Organized Sessions

OS 1. Practical Robot Benchmarking for Social Impacts

Organizers: Tomoyuki Yamamoto, Angela Faragasso, Fabio Bonsignorio, Angel P. del Pobil, Signe Redfield

e-mail: tomoyukiyamamotox[at]gmail.com

Keywords: Socio-economic Impacts; Industrial robotics; Traceability and Safety

Abstract: Commonly understandable and reproducible robot benchmarking methods can be used as a tool for the social installation of robots. Study on such methods, includes user-friendly performance index in industrial use, robot competition for technology development. While a common measurement index for multiple stakeholders is as important as the development of technology itself, it does not exist on the practical level. In this session, we aim to gather researchers on academic, industrial, and (potential) users who are interested in social installation and discuss how to make benchmarking methods a “common language” between stakeholders.

Topics: Reproducible robot benchmarking methods for common use. Such as:

• User-friendly performance index in industrial use.
• Lessons learned in a robot competition organization to activate its community.
• Lessons learned in robot competitions for fair comparison.
• Common measurement index that “bridge” multiple stakeholders.

OS 2. Ethics and responsible design in robotics

Organizers: Martim Brandao, Masoumeh Mansouri, Gerard Canal

e-mail: martim.brandao[at]kcl.ac.uk

Keywords: Legal and ethical regulations for AI and robotic systems; Socio-economic Impacts; Traceability and Safety

Abstract: Robots are promoted as technologies of great potential for social good and as solutions to complex problems. Robots also have the potential, however, of producing unintended harms related to privacy, fairness, accountability, social isolation, etc. Recent work in the communities of HRI, HCI, FAccT (Fairness, Accountability and Transparency) and Responsible Innovation has pulled attention to such factors and on potential avenues for addressing them. This session will seek to further explore the topics focused in robotics. This session on “ethics and responsible design in robotics” thus welcomes papers that identify, characterize, or attempt to solve issues of ethics, fairness, accountability, transparency, explainability, privacy, safety, security and trust in robotics. We are looking forward to your submissions!

Topics: Robot ethics; issues of ethics, fairness, accountability, transparency, explainability, privacy, safety, security and trust in robotics; ethical and responsible system/algorithm/interaction design in robotics; critical robotics; critical studies; responsible innovation; participatory design; gender studies in robotics.

OS 3. Human Factors in Robotics – perspectives from the PEROSH network

Organizers: Patricia Helen Rosen

e-mail: rosen.patricia[at]baua.bund.de

Keywords: HRI and social robotics; Robots in the Smart Factory; Industrial robotics

Abstract: PEROSH stands for “Partnership for European Research in Occupational Safety and Health” and is a European initiative that comprises 14 national occupational safety and health (OSH) institutes. Within the network, an exchange on the topic of health and safety, ergonomics for intelligent robotics has evolved. This session presents current research activities and results from different European network members.

Topics: Within the session, an overview of the interests and the ongoing activities of the exchange group will be given. A literature based overview will present robotic technology diffusion in different sectors, jobs, tasks and associated challenges and opportunities for OSH. A contribution on “Biomechanics of the shoulder joint when using a handled collaborative robot during an industrial grinding task” addresses aspects in the area of physical ergonomics. Aspects in relation to cognitive and organisational ergonomics will be addressed in the contribution on "Occupational safety and health and human factors in task and interaction interface design for humanrobot-collaboration". Concluding, the session will present the recently launched white paper on the future of safety working with robots.

OS 4. Biorobotics and Biomimetics: Control, Navigation and Learning

Organizers: Inaki Rano, Danish Shaikh, Otar Akanyeti

e-mail: igra[at]mmmi.sdu.dk

Keywords: The role of AI in the implementation of cognitive robots; Machine Learning and Robot Learning; Robot Vision and Sensing

Abstract: Biologically inspired robots have been a key part of robotics for decades, bringing new insights to the robotics community, from swarm robotics to localization and SLAM techniques. Simultaneously, robots represent a platform to test biological hypothesis on animals’ behavior, hence being of interest for the biology community. Nowadays the field is broadening through new areas which strongly overlap with biorobotics such as Soft Robotics, Developmental Robotics and Neurorobotics. Despite the recent massive advances in robotics and AI, artificial systems cannot outperform their biological counterparts in many aspects such as robustness, flexibility, adaptability, etc. This session aims at showcase cutting edge research in the broader field of biorobotics presenting solutions that can contribute to outperform current state of the art in robotics in any area.

