Conference on personal robots - science fact or fiction?

The UK Humanoid Robot Football team, developed by the University of Plymouth Centre for Robotics and Neural Systems, will give a demonstration to participants of the Towards Autonomous Robot Systems (TAROS) conference on 31 August before they leave to compete in this year’s Federation of Robot Soccer Association (FIRA) competition in Bangalore. Other robots on show include Robothespian, developed by Engineered Arts, which was created to interact and entertain.

For the first time in the UK, the conference will feature a debate between industry specialists and academics about what robots will need to be developed in the next five years to meet market needs. Keynote speaker, Geoff Pegman, Managing Director of RURobots Ltd, will present a personal view on the prospects for personal robots entering widespread use in the next decade. He said: "I’ll be reviewing the market drivers, technology drivers and potential sources of development funding which are conspiring to bring the age of the personal robot ever nearer. We will debate whether this is enough to bring about a real revolution in the uptake of personal robots."

Conference organiser Guido Bugmann, University of Plymouth School of Computing and Mathematics, said: "Research into users’ needs shows that people want robots to do very practical things, rather than simply entertain them. Future developments could be especially important for elderly and disabled people. This conference aims to bring together the best researchers in the field and the leaders in the robotics industry, so that they can develop products which will perform real services for people."

Companies who are interested in coming to the industry workshop to see what robotics could mean for them are invited to register on the TAROS website.