SPOTLIGHT ON:: AI to tackle gender-based abuse online
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Researchers at the National Robotarium are developing advanced ‘machine learning’ algorithms that will significantly improve the detection, intervention and prevention of online gender-based abuse.
The project has been awarded £1 million of funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and will create state-of-the-art AI tools that use a broad variety of viewpoints, perspectives and experiences to improve the detection of online abuse. The project has been set up in response to a recent report published by Glitch, the UK's leading charity against online abuse.
More information on Professor Rieser's research into gendered AI and how it can reinforce problematic stereotypes can be found in this special BBC Futures article and on the UKRI blog.
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Time capsule buried at new facility
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Robot illustrations and snapshots from life in 2022 will live in perpetuity following the burial of a time capsule at the National Robotarium.
Primary 4 pupils from local school Nethercurrie Primary visited the site as part of the Great Science Share, an annual campaign created to raise the profile of science in schools and communities.
Following the site visit, supported by contractors Robertson Construction who have led on the build of the multimillion-pound facility, the schoolchildren received a tour of the robotics labs, led by Heriot-Watt Assistant Professor, Dr Alistair McConnell and Outreach Co-ordinator, Dr Sam Clark, and were treated to a number of robot demonstrations, including a visit from resident robot dog M.A.R.T.I.N.A.
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Community benefits of the National Robotarium facility have been showcased in a new video from ESES (Edinburgh and South East Scotland) Communities. The video features members of the National Robotarium team alongside building contractors Robertson, and highlights some of the work placement, internship and outreach opportunities delivered by the construction of the new facility.
Find out more about our commitment to supporting local communities via the ESES Communities portal.
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ORCA Hub research and technology to continue at the National Robotarium
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Cutting-edge research and technology developed by ORCA Hub for the offshore energy sector is set to continue at the National Robotarium.
To maintain its longevity and UK-wide network, applied research developed by ORCA to support the long-term strategy of delivering semi-autonomous offshore energy fields for the sector will be adopted within the new National Robotarium facility, alongside existing industry partnerships and other collaborations.
Find out more about this exciting transition by watching this short video.
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A column on trust in autonomous systems, written by co-academic lead of the National Robotarium Professor Helen Hastie, has been published in The Scotsman. In the article, 'Why teaching robots and humans to trust each other is essential', Helen discusses her work with the National Robotarium and as Principal Investigator on the UKRI Node on Trust project. It was published to mark Professor Hastie's recent induction as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
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Experts in robotics and AI from the National Robotarium have featured in a special data supplement in The Scotsman. Professor Verena Rieser, Professor Christian Dondrup, Dr Sen Wang, and Dr Fernando Auat Cheein discussed how robots are helping make our lives and work safer, healthier and more productive.
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Research being led by Professor Verena Rieser is helping people around the world interact with voice AI systems in their native tongue. The Spoken Language Understanding Resource Package (SLURP), which makes it easier for AI and machines to understand spoken questions and commands, has recently been translated into a new 51-language dataset by Amazon Science containing more than a million utterances.
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Professor Thusha Rajendran explores 'The Psychology of Trust' in new podcast from UKRI TAS (Trustworthy Autonomous Systems) Hub. In the latest episode of the 'Living with AI' podcast, Professor Rajendran, who is Co-Investigator on the UKRI Node on Trust project, discusses what defines real 'trust' between people and systems and how machine learning wouldn't be possible without humans.
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The annual Data Conference, organised by the Data Driven Innovation (DDI) team at the University of Edinburgh, is taking place on 29 September. 'Data for Diversity' will explore the potential for data to encourage greater diversity, equality and inclusion. Confirmed speakers include Professor Verena Rieser from the National Robotarium, one of the DDI Hubs, who will appear on the 'Using data to shine a light on inequality' panel alongside co-creator of the popular @PayGapApp.
Registration is FREE and can be completed via this online form.
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A reminder that the Reddit Robotics Showcase is taking place on 30 and 31 July. The online event will explore and celebrate robotics projects in the Reddit Robotics community. Keynote speakers include Professor in Computer Science, Ruth Aylett, who will talk about Social Agents and Human Robot Interaction on the second day of the event. Register for FREE.
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Professor of Robotics and Computer Vision, and National Robotarium co-academic lead, Yvan Petillot, spoke at an international webinar hosted by AI for Good on 16 June. 'Towards the future of the energy industry with intelligent robots' explored how robots are driving the energy industry's transition to safer, more efficient, and eco-friendly ways of working. Click the link above to watch the webinar recording.