Topics:

• - Biologically inspired sensing, perception and control
• Biologically inspired locomotion and navigation
• Robotic models of animal behavior
• Neurorobotics (neural control, spiking neural networks for robotics)
• Biologically inspired learning in robotics (Reinforcement learning, Correlation Based learning, Lifelong learning)
• Robot swarms
• Evolutionary robotics
• Soft robots design, sensing and control
• Biologically inspired locomotion and navigation
• Robotic models of animal behavior
• Neurorobotics (neural control, spiking neural networks for robotics)
• Biologically inspired learning in robotics (Reinforcement learning, Correlation Based learning, Lifelong learning)
• Robot swarms
• Evolutionary robotics
• Soft robots design, sensing and control

OS 5. Robotics Innovation in Response to World Pandemics and the Impact to Future Society in Post-COVID-19

Organizers: Ker-Jiun Wang, Mohammad Shidujaman, Caroline Yan ZHENG, Prakash Thakur, Zhi-Hong Mao

e-mail: kew88[at]pitt.edu

Keywords: HRI and social robotics; Socio-economic Impacts; Legal and ethical regulations for AI and robotic systems

Abstract: At this moment, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) spreads rapidly worldwide in exponential speed. It puts the entire world into jeopardy: hospital overloaded, school closure, country lockdowns, physical events inevitably having to be cancelled or postponed (IEEE ARSO 2020 has been put into postponement into 2021), as well as limited numbers of social gatherings, widely applied social isolations and self-quarantines. All significantly change the entire landscape of how our human live, work, behave and interact. It brings a lot of new problems we never encountered before, including not only the public healthcare, but also the social economics and the culture challenges that we have to immediately address, or figure out possible solutions in the near future. Vaccine is not the only solution, as it takes time to prove the effectiveness, stableness and the safety to our human beings. By contrast, with the innovation push of advanced AI and Robotics technologies, it might be a better alternative way to get around the difficulties of prolonged biomedicines, providing us timely, fast and beneficially reliable solutions that we may potentially explore for immediate real-world impact! In this organized special session, we want to solicit contributions not only from the academic technological development, but also the opinions/strategies from industry and government, to jointly stimulate, reflect and find out what are the better ways to battle current COVID-19, as well as how to address the future new normality of our society in the post-pandemic era, particularly targeting the use of robotics and AI. The organized session will accept both full-length technical paper (< 8 pages) reporting practical solutions to the problem that have proven effective in the field, and short position papers (< 4 pages) reflecting positive opinions and strategic suggestions that address current and future society. We give particular emphasis to works involving the actual deployments of robots with meaningful analysis and lessons learned for the robotics community. As Winston Churchill said in WWII, “Never let a good crisis go to waste” (after then he worked with Franklin D. Roosevelt to form the United Nation). It’s a also good timing now to rethink fundamentally how human should redefine ourselves, with the relationship of technology (Robotics and AI) in development toward future generation of human civilization.

Topics:

• Autonomous or teleoperated robots for disinfection
• Telemedicine and/or physical human-robot interaction systems for remotely diagnose and treatment.
• Transportation or delivery robot in hospital, laboratory or public settings
• Robots used in public to diagnosis or inform public safety
• Social robots in self-quarantine and social isolation.
• Robot for remote working efficiency and productivity
• Balance of economy growth (maintain GDP) and public health (keep social isolation) in society using robotics/AI technologies
• Conduct researches, experiments, user studies and innovations remotely in human-robot interaction
• Social, emotional and psychology impact in pandemic and new directions of affective robot solutions
• Moral and ethical issues in deployment of pandemic robotics
• Cultural issues, evolutions and shaping of humanity of using pandemic robotics
• Investment, market, startup and commercialization strategy/opportunities for pandemic robotics
• Government policies and funding in support for research and industry for pandemic robotics
• Case studies of experimental use of robots in the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Innovation strategies and methodologies in future robot development

OS 6. Soft/Social/Systemic (3S) Robot Technologies for enhancing Quality of New Normal (QoNN)

Organizers: Shingo Shimoda, Naoyuki Takesue

e-mail: shingo.shimoda[at]riken.jp

Keywords: HRI and social robotics; Robot Vision and Sensing

Abstract: We are currently facing the problems to adapt our lifestyle to the new normal for acting against COVID-19 pandemic. We are asked to maintain the social distance for infection control. Now various companies have succeeded in creating vaccine for COVID-19. Can we, however, have the same life before COVID-19 crisis when it is over when all of us get the vaccine? We think that this crisis uncovered the essential vulnerableness of our modern lifestyle to the novel virus and we should overcome the vulnerableness by establishing new normal. One of the critical problem in new normal is communication in various aspects. We should balance the reduction of social interaction for infection control and the active communication for encouraging economical activities, research discussions and so on. Soft/Social/Systemic (3S) Robot Technologies have great potentials for enhancing Quality of New Normal (QoNN) in the above aspects. These technologies may supply the important information that is lost by the reduction of social interactions. In this organized session, we discuss our positive actions in robotics against the current pandemic by collecting papers on 3S Robot Technologies for enhancing QoNN.

Topics: The topics we will focus on is listed as follows: Soft Robotics, Haptics, Social Robots, Communication Robots, Cognitive Robots and Systems, Wearable Technologies, Automation, Control of Multi-agent Systems, Cyber Physical Human Systems, Robotics over Networks, Machine Learning and Optimization for Robotics, Estimation and Control of Pandemics, Wireless Communications for Robotics, Telerobotics, Virtual Reality, Multi-agent Simulation, Digital Twin.

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