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Public invited to have their say about robots as personal companions

Those interested in knowing more about the future of robots as personal companions are invited to come and have their say at a free event organised by researchers at the University of Hertfordshire later this month.

Researchers at the University’s School of Computer Science are European leaders in the field of developing robots as social companions and they have now invited other experts in this field to come together to an event entitled Robots supporting personal dependence and rehabilitation which will take place at The Comet Hotel, Hatfield on Tuesday 24 November.

The event, which has been organised by Dr Farshid Amirabdollahian in conjunction with Professor Kerstin Dautenhahn, who leads this research at the University and is sponsored by KT-Equal, a new project dedicated to ageing and disability research, will consider the role of robots in rehabilitation and their future as companions for older people and in relation to children.

Invited experts in these various fields who will present at the event include: Professor William Harwin and Prof Peter Lansley, University of Reading, Professor Bipin Bhakta, University of Leeds, Dr Rui Loureiro, University of Reading, Prof Gail Mountain, University of Sheffield, Dr Diane Playford, University College London, Dr Etienne Burdet, Imperial College London and Professor Alan Wing, University of Birmingham.

“We are bringing people together who have a long history in the development of robots to support personal independence and rehabilitation and asking them to tell us what they are doing,” said Dr Amirabdollahian. “We are taking all of this a stage further by opening it up to the public so that we can show them how this technology could be useful to them and we can also ask them to tell us what they think and what they want.”

The event will take place at The Comet Hotel (Ramada Hatfield Hotel), St Albans Road West, Hatfield, Hertfordshire AL10 9RH from 9.30am-4.15pm.

Those interested in attending should register online at: http://www.sparc.ac.uk/workshops/2009%2D11%2D24%2Drobots%2Dfor%2Drehabilitation/

For further information, please visit: http://www.sparc.ac.uk/workshops/2009-11-24-robots-for-rehabilitation/

For more information, please contact:
Hélène Murphy
University of Hertfordshire Press Office
Tel: 01707 28 4095
Email: h.1.murphy@herts.ac.uk