Season 5 Episode 8: Cobots - How Service Robotics is Providing a Helping Hand

The idea of service robots is no longer science fiction, indeed if the launch of the Optimus bot on the 14th October is anything to go by, for a cool $20,000 you will soon be able to have a human-looking robot in your home. Or not! At least not in the way that tesla imagines it, just yet.

But the reality of service robots isn’t totally out of our reach. Intelligent machines designed to perform useful tasks for humans are now rapidly transforming the world, by automating chores and providing assistance in a variety of settings. 

Service robotics encompasses a broad field of applications, which have unique designs and different degrees of automation – from full tele-operation (remote human control) to being fully autonomous. These machines can be found in bustling restaurants to sterile hospital rooms and are blurring the distinction between human and machine capabilities.

Helen's guests on this episode are CEO of the National Robotarium, Stewart Miller and Professor Praminda Caleb-Solly.

Stewart comes from an aerospace background and he is a member of the IET. He took up the position of Chief Executive Officer at the National Robotarium in 2021 having previously been CTO of Innovate UK, in addition to previously working in senior roles at major firms including Leonardo and BAESystems.

Stewart’s aims are to grow the reputation of the National Robotarium to help create greater investment and talent attraction to both Scotland and the UK, fulfil national potential for the development of robotics manufacturing, and deliver a thriving robotics industry on the global stage.

He is a member of the Scottish Government Industry Leadership Group for Engineering and Advanced Manufacturing, an advisory board member of the Smart Manufacturing Data Hub, and a non-executive director of the Satellite Application Catapult.

Praminda is Professor of Embodied Intelligence in the School of Computer Science at the University of Nottingham, where she leads the Cyber-physical Health and Assistive Robotics Technologies (CHART) research group. She holds a BEng in Electronic Systems Engineering, MSc in Biomedical Instrumentation Engineering and a PhD in Interactive Evolutionary Computation.

With a research portfolio spanning 20 years, Praminda has collaborated with commercial and industrial partners from the UK and across the EU, focusing on person-centred approaches to develop creative design solutions. Her work has included designing and evaluating socially and physically assistive robotics and Internet of Things sensor-based intelligent technology as well as different ways in which these technologies can assist people and their carers, with age-related long-term conditions, in providing support for activities of daily living.

Useful Links:

Tools for Person-Centred Design: Empathy Cards for Responsible Research and Innovation of Intelligent Technologies in Health and Social Care

“Talking Robotics” Cards – Prompts for reflecting on the design of future robotics and intelligent assistive technologies

The National Robotarium - Heriot-Watt University’s Edinburgh campus

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You can find more information about the work of the IMechE at www.imeche.org