Autonomous Vehicles: Wireless Networking for Cooperative Maneuvering

Self-driving Vehicles, Can They Be Safe in Mixed Traffic?

Beyond Supervised Deep Learning for Autonomous Driving

Deploying Automated Vehicles in the City: What About the Maps?

Challenges and Opportunities in Autonomous Navigation

Robust Fitting in Computer Vision

A Tailored Benders Decomposition Approach for Last-mile Delivery with Autonomous Robots

Cognitive Augmentation

Field-hardened Resilient Robotic Autonomy

Pioneering Flying Robots

Trust Falls with Robots: Law and Policy as Backdrop for Co-Robotics

Growing Old with Socially Assistive Robots: Intelligent Robots that can Help with Everyday Tasks

Personal Assistive Robots

Robots as Mirrors of Human Cognition

Our Experience with New Technology for Brain Stimulation of Patients with Cognitive Decline

Keynote

keynote

**Session Chair: ** H.F. Machiel Van der Loos 
**Speaker: ** Ryan Calo, University of Washington, USA 

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**Title:** Trust Falls with Robots: Law and Policy As Backdrop for Co-Robotics 

**Abstract:** People work alongside robots in a wide array of settings today. Potential fears run the gamut from physical harm and privacy to the prospect that they are training their replacements. Many factors contribute to whether people trust the machines with which they work, including their mental model of, and prior experience with, the technology. This talk explores the specific role of law in instilling trust in robots in the workplace, including both existing law and potential new directions for law or policy as co-robotics becomes more commonplace. 

**Biography:** Ryan Calo is the Lane Powell and D. Wayne Gittinger Professor at the University of Washington School of Law. He is a founding co-director of the interdisciplinary UW Tech Policy Lab and the UW Center for an Informed Public. Professor Calo holds adjunct appointments at the University of Washington Information School and the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering. His research on law and emerging technology appears in leading law reviews and technical publications and has been translated into at least four languages. Professor Calo has testified three times before the United States Senate and organized events on behalf of the National Science Foundation, the National Academy of Sciences, and the Obama White House.

Keynote 2 - Ryan Calo

**Session Chair: ** Stephen L. Smith 
**Speaker: ** Goldie Nejat, University of Toronto, Canada 

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**Title:** Growing Old with Socially Assistive Robots: Intelligent Robots that can Help with Everyday Tasks 

**Abstract:** Socially assistive robots are seen as a unique strategic technology that will become an important part of society especially in a post-pandemic world, aiding people in everyday life, in order to meet the urgent and immediate needs of an aging population. This talk will present some of my group’s recent research efforts in developing intelligent assistive robots to improve quality of life and promote independence (aging-in-place) of older adults, including those living with dementia. In particular, we will discuss our Brian, Casper, Tangy, Blueberry, Salt and Pepper, and Luke and Leia socially assistive robots that are being designed to provide cognitive and social interventions, help with activities of daily living, and lead group recreational activities in human-centered environments. These robots can serve as assistants to individuals as well as groups of users, while learning to personalize their interactions to the needs of the users by using unique bi-directional affect and persuasive strategies. Numerous user studies conducted with older adults in care settings will also be discussed to highlight how these robots can effectively be integrated into people’s everyday lives.

**Biography:** Dr. Goldie Nejat, PhD, P.Eng., is the Canada Research Chair in Robots for Society and a Professor in the Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering at the University of Toronto. She is also the Founder and Director of the Autonomous Systems and Biomechatronics Laboratory (asblab.mie.utoronto.ca). Professor Nejat is an Adjunct Scientist at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute and the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest, and a Fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR).

Prof. Nejat’s research focuses on developing intelligent service robots for applications in health, elderly care, emergency response, search and rescue, security and surveillance, and manufacturing. Her and her team collaborate with healthcare experts and a number of healthcare facilities in order to develop these unique social robots so that they can be effectively integrated into people’s everyday lives. She has been invited to speak about her research to scientists, healthcare professionals, policymakers, governments and the general public at many events and institutions around the world. She has served on the organizing, program and editorial committees of numerous international conferences and journals on robotics, automation, human-robot interaction and medical devices. Her team's work has been presented in over 100 media stories including in National Geographic Magazine, Time Magazine, Bloomberg, NBC News, the Telegraph, Reader's Digest, and the Discovery Channel. In 2020, she received the Engineering Excellence Medal from the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers (PEO) and the Professional Engineers Ontario. Her other recognitions include the Engineers Canada Young Engineer Achievement Award, and the Young Engineer Medal from PEO.

