The deadline for the International Conference on Social Robotics 2024 (ICSR 2024) has been extended again. Experts in social robotics and related fields have until July 19 to submit their full papers. The prestigious event was last held in Florence (2022) and Qatar (2023). Now it enters its next round. The 16th edition will bring together researchers and practitioners working on human-robot interaction and the integration of social robots into our society. The title of the conference includes the addition „AI“. This is a clarification and demarcation that has to do with the fact that there will be two further formats with the name ICSR in 2024. ICSR’24 (ICSR + AI) will take place as a face-to-face conference in Odense, Denmark, from 23 to 26 October 2024. The theme of this year’s conference is „Empowering Humanity: The role of social and collaborative robotics in shaping our future“. The topics of the Call for Papers include „collaborative robots in service applications (in construction, agriculture, etc.)“, „Human-robot interaction and collaboration“, „Affective and cognitive sciences for socially interactive robots“, and „Context awareness, expectation, and intention understanding“. The general chairs are Oskar Palinko, University of Southern Denmark, and Leon Bodenhagen, University of Southern Denmark. More information is available at icsr2024.dk.
The deadline for the International Conference on Social Robotics is approaching. Experts in social robotics and related fields have until July 5 to submit their papers. The prestigious event was last held in Florence (2022) and Qatar (2023). Now it enters its next round. The 16th edition will bring together researchers and practitioners working on human-robot interaction and the integration of social robots into our society. The title of the conference includes the addition „AI“. This is a clarification and demarcation that has to do with the fact that there will be two further formats with the name ICSR in 2024. ICSR’24 (ICSR + AI) will take place as a face-to-face conference in Odense, Denmark, from 23 to 26 October 2024. The theme of this year’s conference is „Empowering Humanity: The role of social and collaborative robotics in shaping our future“. The topics of the Call for Papers include „collaborative robots in service applications (in construction, agriculture, etc.)“, „Human-robot interaction and collaboration“, „Affective and cognitive sciences for socially interactive robots“, and „Context awareness, expectation, and intention understanding“. The general chairs are Oskar Palinko, University of Southern Denmark, and Leon Bodenhagen, University of Southern Denmark. More information is available at icsr2024.dk.
In addition to the ICSR in Odense, which focuses on social robotics and artificial intelligence, there is also the ICSR in Naples this year, which organizes a robot competition. In addition, an ICSR conference focusing on biomedicine and the healthcare sector will take place in Singapore from August 16-18, 2024. The website states: „The 16th International Conference on Social Robotics + BioMed (ICSR + BioMed 2024) focuses on interdisciplinary innovation on Bio-inspired, Biomedical, and Surgical Robotics. By fostering the much-needed merging of these disciplines, together with fast emerging Biotech, the conference aims to ensure the lesson learned from these communities blend to unleash the real potential of robots. … The conference will serve as the scientific, technical, and business platform for fostering collaboration, exploration, and advancement in these cutting-edge fields. It will showcase the latest breakthroughs and methodologies, shaping the future of robotics design and applications across several sectors including Biomedical and healthcare.“ (Website ICSR) Papers must be submitted by June 5, 2024. Further information on the conference is available at robicon2024.org.
The prestigious International Conference on Social Robotics was last held in Florence (2022) and Qatar (2023). Now it enters its next round. The 16th edition will bring together researchers and practitioners working on human-robot interaction and the integration of social robots into our society. The title of the conference includes the addition „AI“. This is a clarification and demarcation that has to do with the fact that there will be two further formats with the name ICSR in 2024. ICSR’24 (ICSR + AI) will take place as a face-to-face conference in Odense, Denmark, from 23 to 26 October 2024. ICSR’24 will take place as a face-to-face conference in Odense, Denmark, from 23 to 26 October 2024. The theme of this year’s conference is „Empowering Humanity: The role of social and collaborative robotics in shaping our future“. The topics of the Call for Papers include „collaborative robots in service applications (in construction, agriculture, etc.)“, „Human-robot interaction and collaboration“, „Affective and cognitive sciences for socially interactive robots“, and „Context awareness, expectation, and intention understanding“. The general chairs are Oskar Palinko, University of Southern Denmark, and Leon Bodenhagen, University of Southern Denmark. More information is available at icsr2024.dk.
