2,164 research outputs found
Overcoming barriers and increasing independence: service robots for elderly and disabled people
This paper discusses the potential for service robots to overcome barriers and increase independence of
elderly and disabled people. It includes a brief overview of the existing uses of service robots by disabled and elderly
people and advances in technology which will make new uses possible and provides suggestions for some of these new
applications. The paper also considers the design and other conditions to be met for user acceptance. It also discusses
the complementarity of assistive service robots and personal assistance and considers the types of applications and
users for which service robots are and are not suitable
WEEE Recycling and Circular Economy Assisted by Collaborative Robots
Considering the amount of waste of electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) generated
each year at an increasing rate, it is of crucial importance to develop circular economy solutions
that prioritize reuse and recycling, as well as reducing the amount of waste that is disposed of at
landfills. This paper analyses the evolution of the amount of WEEE collection and its recycling rate at
the national and European levels. It also describes the regulatory framework and possible future
government policy measures to foster a circular economy. Furthermore, it identifies the different parts
and materials that can be recovered from the recycling process with a special emphasis on plastics.
Finally, it describes a recycling line that has been designed for the dismantling of computer cathodic
ray tubes (CRT)s that combines an innovative participation of people and collaborative robots which
has led to an effective and efficient material recovery solution. The key issue of this humanârobot
collaboration relies on only assigning tasks that require human skills to operators and sending all
other tasks to robots. The first results from the model show a better economic performance than
current manual processes, mainly regarding the higher degree of separation of recovered materials
and plastic in particular, thus reaching higher revenues. This collaboration also brings considerable
additional benefits for the environment, through a higher recovery rate in weight and for workers,
who can make intelligent decisions in the factory and enjoy a safer working environment by avoiding
the most dangerous tasks
Artificial consciousness and the consciousness-attention dissociation
Artificial Intelligence is at a turning point, with a substantial increase in projects aiming to implement sophisticated forms of human intelligence in machines. This research attempts to model specific forms of intelligence through brute-force search heuristics and also reproduce features of human perception and cognition, including emotions. Such goals have implications for artificial consciousness, with some arguing that it will be achievable once we overcome short-term engineering challenges. We believe, however, that phenomenal consciousness cannot be implemented in machines. This becomes clear when considering emotions and examining the dissociation between consciousness and attention in humans. While we may be able to program ethical behavior based on rules and machine learning, we will never be able to reproduce emotions or empathy by programming such control systemsâthese will be merely simulations. Arguments in favor of this claim include considerations about evolution, the neuropsychological aspects of emotions, and the dissociation between attention and consciousness found in humans. Ultimately, we are far from achieving artificial consciousness
Advances in Human-Robot Interaction
Rapid advances in the field of robotics have made it possible to use robots not just in industrial automation but also in entertainment, rehabilitation, and home service. Since robots will likely affect many aspects of human existence, fundamental questions of human-robot interaction must be formulated and, if at all possible, resolved. Some of these questions are addressed in this collection of papers by leading HRI researchers
EG-ICE 2021 Workshop on Intelligent Computing in Engineering
The 28th EG-ICE International Workshop 2021 brings together international experts working at the interface between advanced computing and modern engineering challenges. Many engineering tasks require open-world resolutions to support multi-actor collaboration, coping with approximate models, providing effective engineer-computer interaction, search in multi-dimensional solution spaces, accommodating uncertainty, including specialist domain knowledge, performing sensor-data interpretation and dealing with incomplete knowledge. While results from computer science provide much initial support for resolution, adaptation is unavoidable and most importantly, feedback from addressing engineering challenges drives fundamental computer-science research. Competence and knowledge transfer goes both ways
EG-ICE 2021 Workshop on Intelligent Computing in Engineering
The 28th EG-ICE International Workshop 2021 brings together international experts working at the interface between advanced computing and modern engineering challenges. Many engineering tasks require open-world resolutions to support multi-actor collaboration, coping with approximate models, providing effective engineer-computer interaction, search in multi-dimensional solution spaces, accommodating uncertainty, including specialist domain knowledge, performing sensor-data interpretation and dealing with incomplete knowledge. While results from computer science provide much initial support for resolution, adaptation is unavoidable and most importantly, feedback from addressing engineering challenges drives fundamental computer-science research. Competence and knowledge transfer goes both ways
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