Upcoming 1st INBOTS Conference and much more

INBOTS Conference, the flagship event for the embracement of Interactive Robotics

In October 2018 the Tuscany city of Pisa will host the first INBOTS Conference, an annual event that gathers the main stakeholders involved in the Interactive Robotics development, acceptance and integration in society to contribute to the creation of a higher robotics cluster. The INBOTS Conference is an event that is called to become the flagship event of the scientific, academic and end-users’ actors of the European project INBOTS “Inclusive Robotics for a better Society“. The conference results will inform future policy and research debates in Interactive Robotics.

The Conference will be held in parallel to the 5th edition of ICNR2018 (International Conference on Neurorehabilitation) and the 3rd edition of WeRob (The International Symposium on Wearable Robotics); two major historical international conferences on neurorehabilitation and wearable robotics that join to create an unique opportunity to learn about the recent developments of two frontiers of research designed to change society in the coming years. The conferences will also provide a platform to promote innovative and industrial solutions for the assistance of people suffering from motor disorders.

This event will include four plenary sessions of experts in the field such as Prof. M. Chiara Carrozza (Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna), Prof. Katja Mombaur (Heidelberg University), Prof. Herman van der Kooij (University of Twente) and Prof. Michael Goldfarb (Vanderbilt University). In addition, a number of workshops, exhibitions and talks on diverse topics will be held covering the following topics in the field of Interactive Robotics:

  • Promote entrepreneurship and nontechnical support to SMEs
  • Promote debate on legal, ethics & socio-economic aspects
  • Promote highly-accessible and multidisciplinary education programmes
  • Coordinate standardization and benchmarking
  • Propose a regulatory & risk management framework
  • Promote societal and socio-economic uptake of robotics

 

 

INBOTS organises the first workshop on Funding Opportunities for Robotics

On September 28th, the member of WP1 INNCOME started one of a series of workshops aimed at contributing to inform entrepreneurs, start-ups and SMEs about funding instruments  related to Interactive Robotics. In this case, the event took place in Madrid, at the Fundación Parque Científico de Madrid, and had the involvement and commitment of the Spanish National Contact Point Enrique Pelayo, responsible for the area of Information and Communication Technologies at the Centre for the for Industrial Technological Development.
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A unified benchmarking framework for bipedal robotics

One of the objectives of INBOTS is to develop a standardization and benchmarking strategy to horizontal aspects, such as the safety or the performance of interactive robots in different application domains, such as medical, industry, customer and service ones. To reach this purpose INBOTS is collaborating with other projects which are already developing benchmarking frameworks to make sure that they cover the needs and gaps previously identified and they reach the safety and performance standards that INBOTS will contribute to develop. One of these projects is EUROBENCH: “EUropean ROBotic framework for bipedal locomotion bENCHmarking”

What is EUROBENCH about?

Human-centred robots such as prostheses, exoskeletons and humanoids, are becoming increasingly relevant worldwide. Many prototypes are moving out of the lab into everyday applications, in a wide range of market domains. Several roadblocks exist in this process, some of these are technical, while others are related to the lack of reliable performance/safety indicators for these devices to meet international certifications and standardization requirements. The Robotic Research Agenda has emphasized benchmarking as an important instrument to assess the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) and to quantify how robotic solutions match user needs.

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Presentation of the lecture “Implications of robotics in safety at work”

Mª Yolanda Sánchez-Urán Azaña, Professor of Labour Law at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM), participated as a speaker in the Conference on “Risks inherent to the Digitalisation of Work“, organised by the Counselling of Employment of the Regional Government of Castilla y León and the University of León.

Yolanda is member of the INBOTS project participating in the Work Package 2, promoting the debate on legal, ethics and socio-economic aspects. In particular, Professor Sánchez-Urán is working in the aspects related with labour law, considering all the impacts of the introduction of Interactive Robotics in the production line and analysing the implications concerning the new roles adopted by the human work force.

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What can you expect from the INBOTS Conference?

