News archive for May 2018

Joint seminar: Socially Acceptable BioRobotics Systems for Assisted Living Applications

Dr. Filippo Cavallo with be hosting a joint seminar with University of Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt University. The dates and times are as follows:

Date: Monday 11th June

Place: Room G.07, Informatics Forum, University of Edinburgh

Time: 3pm – 4pm

 

Date: Wednesday 13th June

Place: Robotarium, Heriot-Watt University

Time: 3pm-4pm

 

Our Future Scotland Premiere and Launch

Professor Sethu Vijayakumar joined a panel of Scottish leaders at the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday 16th May in a discussion exploring the aspirations for Scotland in 2030.

During the event, run by Scotland’s Futures Forum and the RSE’s Young Academy of Scotland, a video and engagement project to explore people’s hopes and fears about the changes that would face the country in the coming decades.

Scientists discover that robots can make humans sleepy

A team of academics from the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics have discovered that robots can make humans sleepy. About half of adults yawn after someone else yawns due to a universal phenomenon called contagious yawning. Volunteers who watched the EMYS android robot that mimicks the sounds and signs of sleepiness found that they too developed the urge to yawn. The discovery could help scientists design androids to help around the home.