Inaugural Professorial Lecture – Professor Jacques Penders

Robots and human robot interaction

Tuesday 19 May, 6pm – Room 9130, Cantor Building

Mankind has built machines that can compete with humans and in specific areas even beat humans. What about robots provided with such intellectual capabilities? However clever the computer in the robot, robots are machines that have to act in the real world. The real world is uncontrollable and unpredictable and this is a bit of a problem in robotics.

Biological organisms can create and produce fascinating results: for instance, ant colonies build impressive nests and maintain effective organisational structures. Inspired by this, swarms of simple robots are applied to improve our understanding of group behaviour. The potential of the swarm can also be used to overcome challenges as in search and rescue; however the latter requires that the robots can interact sensibly with humans. This lecture will examine what has been achieved in the areas of swarm robotics and related human robot interaction, and also look at the current challenges in these areas.

Places are free and include light refreshments, but must be booked in advance.