European Training Network on PErsonalized Robotics as SErvice Oriented applications (PERSEO)

https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/955778

Training ESRs in personalised robots technology

The personal robotics domain is raising new challenges concerning the need for robot behaviour with a high level of personalisation with respect to each user’s needs and preferences. The aim is to have a cloud repository of robot behaviours that allows an easy personalised configuration approach. This requires the investigation of different robot capabilities to adequately understand and model the human–robot interaction and adapt the robot’s behaviour to the context. The EU-funded PERSEO project will train early-stage researchers (ESRs) from the fields of computer science, philosophy, and psychology in how robotics technology can be personalised on the physical, cognitive and social levels. This will help the ESRs understand how to address social, legal and ethical issues that arise with the uptake of personal robots.

Objective

The ETN on PErsonalized Robotics as SErvice Oriented applications – PERSEO – aims at training a new generation of research and professional figures able to face the research challenges of the market of personal robots. The personal robotics domain presents several research challenges mainly related to the need for a high degree of personalization of the robot behaviour with respect to the specific user’s needs and preferences. Companies need to build solutions rooted in a deeper analysis of humans’ specificities before developing products for people. At the same time, academia needs to nurture the development of an extended research community with a set of interdisciplinary skills to investigate different robot’s capabilities for understanding and modelling the interaction with human beings, for adapting the robot’s behaviour to the context, and software integration mechanisms that allow an easy personalized configuration approach to limit the static and costly customization processes of a novel robotic system. The PERSEO’s research program is organized into three Research Themes aimed at investigating personalization of robot capabilities at different levels of possible human-robot interaction, namely “Physical”, “Cognitive”, and “Social”. This requires a set of research skills ranging from computer science and AI to automation, ethics, and psychology. Fellows will deepen their knowledge in projects covering a specific research theme but, through training events, secondments, and peer collaborations will gain extensive knowledge in other areas so leading to a multidisciplinary research programme and the integration with other projects to achieve the proposed Integration Milestones. The project also aims at training Early Stage Researchers to address social, legal, and ethical issues that arise by the uptake of personal robots, as such skills are fundamental to achieve technological innovation which aligns with European social, ethical al legal values.