Fringe Festival Show by PI |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | PI Aylett presented The Robots Are Coming - Or Are They? as part of the Cabaret of Dangerous ideas in the Edinburgh Fringe. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | http://codi.beltanenetwork.org/the-robots-are-coming/ |
Description | German newspaper article |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine about the project with a small video in the online version |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | http://www.faz.net/aktuell/beruf-chance/beruf/autismus-in-der-arbeitswelt-wie-guckt-der-chef-wenn-er... |
Description | German publication of SoCoRo interactive questionnaire |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Nadine Bos from Faz.de published an interactive online version of the SoCoro emotion recognition experiment, in German |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | https://www.faz.net/aktuell/beruf-chance/beruf/autismus-in-der-arbeitswelt-wie-guckt-der-chef-wenn-e... |
Description | HRI Workshop on Explainable Robotic Systems |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Talk on "Robot-assisted social skills training for adults with ASD" |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Interview with BBC Midlands |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | 10 min interview on the BBC Midlands radio station |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Invited presentation at Shonan symposium |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Invited talk on trust and Empathy in robotic systems for the support of the elderly |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | http://shonan.nii.ac.jp/shonan/blog/2017/01/19/multimodal-agents-for-ageing-and-multicultural-societ... |
Description | Invited seminar at University of Lisbon |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Invited seminar on the SoCoRo project at GAIPS, University of Lisbon |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Invited talk at Christchurch University NZ |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Invited seminar to the human-robot research group at Christchurch University |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Invited talk at Epi-Rob 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 | Rajendran, G. (September, 2018). HRI as privileged window into developmental conditions. Invited workshop. ICDL-EpiRob 2018. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Invited talk, ACM International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents 2022 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Invited talk to a conference of 100+ people in Portugal |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://ivaconference2022.ualg.pt/program/invited-speakers/ |
Description | Invited talk, University of Auckland |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Invited seminar at the robotics group of University of Auckland |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Online interview on Owen Jones show 'Will robots take over the world?' |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | 30 mins interview on robotics on the online Owen Jones show |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs2k4CSbq_g |
Description | Online seminar for University of Geneva |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | 50 researchers attended an online seminar Apr 1st at University of Geneva: title From facial expressions to social signals for useful embodied social agents |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://www.campusbiotech.ch/en/node/676 |
Description | Panel/talk : Art of Possible - The future of emerging tech in business - opportunities vs threats |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | An online panel and keynotes organised by Technology Scotland to update industry about the impact of AI technologies |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqNoRv-Ya9c |
Description | Participation in BEIS video |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Participation in a BEIS video highlighting the research being carried out in Scotland in line with the govt's Industrial Strategy. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Participation in Demofest 2018 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | DemoFest runs annually at Dynamic Earth ion Edinburgh and acts as a showcase for academic research to regional industry. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | https://www.sicsa.ac.uk/knowledge-exchange/industry-collaboration/demofest/ |
Description | Pint of Science talk |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | PI Ruth Aylett gave a talk as part of the Pint of Science series run nationally in 2017 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | https://www.hw.ac.uk/research/engage/case-studies/pint-of-science.htm |
Description | Pint of Science talk by team member Frank Broz |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Team member Frank Broz presented in the 2017 Pint of Science series |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | https://www.hw.ac.uk/research/engage/case-studies/pint-of-science.htm |
Description | Podcast fro New Book network |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Podcast with my colleague Patricia Vargas on the New Book Network |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://newbooksnetwork.com/living-with-robots |
Description | Poster & talk at EU cog network meeting |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Talk/poster at the 2018 annual meeting of the EUCog network of excellence |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | https://www.eucognition.org/index.php?page=2018-hamburg-general-info |
Description | Presentation at ECR Gateway event |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Rajendran, G. (2018, 4 May). HRI from a psychologist's perspective. Gateway Event. Edinburgh Centre for Robotics. Invited. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Presentation at Scottish Autism conference |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Patients, carers and/or patient groups |
Results and Impact | The Socially Competent Robot (SoCoRo) team presented by invitation at the 2018 Scottish Autism Conference. The event, hosted by the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) on 28th March, gave researchers the opportunity to openly discuss the SoCoRo project aims, and gather feedback from a variety of interested parties: parents of autistic children, academics, teachers, and adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | https://www.edinburgh-robotics.org/news/201804/socially-competent-robot-socoro-team-attend-scottish-... |
Description | Press articles in The Scotsman |
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 | A press release secured an article in The Scotsman and its sister paper The Edinburgh Evening News about the work of the project. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | http://www.scotsman.com/future-scotland/tech/edinburgh-robot-could-help-autistic-adults-find-work-1-... |
Description | Robot demo |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Demo for 10 high-level members of a delegation from China |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Robot demo |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | HWU Alumni Reunion demo |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Robot demo at ICMI |
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 Alyx robot head was demo-ed in the demos session of the International Conference on Multi-modal Interaction (ICMI 2017) |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | https://icmi.acm.org/2017/index.php?id=demos |
Description | Robots After Dark - The Edinburgh Science Festival (a ticketed event as part of the Edinburgh Science Festival held at the National Robotarium) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Approximately 100 attended a evening event about the potential and roles of robots and AI. This event included talks, a discussion and demonstration of robots and the capabilities. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://thenationalrobotarium.com/trust-in-robots-explored-at-the-national-robotarium-for-edinburgh-... |
Description | Seminar for Edinburgh Napier |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Invited seminar to Edinburgh Napier Robotics research group 19 Jan 2022 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | SoCoRo end of year review |
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 | SoCoRo end of year review for stakeholders, policy makers, and interested researchers |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Team member Franz Broz presented at Art of Possible |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Frank Broz reported the SoCoRo facial expressions experiments as part of a presentation at the Technology Scotland 'Art of Possible' in Glasgow. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | http://www.enigmapeople.com/blog/art-possible-rise-robots/ |
Description | Two team members presented at the EICC Innovation Robotics event |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | PI Aylett and CoI Rajendra presented at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre in an innovation Robotics event, covering Robots That Care; and What do robots tell us about ourselves? |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIoIOhk2s_s&feature=youtu.be |
Description | Two-day study run with robot at Glasgow Science Centre |
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 | We ran a two-day live study in the Glasgow Science Centre recruiting 44 participants from visitors during those days. Many bother people observed the experiment as it ran. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | https://www.hw.ac.uk/about/news/internal/social-robots-creating-a-more-inclusive.htm |
Description | Video interview with Reuters |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Video interview with Reuters about the project |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | https://uk.reuters.com/video/2017/12/27/social-robot-could-help-autistic-adults?videoId=376656477&vi... |
Description | Virtual seminar in Talking Robotics series |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Seminar presentation in the Series 'Talking Robotics' Nov 5th 2021 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOXKr5-ik4w |
Description | Workshop at IVA2018 |
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 | Workshop on Graphical and Robotically Embodied Agents for Therapeutic Systems - GREATS18 0 held at IVA2018 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Workshop on Socially Assistive Robots and Technology for Healthy Aging |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Patients, carers and/or patient groups |
Results and Impact | "Social and Assistive Robotics" Presentation to a group of ~50 Scottish researchers and members of govt and healthcare organisations |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Year 1 review meeting with stakeholders |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | The year 1 review involved a set of stakeholders including the project steering committee members and an attendee from the Scottish Government |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | https://www.hw.ac.uk/about/news/internal/socially-competent-robot-team-invite-you-to.htm |