Scientists discover that robots can make humans sleepy

Submitted by ls234 on Thu, 03/05/2018 - 16:09

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.

Journal Club Meeting

Date: 
Thu, 03/05/2018 - 18:00 to Fri, 04/05/2018 - 17:45
Location: 
Rooms 4.31/4.33, Informatics Forum

There will be a Journal Club meeting this Thursday at 6pm in the Forum, rooms 4.31/33.

Chris will be presenting:

'Human Push-Recovery: Strategy Selection Based on Push Intensity Estimation'. Lukas Kaul and Tamim Asfour (2016).

And Siobhan will be presenting:

'Repellent pheromones for effective swarm robot search in unknown environments'. Filip Fossum, Jean-Marc Montanier, and Pauline C. Haddow (2014).

Journal Club Meeting

Date: 
Tue, 03/04/2018 - 18:00 to Wed, 04/04/2018 - 17:45
Location: 
Rooms 4.31/4.33, Informatics Forum

There will be a Journal Club meeting this Thursday at 6pm in the Forum, rooms 4.31/33. 

 Chris will be presenting:

'Human Push-Recovery: Strategy Selection Based on Push Intensity Estimation'. Lukas Kaul and Tamim Asfour (2016).

 And Siobhan will be presenting:

'Repellent pheromones for effective swarm robot search in unknown environments'. Filip Fossum, Jean-Marc Montanier, and Pauline C. Haddow (2014).

CreatED 2018 24-hour Hackathon!

Submitted by ls234 on Wed, 25/04/2018 - 10:36

CreatED 2018 was a 24-hour hardware Hackathon organised by both the Heriot-Watt Robotics Society and the Robotics Society at the University of Edinburgh. Around one hundred attendees queued outside the Appleton Tower at the University of Edinburgh waiting to collect their t-shirts and wrist bands! Some had backpacks and sleeping bags with them as they had travelled from afar (and even from overseas) to be a part of this great event! 

Representatives from sponsoring companies gave workshops and mentored the participants as they engaged with their various projects. 

Inaugural Lecture: How Machines Learn to Talk

Date: 
Wed, 16/05/2018 - 15:30
Location: 
Cairn Lecture Theatre, Postgraduate Centre, Edinburgh Campus
Speaker: 
Professor Verena Riese
Heriot-Watt University

Conversational Artificial Intelligence (AI) makes interaction with machines possible through voice and text platforms, and is a rapidly growing research area. It is estimated that 16% of adults in the US own and regularly use smart speakers, such as Amazon Alexa and Google Home (NPR & Edison research).

These Conversational AI Systems have experienced a revolution over the past decade, moving from being completely handcrafted to using “intelligent” data-driven machine learning methods. 

Pint of Science: Designing Robots and AI for the future

Date: 
Wed, 16/05/2018 - 19:00 to Thu, 17/05/2018 - 18:45
Location: 
Frankenstein Bar, 26 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh EH1 1EN
Speaker: 
Professor Emma Hart from Napier University and Professor Sethu Vijayakumar from the University of Edinburgh

Throughout the evening you will hear from leaders in their field, Professor Emma Hart from Napier University and Professor Sethu Vijayakumar from the University of Edinburgh, outline how they are shaping the future of robotics and AI. You’ll have a unique opportunity to see and interact with some of the projects. You can even have a pint with a robot!! 

Tickets cost £4.00 and can be purchased online: https://pintofscience.co.uk/event/designing-robots-and-ai-for-the-future