Wednesday 05 April 2017 – lunchtime seminar with Alessandro Di Nuovo (Computing, SHU)

Speaker: Alessandro Di Nuovo (Computing, SHU)
Title: Robots as Social Assistants

Dr Alessandro Di Nuovo received the Laurea (cum laude) and Ph.D. degrees in Informatics Engineering from the University of Catania, Italy, in 2005 and 2009. Currently he is Senior Lecturer at the Department of Computing of Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) and member of the executive group of Sheffield Robotics. Previously, he was Postdoctoral Research Fellow with Plymouth University (2012-2015). His current research activities are devoted to cognitive robotics and its applications; in particular, current work is focused on multi-modal interfaces for efficient human-robot interaction and on building artificial models of human learning in autonomous humanoid robots. He is the coordinator of the H2020 MSCA-IF CARER-AID (Controlled Autonomous Robot for Early detection and Rehabilitation of Autism and Intellectual Disability), and he was involved many research projects (e.g. FP7 ITALK, ROBOTDOC ITN, FP7 ROBOT-ERA) on the HRI multimodal interfaces.

His scientific contribution counts over 70 peer-reviewed publications, including 15 journal articles and 5 book chapters. He is Associate Editor of Cognitive System Research and he lead guest editor of Special Issues about cognitive and socially assistive robotics in prestigious journals (Adaptive Behavior, Int. J. of Social Robotics, IEEE Trans. on Cognitive and Developmental Systems). He has been involved in several Conference Committees, among them HM 2016 (General Chair), FUZZ-IEEE 2017 (Publication Chair). He is Senior Member of the IEEE and member of the IEEE Technical Committee on Bio-mechatronics and Bio-robotics Systems (IEEE System, Man and Cybernetics Society).

The rapid progress in technology, especially in the area of robotics, offers numerous possibilities for innovation in the education and care of people.

The seminar will focus on Socially Assistive Robotics (SAR), which is a fast emerging field that involves robots that are designed to help individuals through advanced interaction driven by user needs (e.g. tutoring, physical therapy, daily life assistance, emotional expression) via multimodal interfaces (speech, gestures, and input devices).

Two SAR applications will be presented representing both ends of the spectrum (children/ elderly). First, the seminar will be introduced the ongoing EU H2020 MSCA-IF CARER-AID project (2017-2018), which aims to develop an intelligent robotic assistant to support caregivers in early diagnosis and treatment of individuals with autism spectrum disorder associated with intellectual disability, in partnership with a specialised research and healthcare institute. Next, it will describe the experimental results, with a particular focus on the multimodal interface, of the EU FP7 Large Integration project ROBOT-ERA (2012-2015), which developed and implemented a plurality of complete advanced robotic services for the elderly showing their general feasibility, the social/legal plausibility and acceptability by end-users.

 

1.00PM – 2.00PM
Wednesday 05 April 2017
9128 Cantor

See here for details of other seminars in the series.

All SHU staff and students are welcome to attend the C3RI Lunchtime Research Seminars. If you are from outside of the University and would like to attend a seminar, please email C3RI Administrator to arrange entry.