Human factors in the design and control of robots

Robotics is now facing the challenge of deploying devices into the real world, which means that robots must be ready to interact and collaborate with humans, being used and worn by them. Additionally to cope with a wide range of environments, these robots now also have to deal with the diversity that exists between human beings.

In the interaction and collaboration with robots, both Cognitive and Physical aspects are crucial. While cognitive interaction has received more attention for the inclusion of diversities in the design of the interfaces, the physical aspects are still far from being inclusive. Indeed, the design and the control of interactive robots do often neglect physical differences between end-users, creating for instance usability issues.

The goal of this workshop is to raise awareness on the importance of considering human diversity (age, ethnic group, gender, disabilities, etc.) and inclusion in the design and control of machines that are meant to interact with humans in their daily activities. We aim at fostering the discussion on human aspects in robotics, involving both technology developers and end-users. The objective is to reinforce and give visibility to the community working on these topics and strengthen its links with the field of intelligent machines.

15:00 - 15:10 Introduction by the workshop organizers

15:10 - 15:30 Speaker 1 - Francesca Ferrando - "The Posthuman"

15:30 - 15:50 Speaker 2 - Eduard Fosch-Villaronga - "Access, diversity, and inclusivity for healthcare robotics"

15:50 - 16:00 Poster Presentation - Shreepriya Shreepriya - "Selecting a Robotic Interface for Developmentally Disabled Employees"

16:00 - 16:20 Speaker 3 - Maria Fossati - "Cyborgs: between robots and humans "

16:20 - 17.00 Round Table Discussion

Researchers interested in presenting their work during the workshop can submit an extended abstract in standard IEEE conference template, 1 page including figures and references. Please note that it is possible to use material that has already been presented in a previous conference. Abstracts will be reviewed by the organizers and authors of selected works will be asked to give an oral presentation of 5-10 minutes before the Round Table Discussion of the Workshop.

Extended abstracts should be submitted by e-mail to the organizers (virginia.ruiz@iit.it) by the deadline reported below.

Important dates

Abstract submission deadline: December 8th, 2020 (AoE)

Notification of acceptance: December 9th, 2020 (AoE)

Workshop: December 10th, 2020

We gratefully acknowledge the funding from Progetto Prin 2017 "TIGHT: Tactile InteGration for Humans and arTificial systems", prot. 2017SB48FP.