NEWS Social robots that adapt to older adults’ feelings and actions. This is what fifteen doctoral students from all over the world will focus on in an EU project led by the Department of Computing Science at Umeå University.
The Department of Computing Science has bought its first social robot to be used in the project. On the left: Suna Bensch, Thomas Hellström, the robot and Lennart Edblom.
“The objective of the project is for research to solve real needs, and we have therefore collected not only academic experts, but also robot manufacturers and organisations that deal with business development and geriatric care. It will be a stimulating challenge to set up a well-functioning collaboration between all these parties that normally do not work together,” says Thomas Hellström, professor and one of the coordinators of the project.
A social robot interacts with people not only by being physically present, but also by communicating socially, for instance by taking note of the users’ emotions; being happy or sad, tired or energetic. The robot can then adapt to the person’s situation and needs and can for instance suggest activities such as phoning up relatives or book theatre tickets.
The research programme will cover everything from designing technology and hardware to interaction design, user-friendliness and roboethics. The recruitment process of finding fifteen doctoral students is currently underway and the final candidates are expected to be in place by 1 April 2017.
Two of the doctoral students will be employed at Umeå University.
“The Umeå-based doctoral students will be developing robots that can understand speech and can also speak themselves. Particular focus will lie on how to interpret language from long-term targets and how to handle sudden changes of subject, ambiguity, and misunderstandings,” says Suna Bensch, researcher and one of the coordinators of the project.”
Within the project, a consortium comprising seven universities and research institutes, three industrial partners, two end-user oriented partners, and three business oriented organisations has been formed. Umeå University has the role of coordinator.
The business incubator Uminova Innovation participates by helping doctoral students in Umeå to develop business ideas related to the research. Similar organisations help doctoral students at the other universities.
“Those who go through doctoral education will become robotic researchers well-suited to a future career within both the academia and industry,” says Lennart Edblom, senior lecturer and administrative coordinator of the project.
The Socrates (Social Cognitive Robots in the European Society) project will be conducted for four years and has a total funding budget of EUR 3.9 million. The project is a part of the Marie Sklodowska-Curie programme in the large EU Horizon 2020 project.
http://www.socrates-project.eu/
Thomas Hellström, professor at the Department of Computing SciencePhone: +46 90-786 77 59
Email: thomas.hellstrom@umu.se
Photo for download. Photo: Mikael Hansson
Editor: Anna Lawrence