WP1: Promote entrepreneurship and non-technical support to SMEs

At the INBOTS Conference, the team working in the promotion of entrepreneurship and non-technical support to SMEs, will show the participants (i) a collection of success stories from entrepreneurs in the interactive robotics field and (ii) present to new entrepreneurs new innovation models and tools.

Session#1 – Different stories in the field of interactive robotics. 16th October at 9:40-11:10

  • 9:40-9:55: Brief introduction of the workshop objectives (Roberto Conti, Sarah Terrreri)
  • 9:55-10:20 : IUVO: a successful spin-off company on wearable robotics technologies (Nicola Vitiello, IUVO)
  • 10:20-10:45: PAL robotics: Humanoid robotics vision (Francesco Ferro, PAL Robotics)
  • 10:45-11:10: Movendo: an IIT spin-off company (Jody Saglia, Movendo)

Session#2 – New innovation models, opportunities and tools for start-up companies. 16th October at 11:30-13:00

  • 11:30-11:55: Comau Robotics: interactive robotics in the industrial field (Andrea Bisson, Comau)
  • 11:55-12:20: Key Intellectual Property Aspects of Robotics (Enrico Bonadio, City University)
  • 12:20-12:45: Database tools for analysing the market (Sebastian Weide, VDI/VDE)

12:45-13:00: Final discussion about the two sessions (Roberto Conti, Sarah Terrreri)

WP2: Promote debate on legal, ethics & socio-economic aspects

At the INBOTS Conference, the team working in the promotion of a debate on legal, ethics & socio-economic aspects, will share conclusions on liability, risk management and insurance issues; IP law constraints; impact of robotics in the labour market and CSR aspects.

Session#1 – 16th October at 15:00-16:30

  • 15:00-15:15: Introduction: what have the projects done so far in relation to ethical, legal and socio-economic issues (ELS)?

–ELS in INBOTS
–ELS in COST

  • 15:15-15:35: Maarten Goos (Utrecht University)
  • 15:35-16:30: Expert Consultation run by COST members

Session#2 – 16th October 17:00-18:30

  • 17:00-17:20: Santiago Mediano (Santiago Mediano Abogados)
  • 17:20-17:50: First round of papers submitted to INBOTS Session 2 Workshop
  • 17:50-18:20: Second round of papers submitted to INBOTS Session 2 Workshop
  • 18:20-18:30: Wrap-up & Conclusions

WP3: Promote highly-accessible and multidisciplinary education programs

At the INBOTS Conference, the team working in the promotion of highly-accesible and multidisplinary education programs will discuss on the current needs of education programs at all educational levels, from pre-school to university, on the most suitable strategies, curricula and learning materials able to fulfil these needs and spread the knowledge of robotics at different levels in the society.

Session#1 – 18th October at 15:00-16:30

  • 15:00 – 15:30: Educational Robotics! Because robotics is about humans, not robots (Emanuele Menegatti, University of Padova).
  • 15:30 – 15:50: Dimitris Alimisis (EDUMOTIVA)
  • 15:50 – 16:10: Andre Seyfarth and Christian Schumacher (TU Darmstadt)
  • 16:10 – 16:30 Interactive presentation/discussion by COST

 

Session#2 – 18th October 17:00-18:30

  • 17:00 – 17:30: Designing Educational Robotics Activities for All (Carina Girvan, Cardiff University)
  • 17:30  – 17:50: Camila Shirota (COST, ETH)
  • 17:50 – 18:10: Maria Pozzi/Monica Malvezzi/Domenico Prattichizzo (INBOTS, UNISI)
  • 18:10 – 18:30 Interactive presentation/discussion/conclusion by INBOTS

WP4: Coordinate standardization and benchmarking

At the INBOTS Conference, the team working in the coordination of a standardization and benchmarking strategy will show the participants ways to overcome challenges through standardization and to discuss and gain an overview of the robotic communities needs in terms of interactive robots in different domains. The workshop will consist of presentations and discussions in the following three domains: industrial domain, healthcare domain, and service domain. INBOTS and the COST Action jointly organize this session and welcome you to take part in the discussion.