Keynote 4 - Goldie Nejat

**Session Chair: ** Kerstin Dautenhahn 
**Speaker: **Yiannis Demiris, Imperial College London 

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**Title:** Personal Assistive Robots 

**Abstract:** How can robots cooperate and assist humans in achieving their tasks? While some technical aspects might differ between specific tasks, there are fundamental challenges underlying all such endeavours: robots need to understand the current state and intention of their users through multimodal perception algorithms, and personalise assistance to the users’ particular (and evolving) needs. In this talk I will present our research towards designing and building cognitive architectures that enable robots to build multiscale models of their users, and adapt their behaviour to maximise assistance effectiveness over extended periods of interaction. I will argue that such personalisation, and the explainability of the learned user models, can help in developing effective and trustworthy robot assistants. I will illustrate our approach with examples from assisting (children and adults) with activities of daily living, for example dressing and mobility, as well as educational tasks.

**Biography:** Yiannis Demiris is a Professor of Human-Centered Robotics at Imperial College London, where he holds the Royal Academy of Engineering Chair in Emerging Technologies. He directs the Personal Robotics Lab, which investigates multimodal perception, multiscale user modelling, and cognitive architectures, for developing effective and trustworthy robot assistants, with a particular interest in healthcare and assisted living. He has published more than 200 peer-reviewed journal and conference papers on these topics, while maintaining multidisciplinary national and international collaborations with academic and commercial organisations in human-robot interaction projects, including most recently the UKRI TAS Node on Trust. He maintains a strong interest in robotics education, having received multiple teaching awards at Imperial including the Rector’s Award on Teaching Excellence. He is a Fellow of BCS, IET and RSS.

Links: http://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/y.demiris

http://www.imperial.ac.uk/PersonalRobotics

Keynote 1 - Yiannis Demiris

**Session Chair: ** Kerstin Dautenhahn 
**Speaker: ** Yukie Nagai, The University of Tokyo, Japan 

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**Title:** Robots as Mirrors of Human Cognition 

**Abstract:** Computational modeling of cognitive development has the potential to uncover the underlying mechanism of human cognition. We have been investigating what principle accounts for human and robot intelligence and what computational framework embodies such a principle. My talk introduces a neuroscientific theory called predictive processing and shows how robots as well as humans acquire cognitive abilities based on predictive processing neural networks (Nagai, Phil Trans B 2019). A key idea is that the brain perceives and acts on the environment to minimize prediction errors. Our robot experiments demonstrate that the process of minimizing prediction errors leads to the development social cognition such as imitation and altruistic behavior. The internal models acquired through sensorimotor experiences replicate the function of mirror neuron systems and thus enable robots to infer the internal states of others. Further experiments show that altered predictive processing leads to developmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder. Aberrant predictive processing results in difficulties in learning and adaptation. I will discuss how our computational approach contributes to a better understanding of human intelligence as well as to a design of human-like intelligence in robots.

**Biography:** Yukie Nagai is a Project Professor at the International Research Center for Neurointelligence, the University of Tokyo. She received her Ph.D. in Engineering from Osaka University in 2004 and then worked at the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Bielefeld University, and Osaka University. Since 2019, she leads Cognitive Developmental Robotics Lab at the University of Tokyo. Her research interests include cognitive developmental robotics, computational neuroscience, and assistive technologies for developmental disorders. Her research achievements have been widely reported in the media as novel techniques to understand and support human intelligence. She also serves as the research director of JST CREST Cognitive Mirroring since 2016.

Keynote 3 - Yukie Nagai

**Speaker:** [Magda Tsolaki](https://underline.io/speakers/104581-magda-tsolaki)


For more details about the keynote speaker, please visit [this link](http://petrae.org/keynote.html). 

Keynote Talk:  Magda Tsolaki, Our Experience with New Technology for Brain Stimulation of Patients with Cognitive Decline

Physical Sciences, Engineering and Technology

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