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The National Robotarium hosted a fun virtual activity, Roboquarium, as part of the UK-RAS Network Robot Lab Live on 22 June. Robot Engineers Joshua Roe and Sean Katagiri led viewers through a underwater demonstration of a subsea inspection robot before turning the controls over to online participants. Watch the full event on the UK-RAS YouTube channel.
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Professor Ram Ramamoorthy, Executive Member for the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics, spoke about artificial intelligence and accountability at a recent seminar for the Scottish Parliament. The event, held in partnership with the Public Audit Committee, was an informal opportunity to encourage the use of AI in Scotland's development.
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Q&A
. . . .
Dr Carlos Mastelli, Assistant Professor, Heriot-Watt University
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You are the head of the Robot Motor Intelligence Lab - what does that involve?
In the Robot Motor Intelligence (RoMI) Lab, we focus on creating motor intelligence in robots with arms and legs. Motor intelligence technology means robots can replace human beings in dangerous or repetitive tasks and could unlock a wide range of concrete industrial applications such as offshore inspection and intervention.
We look for computational principles that help us understand the motor functions in relation to rich sensory data, multi-contact motions and unmodelled environmental dynamics. As head of the lab, my main responsibility is to conceptually design this vision, to inspire and train young scientists in developing their research, and to translate findings into opportunities for industry.
Tell us a bit about your academic career - what's your background?
Since a very young age, I have been fascinated by our world and its beautiful complexity. I pursued a degree in mechanical engineering so I could build complex systems, such as human propulsion technology, which led to an interest in building autonomous machines and robots, especially those that move with the agility of living beings.
I learned how to build legged robots, from mechatronics to perception systems, during my PhD in Robotics at the Istituto di Tecnologia and then moved to LAAS-CNRS in Toulouse, France to understand more about numerical optimisation and optimal control.
Since then, I created Crocoddyl, an open-source library for multi-contact optimal control that is having a significant impact in the robotics community, and have had the opportunity to work at the University of Edinburgh, ETH Zurich, the Alan Turing Institute and other research labs all over the world.
What inspired you to work at the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics?
The Edinburgh Centre for Robotics has very impressive laboratories, equipment and robots - anyone in this field would agree! I also heard lots of nice stories about Edinburgh from various colleagues and certainly agree, it is a lovely place to live.
Why do you think the National Robotarium is globally significant?
In the last few years, we have seen the use of autonomous robots shift from research labs into industrial application and I believe this is the right time to speed up investment in this technology. The National Robotarium will help us boost the deployment of autonomous robot systems into industry, creating a global impact.
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Members of the ORCA Hub team were honoured during Heriot-Watt University's Celebration Week. The consortium, led by Edinburgh Centre for Robotics, was funded by UKRI to revolutionise Asset Integrity Management for the offshore energy sector. The hub were joint winners of the Research Team of the Year at the Celebrating our People Awards.
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A paper on 3D imaging, led by Professor Mike Davies from the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics, won Best Student Paper at ICASSP 2022, the top international signal processing conference. 'How to process billions of photons a second', written by Dr Julián Tachella and Dr Michael Sheehan, showed how a new data acquisition method can produce highly accurate, highly compressed 3D images, with no reduction in image quality.
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Ronnie Smith, a CDT-RAS student at the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics, has been awarded a prestigious scholarship from the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET). Ronnie was awarded an IET Postgraduate Research Award in recognition of his outstanding engineering research. His thesis titled 'Enabling Pro-active Robotic Assistance for Activities of Daily Living' explores how pro-active robotic assistance can support people with additional living needs to live more independently.
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Students from the CDT-RAS at the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics participated in the METRICS HEART-MET 2022 Field Campaign at the Cobot Maker Space at the University of Nottingham between the 23rd - 27th May 2022. The team, including Emanuele De Pellegrin and Ronnie Smith (CARE Group), participated in the object and person detection functional benchmarks, and placed first in the latter. They will go on to compete in the next competition in October.
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We are currently recruiting for a number of exciting roles at the National Robotarium.
Current vacancies include:
- Bicentennial Research Leader Associate / Assistant Professor in Human-Robot Interaction (Closes 10 July)
- Research Associate - Online Toxicity Mitigation (Closes 22 July)
- Head of Robotics (Closes 31 Aug)
- Senior Engineer (Closes 28 Aug)
- Engineer (Closes 28 Aug)
- Technician (Closes 28 Aug)
Click on the links above to find out more and apply.
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The next issue of the National Robotarium newsletter will be available at the end of August 2022.
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