Session#1 – 17th October at 15:00-16:30

  • 15:00 – 15:15 Standardization in the R&D phase – how can this support SMEs? (Saskia Maresch, DIN e. V./ Germany/ National Standardization Body)
  • 15:15 – 15:30 Inclusive robots for a better society (Inbots) – what is being done in relation to standardization (Saskia Maresch (DIN e. V./ Germany/ National Standardization Body)
  • 15:30 – 15:45 ISO Safety and modularity standards for service robots (Prof. Gurvinder Singh Virk (InnoTecUK and CLAWAR, United Kingdom/ ISO TC 299))
  • 15:45 – 16:00 Certification process for service robots – CE mark and challenges (Francesco Ferro (PAL Robotics/ Spain/ SME))
  • 16:00 – 16:15 Medical robotics and the daunting certification process (Arantxa Renteria (TECNALIA/ Spain/ R&D))
  • 16:15 – 16:30 Attitudes in standards management at start-up and developing SMEs – analysis of case studies from the wearable robot domain (Andras Toth (Budapest University of Technology and Economics/Hungary / R&D)

Session#2 – 17th October at 17:00-18:30

  • 17:00 – 17:15 Human robot collaboration criteria for the implementation in the shop floor. Massimo Di Pardo (Centro Ricerche Fiat/ Italy/ R&D)
  • 17:15 – 17:30 Need for evaluation standards in relation to industrial exoskeletons.  Prof. Michiel de Looze (TNO/ the Netherlands/ R&D)
  • 17:30 – 17:45 COVR – towards simplified evaluation and validation of collaborative robotics applications across a wide range of domains based on robot safety skills. Jule Bessler (Roessingh Research and Development/ the Netherlands/ R&D)
  • 17:45 – 18:30 Panel: Standardization – Challenges and needs of Interactive Robots in the industry, healthcare and service domain. Prof. Gurvinder Singh Virk, Andras Toth, Jan Veneman, Prof. Michiel de Looze

WP5: Propose a regulatory & risk management framework

At the INBOTS Conference, the team working in proposing a regulatory & risk management framework will count with high level members of different institutions working in the regulation of interactive robotics to share the progress they are making in the field.

Session#1 –  Subpanel on ethical design. 18th October at 9:40-11:10

  • Joann Bryson (Bath University)
  • Gianpiero Negri (CNH R&D)
  • Marck Coecklberg (Vienna Univeristy)Session#2 – Subpanel on liability. 18th October at 11:30-13:00
  • Andrea Bertolini (SSSA)
  • Tatjana Evas (Policy Analyst, European Commission)
  • Lillà Montagnani (Bocconi Univiersity)

WP6: Promote societal and socio-economic uptake of robotics

At the INBOTS Conference, the team working in the promotion of a societal and socio-economic uptake of robotics will focus on three aspects of societal and socio-economic uptake of interactive robotics: (1) the societal values, needs and expectations of robotics and what interactive robotic application are needed, (2) identify a set of key areas where interactive robotic applications potential to meet society’s needs are great and clear (ethically acceptable and socially desirable), and (3) consider effects and potential impacts on the environment and society.

Session#1 –  17th October at 9:40-11:10

  • 9:40 – 10:40: Rehabilitation 4.0: What robots will change! (Prof. Robert Riener, ETH Zurich)
  • 10:40 – 11:10: Supernumerary Robotic Fingers to Compensate and Augment Human Manipulation Abilities (Domenico Prattichizzo, Monica Malvezzi, Gionata Salvietti, UNISI)

Session#2 –  17th October at 11:30-13:00

  • 11:30 – 12:20: Challenges and opportunities of robotic innovations in elderly care (Thomas Ryberg, Robotics Care AB)
  • 12:20 – 12:40: The Cybathlon – Bionic Olympics to benchmark assistive technologies (Kilian Baur, Florian L. Haufe, Roland Sigrist, Katrin Dorfschmid, and Robert Riener, ETH Zurich)
  • 12:40 – 13:00: The Role of Education for the Social and Economic Uptake of Robotics: the Case of the eCraft2Learn Project  (Dimitris Alimisis, Dimitrios Loukatos, Emmanouil Zoulias, Rene Alimisi)

INBOTS September Newsletter