2016 International Summer School on Screw-Theory Based Methods in Robotics

Date: 
Sun, 28/08/2016 - 00:00 to Mon, 05/09/2016 - 23:45
Location: 
Montreal, Canada
Speaker: 
Dr Xianwen Kong
Edinburgh Centre for Robotics

The Summer School is intended for graduate students and young researchers in robotics. Participants are expected from both academia and industry. The course delivers a comprehensive overview of the basic concepts and some of the main applications of screw-theory, and hence will be particularly attractive to doctoral students and young researchers in robotics and related fields, mechanical engineering, or applied mathematics. Dr Xianwen Kong from Heriot-Watt will give lectures on the creative design of parallel mechanisms.

Invitation to contribute to the Lloyd's Register Foundation RAS Foresight Review Survey

Submitted by maragon on Tue, 22/03/2016 - 15:17

Lloyd’s Register Foundation has identified Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS) as a key technology that impacts on the Foundation’s core objectives and has therefore commissioned a team led by Professor David Lane , Edinburgh Centre for Robotics Director, to produce a Foresight Report.

Unbottling the AI Demon

Date: 
Thu, 07/04/2016 - 17:30 to Fri, 08/04/2016 - 18:45
Location: 
Auditorium , National Museum of Scotland
Speaker: 
Professor Sethu Vijayakumar
Edinburgh Centre for Robotics

Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has predicted that AI might be the greatest existential threat humans will have to face and Prof Stephen Hawking has warned that the development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race. But is technology already hurting us? And should we put the brakes on AI before it is too late?

Professor Sethu Vijayakumar, Professor of Robotics and Director of the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics, will join a distinguished panel to talk about the risks that could arise from the development of human-level artificial intelligence (AI).

Technologies of the Future, Today

Date: 
Wed, 30/03/2016 - 20:00 to 21:30
Location: 
Main Hall, Summerhall
Speaker: 
Edinburgh Centre for Robotics students
Edinburgh Centre for Robotics

Edinburgh Centre of Robotics students Wolfgang Merkt, James Garforth, Iris Kyranou, Carson Vogt and Sandy Enoch discuss some of the robots they have created and what artificial intelligence might do in the future.

Cost: £8.50 standard price / £6.50 concessions / £4.25 #SciPals students

Find further information and register at the event page.

Useful links

Current CDT students

Special Session on Evolutionary Robotics at the IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence

Date: 
Sun, 24/07/2016 - 00:00 to Fri, 29/07/2016 - 23:45
Location: 
Vancouver, Canada
Speaker: 
Dr Patricia A. Vargas
Edinburgh Centre for Robotics

Dr Patricia Vargas, Edinburgh Centre for Robotics Outreach and Public Engagement Lead, is co-organising the Special Session on Evolutionary Robotics at the renowned IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence. You can watch the promotional video of the event at the IEEE WCCI 2016 YouTube Channel.

Useful links

Special Session on Evolutionary Robotics

IEEE WCCI 2016

Science Festival: The Rights of the Machine

Date: 
Mon, 04/04/2016 - 20:00 to Tue, 05/04/2016 - 20:45
Location: 
Summerhall, Red Lecture Theatre
Speaker: 
Dr Patricia A. Vargas
Edinburgh Centre for Robotics

The Rights of the Machine

In 2015, two chimpanzees in New York were granted ‘legal person status’ by a court ruling. This action has potentially groundbreaking implications in the field of medical ethics. Do intelligent robotic systems deserve civil rights? Or even human rights? Join Kathleen Richardson from the Campaign Against Sex Robots, and Dr Patricia Vargas, Roboethicist and Director of Heriot-Watt University’s Robotics Laboratory, as they explore the rights of the machine.

Edinburgh's NASA Robot "Valkyrie" at Robotarium East

Submitted by maragon on Fri, 04/03/2016 - 14:10

The morning of monday 29th February 2016, Valkyrie, NASA's R5 Robot, arrived in the School of Informatics. The Edinburgh Centre for Robotics Valkyrie team, Professor Vijayakumar, Dr Fallon, Dr Vladimir Ivan, and PhD students Wolfgang Merkt, Marco Caravagna, Simona Nobili and Yiming Yang welcomed the NASA crew and set up the lab for the new addition to the Robotarium East. The Valkyrie is not ready for display and demos yet, but further information will be provided soon.