Context Aware Robot Architecture, Application to the RoboCup@Home Challenge

International audienceThis paper presents an architecture dedicated to the orchestration of high level abilities of a humanoid robot, such as a Pepper, which must perform some tasks as the ones proposed in the RoboCup@Home competition. We present the main abilities that a humanoid service robot should provide. We choose to build them based on recent methodologies linked to social navigation and deep learning. We detail the architecture, on how high level abilities are connected with low level sub-functions. Finally we present first experimental results with a Pepper humanoid

At the Frontiers of English language teaching: The playful approach with humanoid robots

openL’obbiettivo di questa tesi è quello di scoprire e sperimentare i nuovi orizzonti per l’insegnamento dell’inglese grazie all’introduzione di nuove metodologie come la Didattica Ludica e la Robotica Educativa. La didattica ludica si presenta come una metodologia alternativa per l’insegnamento delle lingue dove il gioco e il divertimento vengono visti come elementi altamente educativi e in grado di ridurre ansia e stress negli studenti durante il confronto con lingue e culture diverse dalla propria. La Robotica Educativa si presenta come un metodo di insegnamento altamente efficace che prevede l’utilizzo di Robot Umanoidi per l’insegnamento dell’Inglese e delle lingue all’interno delle scuole e permette agli studenti di accrescere e migliorare le loro conoscenze e di imparare divertendosi. Lo sviluppo di questo progetto è dovuto non solo alla mia esperienza e al mio studio dell’inglese durante questi tre anni ma anche grazie all’opportunità offertami dall’IAS Lab di Padova ( http://robotics.dei.unipd.it/ ) e da Alberto Bacchin, ingegnere dottorando presso l’Università di Padova. Lo scopo della mia ricerca sarà quello di sperimentare l’utilizzo di questi modelli all’interno di una classe della scuola primaria.The aim of this thesis is to investigate experimentally the new frontiers of English language teaching, analysing new methodologies such as the playful approach and Educational Robotics. Educational Robotics is the term that indicates a new teaching method where robots are employed in a school class to help students put their knowledge into practice and learn new skills. This project was conceived during my three years of English studies and after some contacts with the IAS-Lab (Intelligent Autonomous Systems Laboratory) of the Information Engineering Department of the University of Padua. The focus of my research is to devise new teaching methodologies and apply them to a primary school class

Trust in Robots

Robots are increasingly becoming prevalent in our daily lives within our living or working spaces. We hope that robots will take up tedious, mundane or dirty chores and make our lives more comfortable, easy and enjoyable by providing companionship and care. However, robots may pose a threat to human privacy, safety and autonomy; therefore, it is necessary to have constant control over the developing technology to ensure the benevolent intentions and safety of autonomous systems. Building trust in (autonomous) robotic systems is thus necessary. The title of this book highlights this challenge: “Trust in robots—Trusting robots”. Herein, various notions and research areas associated with robots are unified. The theme “Trust in robots” addresses the development of technology that is trustworthy for users; “Trusting robots” focuses on building a trusting relationship with robots, furthering previous research. These themes and topics are at the core of the PhD program “Trust Robots” at TU Wien, Austria

Developing a person guidance module for hospital robots

This dissertation describes the design and implementation of the Person Guidance Module (PGM) that enables the IWARD (Intelligent Robot Swarm for attendance, Recognition, Cleaning and delivery) base robot to offer route guidance service to the patients or visitors inside the hospital arena. One of the common problems encountered in huge hospital buildings today is foreigners not being able to find their way around in the hospital. Although there are a variety of guide robots currently existing on the market and offering a wide range of guidance and related activities, they do not fit into the modular concept of the IWARD project. The PGM features a robust and foolproof non-hierarchical sensor fusion approach of an active RFID, stereovision and cricket mote sensor for guiding a patient to the X-ray room, or a visitor to a patient’s ward in every possible scenario in a complex, dynamic and crowded hospital environment. Moreover, the speed of the robot can be adjusted automatically according to the pace of the follower for physical comfort using this system. Furthermore, the module performs these tasks in any unconstructed environment solely from a robot’s onboard perceptual resources in order to limit the hardware installation costs and therefore the indoor setting support. Similar comprehensive solution in one single platform has remained elusive in existing literature. The finished module can be connected to any IWARD base robot using quick-change mechanical connections and standard electrical connections. The PGM module box is equipped with a Gumstix embedded computer for all module computing which is powered up automatically once the module box is inserted into the robot. In line with the general software architecture of the IWARD project, all software modules are developed as Orca2 components and cross-complied for Gumstix’s XScale processor. To support standardized communication between different software components, Internet Communications Engine (Ice) has been used as middleware. Additionally, plug-and-play capabilities have been developed and incorporated so that swarm system is aware at all times of which robot is equipped with PGM. Finally, in several field trials in hospital environments, the person guidance module has shown its suitability for a challenging real-world application as well as the necessary user acceptance

Crianças, famílias e tecnologias. Que desafios? Que caminhos?

A sociedade em que vivemos está profundamente marcada pela integração das tecnologias digitais no nosso quotidiano. Assim, as crianças nascem em lares onde proliferam o computador, os smartphones e os tablets, tendo contacto com estes dispositivos desde cada vez mais cedo, utilizando-os nas suas rotinas diárias, procurando estar entretidas constantemente.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Experiencias pedagógicas e innovación educativa. Aportaciones desde la praxis docente e investigadora

Este libro recoge las principales aportaciones al IV Congreso Internacional Virtual sobre Innovación Pedagógica y Praxis Educativa-Innovagogía 2018, organizado por el Colectivo Docente Internacional Innovagogía y AFOE Formación, que tuvo como preámbulo el II Seminario de Innovación Docente: nuevas perspectivas y temas emergentes, celebrado en la Universidad Pablo de Olavide, de Sevilla (España). En el Congreso están implicados tanto profesionales individuales como organizaciones e instituciones de ámbito internacional, preocupadas por la innovación, la práctica educativa y formativa de calidad. Está dirigido a profesorado, personal técnico y profesionales de la Educación de cualquier etapa y en todos sus ámbitos: maestros, docentes de secundaria, bachillerato y formación profesional, profesorado universitario, profesionales del trabajo y la educación social, formación ocupacional y permanente, animación sociocultural, tiempo libre, y animación juvenil, entre otros profesionales. Los trabajos incluidos recogen reflexiones y experiencias de un total de 540 participantes de 17 nacionalidades diferentes, pertenecientes a más de 100 entidades, 78 de ellas universidades. Las líneas temáticas en las que se insertan inciden en las buenas prácticas y aportaciones docentes e investigadoras sobre la praxis educativa en los niveles universitarios y no universitarios, hablan del impacto de las Nuevas Tecnologías en la educación y la formación, así como de la mejora de la calidad de vida de las personas, sostenibilidad medioambiental, cooperación para el desarrollo, estudios de género e igualdad, educación y formación de personas adultas. Estamos seguros que la amplitud, diversidad y profundización de las distintas aportaciones ofrecerá nuevas pistas y numerosas ideas para orientar la labor socio-educativa de los distintos colectivos profesionales involucrados.Facultad Ciencias Sociales. Departamento de Educación y Psicología SocialVersión del edito