The aim of the trans-Atlantic research team is to “create the future social interface for the interactions between a person and a robot.” They aim to make robots friendlier, more human, so that they may be used in the care of the elderly, or other members of society in need of care and social interaction. The team hopes that in the future, every elderly person can have a caring robot in their homes; which can interact socially, and improve their quality of life.Trinity College have been working on domestic assistive robots for approximately 5 years, and achieved a significant amount of publicity in 2013 when responding to a call from an Irish teenager, Joanne O’Riordan, who was born without any limbs due to a rare congenital condition. Joanne challenged delegates at a United Nations telecommunications conference in New York in 2012 to “build her a robot that could pick things up”. Trinity professor Kevin Kelly took up the challenge, and with a funding donation of €50.000,00, he and a team of engineering students created and built the prototype “Robbie the Robot”.
The collaboration is a multi-national, multi-disciplinary team who are confident that the difference in backgrounds and experience, and cross-pollination of ideas can result in a homogenous solution through a user-centred design approach. The global team has worked very well in forming a creative environment where ideas are quickly shared and developed. Together the team can achieve something that is more complex than could be achieved purely within any individual disciplinary silo, and that is culturally robust and relevant for a worldwide market.
According to assistant professor Kevin Kelly, from Trinity’s department of mechanical and manufacturing engineering, “the attitude and execution by all students on both sides has been first class, and the team are really excited to rendezvous again, having had such a productive week together in Dublin in January. Further exchanges are planned for 2016; and professor Eduardo Zancul, teaching team coordinator on the USP side, has planned an extended trip to Dublin, during the Irish summer months (Brazilian winter).
To date the group has deeply explored the general problem space to identify a specific need - caring robots for the elderly, and the requirement to have a simple, adaptable, sensitive and empathetic interface. They have researched the psychology extensively and mapped the emotions to what can be replicated in their robot interface. The groups remaining work will focus on updated prototypes of their robotic 'head' and programming their system to test the interactions with the human user and give them insights into the abilities of the robotic interface and how they perceive it.
A robot can be defined as something that possesses three characteristics - it can sense its environment, it can make decisions based on this sensing, and it is capable of generating a physical response. The number of robots in the world is increasing very rapidly, but so also is the range of tasks that robots undertake. 'Traditional' robots working in isolation from people (e.g. bomb disposal, painting cars etc.) on tasks that conform to the 'three Ds' (dirty, dangerous or difficult), are a shrinking proportion of robots, with a huge growth in robots designed to work with, for and alongside people. Such a shift requires a consideration of how people can and should interact with such complex systems. How to balance the complexity with the objectives of simplicity and clarity of operation and control? What communication methods will be appropriate? How can a robot (in a home setting for example) learn and evolve its communication as its human owners evolve their own relationship with the robot?
In parallel, there is a significant demographic shift with a rapidly growing elderly population, many of whom require physical assistance and care, and indeed social interaction and mental stimulation. Robots in the home could potentially address some of these care needs. But to do that, the robots must become (or more specifically, engineering designers must evolve our designs to be) more social.
Conor McGinn, assistant professor of mechanical and manufacturing engineering at Trinity, Ireland’s oldest university, is leading the group of four students who are currently in Sao Paulo (two of these are Science without Borders scholarship holders); while a group of USP students, led by André Leme Fleury, from the department of Production Engineering at USP, were in the Irish capital city last month, working on the project.
Prof McGinn said the project has been a great success to date. “I have found this partnership has worked extremely well,” adding that he would do “all that is possible” to support continued partnership with Brazilian researchers.
Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin
Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin, is one of Europe’s most renowned and historic universities. Founded in 1592, Trinity is Ireland’s most prestigious university and is a centre of teaching and research excellence. Ranked No. 1 in Ireland by the 2015 QS World University Rankings, Trinity is a leader in top quality, internationally recognised higher education. Steeped in a tradition of prestige, Trinity remains at the cutting edge of research, technology and innovation and offers students unparalleled academic, professional and social opportunities for growth and development.
Trinity produces bright, accomplished graduates who are respected across the world for the quality of their minds and education. Trinity students receive a world-class education and extraordinary access to internships and work placements, both in Ireland and abroad.
Trinity places an emphasis on excellence in teaching as well as research, with approachable professors who are experts in their fields. Our undergraduate courses offer students experiential learning opportunities, small-group work, and regular tutorials and seminars. Our courses are reviewed and improved every year to incorporate the very latest findings into our curriculum and ensure that teaching at Trinity is innovative and cutting-edge.
Every year students from all over the world come to study at Trinity College Dublin for a full year or a semester. Trinity’s international reputation for academic excellence, unique city centre location and the opportunities available for travel, socialising and personal development are just some of the reasons why international students choose Ireland’s leading university again and again.
The University of São Paulo (USP)
The University of São Paulo (USP) is the largest higher education and research institution in Brazil. It develops a large number of Brazilian masters and doctors who work in higher education and research institutes. It is a public and free university, with open access for students selected by the “vestibular” (Brazilian entrance exams for universities). Many of these students, after graduation, hold strategic and leading functions in different segments of public and private industries. USP is distributed across seven campuses that comprise 42 learning and research units, four hospitals, four museums and six specialised institutes. In addition it has multiple experimental laboratories and centres of scientific and cultural diffusion. It encompasses all the areas of knowledge and offers 240 undergraduate courses and 300 PhD programmes.
USP holds a high reputation among world universities, being ranked 251-300 worldwide in reputation by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. USP is ranked number 1 University in Latin America by QS ranking (2015).
