RobotvilleEU is part of a month-long celebration of robotics taking place throughout December 2011 at London's Science Museum. The event looks at the cultural importance of robots, posing questions such as: can robots help around the house? Can robots talk to you and understand your feelings? Would you play with a pet robot?
Some of the world's best roboticists will present twenty innovative robots, many straight from the research laboratory and on show for the first time. Both the UK and Europe have a long tradition in robotic development and the concept of artificial intelligence goes back almost 3,000 years. The display is particularly relevant at this time as 2011 marks the 90th Anniversary of the term 'robot', coined by Czech writer Karel Capek who used the expression in his play entitled ″RUR″.
The idea for RobotvilleEU originated with Paulina Latham and Anna Tryc-Bromley – Head of Events and First Secretary, respectively, of the Polish Cultural Institute in London. The idea was further developed with the European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC London). The event is organised in partnership with the European Commission-funded Cognitive Systems and Robotics Programme and the European Commission Representation in the UK. RobotvilleEU is sponsored by the Blu-ray and DVD release of Transformers: Dark of the Moon, the latest instalment of the hugely successful Transformers franchise.
Highlights of the Exhibition
RobotvilleEU will be set out in six zones where visitors will meet domestic and humanoid robots, exploring robots, and robots that can swim or swarm. Visitors will also meet the experts who created them who will be explaining and demonstrating their work.
This event will be surprising, inspiring, and above all educational, with favourites such as iCub, a robot that helps researchers understand how the human brain works. By playing with people iCub learns about itself and how to interact with the world around it. According to its creators, iCub has visual, vestibular, auditory, and sensory capabilities, and will ″develop its cognitive capabilities in the same way as a child, progressively learning about its own bodily skills, how to interact with the world, and eventually how to communicate with other individuals.″
Another exciting creation is Kaspar. The child-sized robot is the brainchild of scientists at Hertfordshire University. Kaspar, (short for Kinesics and Synchronisation in Personal Assistant Robotics), who can smile, frown, laugh, blink and wave his arms, has helped children with autism, a disorder that affects development of social interaction and communication.
Also on display is Eccerobot (short for Embodied Cognition in a Compliantly Engineered Robot). Eccerobot is described as an anthropomimetic robot, a machine that can show almost every type of human behaviour. According to Eccerobot's creator ″Instead of just copying the outward form of a human, it copies the inner structures and mechanisms – bones, joints, muscles, and tendons – and thus has the potential for human-like action and interaction in the world.″
Too Technical? See for Yourself!
If all this sounds just a bit too technical, don't worry about it. The robots will be on display at the Science Museum between 1st and 4th December 2011. Robot Month will continue throughout December with talks with experts, robot workshops, art installations and multimedia, as well as question and answer sessions with curators. Further information is available from the Science Museum.
Sources:
- The Science Museum, London
- RobotCub Project, (accessed 23rd November 2011)
- University of Hertfordshire, (accessed 23rd November 2011)
- Eccerobot Project, (accessed 23rd November 2011)
Frances Spiegel - Frances Spiegel, B.A. Hons. (Open)., Dip.Eur.Hum., read Art History/European Modern History at the Open University.