Anfang Dezember 2023 sind die Proceedings der ICSR 2023 erschienen. Der erste Band enthält den Beitrag „Alpha Mini as a Learning Partner in the Classroom“ von Oliver Bendel und Andrin Allemann. Aus dem Abstract: „Social robots such as NAO and Pepper are being used in some schools and universities. NAO is very agile and therefore entertaining. Pepper has the advantage that it has an integrated display where learning software of all kinds can be executed. One disadvantage of both is their high price. Schools can hardly afford such robots. This problem was the starting point for the project described here, which took place in 2023 at the School of Business FHNW. The aim was to create a learning application with an inexpensive social robot that has the same motor capabilities as NAO and the same knowledge transfer capabilities as Pepper. The small Alpha Mini from Ubtech was chosen. It was possible to connect it to an external device. This runs a learning game suitable for teaching at primary level. Alpha Mini provides explanations and feedback in each case. Three teachers tested the learning application, raised objections, and made suggestions for improvement. Social robots like Alpha Mini are an interesting solution for knowledge transfer in schools when they can communicate with other devices.“ Der Band kann über link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-99-8715-3 heruntergeladen bzw. bestellt werden.
Anfang Dezember 2023 sind die Proceedings der ICSR 2023 erschienen. Der zweite Band enthält den Beitrag „Pepper as a Learning Partner in a Children’s Hospital“ von Sara Zarubica und Oliver Bendel. Aus dem Abstract: „Social robots are increasingly used in learning settings. So far, the main focus of this has been in school lessons and teaching at universities. Another possible setting is the children’s hospital. There, for example, young patients need to acquire basic knowledge about their disease so that they can deal with it appropriately. This should be done in a joyful, fun way, as the situation is stressful enough in itself, and so learning is also facilitated. The paper presents a learning application for diabetic children that runs on Pepper. This social robot was particularly well suited for this task because it has a large integrated touchscreen, similar to a tablet. A learning game is displayed on it that was developed especially for this setting. The children have to estimate the carbohydrate values of foods and meals or answer knowledge questions. The social robot gives verbal and gestural feedback in each case. The subjects responded overwhelmingly positively to the learning application. Pepper’s visible and audible feedback plays a special role in this. Social robots like Pepper are an interesting solution for knowledge transfer in a children’s hospital.“ Der Band kann über link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-99-8718-4 heruntergeladen bzw. bestellt werden.
Next to Robophilosophy, ICSR may be the most important conference on social robotics. The fourteenth edition took place in Florence at the end of 2022 and was dedicated to the health sector. „The 15th International Conference on Social Robotics (ICSR 2023) will bring together researchers and practitioners working on the interaction between humans and intelligent robots and on the integration of social robots into our society. ICSR 2023 will take place in Doha as a face-to-face conference on December 4-7, 2023. This will be the first time that the conference will be hosted in Qatar and in the Middle East and North Africa region.“ (Website ICSR) The theme of this year’s ICSR is „Human-Robot Collaboration: Sea, Air, Land, Space and Cyberspace“. According to the organizers, the theme emphasizes on all physical and cyber-physical domains where humans and robots collaborate. Whether Doha is suitable as a venue for the conference needs to be discussed. Qatar is ruled as an absolute monarchy. Sharia law is considered a main source of legislation. The human rights situation in the country has been critical for decades. More information and CfP via icrs.iovision.tn.
Fig.: A humanoid robot generated by DALL-E (with user corrections)
The proceedings of ICSR 2022 were published in early 2023. Included is the paper „The CARE-MOMO Project“ by Oliver Bendel and Marc Heimann. From the abstract: „In the CARE-MOMO project, a morality module (MOMO) with a morality menu (MOME) was developed at the School of Business FHNW in the context of machine ethics. This makes it possible to transfer one’s own moral and social convictions to a machine, in this case the care robot with the name Lio. The current model has extensive capabilities, including motor, sensory, and linguistic. However, it cannot yet be personalized in the moral and social sense. The CARE-MOMO aims to eliminate this state of affairs and to give care recipients the possibility to adapt the robot’s ‚behaviour‘ to their ideas and requirements. This is done in a very simple way, using sliders to activate and deactivate functions. There are three different categories that appear with the sliders. The CARE-MOMO was realized as a prototype, which demonstrates the functionality and aids the company in making concrete decisions for the product. In other words, it can adopt the morality module in whole or in part and further improve it after testing it in facilities.“ The book (part II of the proceedings) can be downloaded or ordered via link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-24670-8.
Am 13. Dezember 2022 begann die ICSR, neben der Robophilosophy die bedeutendste Konferenz zur Sozialen Robotik. Oliver Bendel und Marc Heimann sind mit ihrem Paper „The CARE-MOMO Project“ vertreten. Sie stellten es gleich am Morgen beim Workshop „Robot Companionship: Applications and Challenges“ in einem Vortrag vor. Zudem hatten sie am Donnerstag (15. Dezember 2022) eine Posterpräsentation dazu. Mithilfe des Moralmoduls, das das bewährte Moralmenü enthält, können Pflegebedürftige ihre moralischen und sozialen Vorstellungen auf einen Pflegeroboter wie Lio von F&P Robotics übertragen. Der Vortrag fand viel Anklang im vollbesetzten Raum, auch beim Chair, der den Ansatz sehr interessant fand, wie er mehrmals betonte. Das Programm des Workshops kann hier heruntergeladen werden. Weitere Informationen zur Konferenz, die dieses Jahr in Florenz stattfindet, sind über www.icsr2022.it erhältlich.
Abb.: Ein Roboter von PAL Robotics bei der ICSR 2022
Seit 2012 wurden von Prof. Dr. Oliver Bendel und seinen Teams 13 Artefakte der Maschinenethik und Sozialen Robotik entwickelt, vor allem Prototypen (Chatbots, Sprachassistenten und tierfreundliche Maschinen). Dabei verwendeten sie in mehreren Fällen eigene Ansätze wie annotierte Entscheidungsbäume und das Moralmenü (MOME). Das jüngste Ergebnis ist das CARE-MOMO („MOMO“ steht für „Morality Module“ bzw. „Moralmodul“), das von Marc Heimann an der Hochschule für Wirtschaft FHNW umgesetzt wurde und den Assistenzroboter Lio von F&P Robotics erweitern soll. Es baut auf dem MOME von 2019/2020 auf, das auf der Robophilosophy vorgestellt wurde. Mit Hilfe von Schiebereglern auf dem Display von Lio kann der Pflegebedürftige (bei Bedarf zusammen mit der Pflegekraft oder dem Angehörigen) seine Präferenzen wählen und so auf einfache Weise seine moralischen und sozialen Vorstellungen und grundsätzlichen Haltungen übertragen. Implementiert wurde ein Moralmenü, das die drei Bereiche „Soziales“, „Transparenz“ und „Funktionalität“ umfasst. Unter „Soziales“ findet sich die Frage „Soll Lio diskret sein, wenn ich in einer intimen Situation bin?“. Der Roboter soll sich gegebenenfalls wegdrehen oder zeitweise ausschalten. Der Bereich „Transparenz“ enthält die Frage „Soll Lio mitteilen, wenn die Kamera eingeschaltet oder benutzt wird?“. Ende Oktober 2022 wurde das CARE-MOMO bei F&P Robotics in Glattbrugg bei Zürich präsentiert. Der CEO Michael Früh zeigte sich interessiert, einzelne Elemente des Moralmoduls bei Lio zu übernehmen. In den kommenden Wochen wird dies im Einzelnen geprüft. Am 15. Dezember findet eine Demonstration des CARE-MOMO durch Oliver Bendel und Marc Heimann bei der ICSR statt, einer der führenden Konferenzen der Sozialen Robotik. Dieses Mal trifft man sich in Florenz. Bereits zwei Tage vorher stellt der Maschinenethiker die Erfindung und ihre Geschichte in einem Vortrag auf einem der Workshops vor.
