Special Session

Ambient Intelligence and Cognitive Robotics

in IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence, Glasgow, UK, 2020

Proposed by:

Ahmad Lotfi (ahmad.lotfi@ntu.ac.uk), Amir Pourabdollah (amir.pourabdollah@ntu.ac.uk), Nottingham Trent University, UK

Giovanni Acampora (giovanni.acampora@unina.it), Mariacarla Staffa (mariacarla.staffa@unina.it), University of Naples Federico II, Italy

Ambient Intelligence, as a candidate to become the next wave of computing, has been adopted as a term referring to environments that are sensitive and responsive to the presence of people. Indeed, this novel computing approach is aimed to extend ubiquitous vision by incorporating intrinsic intelligence in pervasive systems. Among the pervasive systems available on the market, we are witnessing to the ever-increasing adoption of Robots in everyday life environments (museums, hospitals, homes, etc.). Assistive and Social Robots are, indeed, receiving a great attention from the scientific, technological and industrial communities for their potential to not only react to human events through sensing, interpretation and social/physical service provision, but also learn and adapt their behaviours and social responses to the users over time. They can be full-fledged considered as agglomerates of intelligent sensors that can be integrated in a wider sensors network of a smart environment and, through their embodiment can employ contextual information when available, and offer personalized and intuitive responses to users.

The aim of this special session is to encompass valuable research in integration of Robots within Computational Ambient Intelligence. This special session provides an international forum for academics, developers, and industry-related researchers belonging to these two main research sectors to discuss, share experience and explore traditional and new areas of ambient intelligence combined with robotics to solve a wide range of problems, leading to a fruitful discussion on the evolution and the benefits of this technology to the society.

Topics of Interest

Ambient Assisted Living
Ambient Intelligence for Healthcare
Ambient Intelligence Applications
Assistive Robots
Social Robots
Personalized Services
Human-robot Interaction
Human Behavioural Monitoring and Interpretation
Elderly care Robots
Fuzzy Ambient Intelligence
Hybrid Intelligent Systems for Ubiquitous Computing
Intelligent Living Environments
Multi-Agent System for Ambient Intelligence
Neural Networks in Ambient Intelligence
RFID and Wireless Sensor Network Applications
Self-Organization in Ubiquitous Environments
Sensing and Reasoning Technology
Sensing Technologies and Measurements
Signal Fusion in Ubiquitous Environments
Situational/Context Awareness
Smart Evolving Sensors
Smart Homes
Well-being and Ambient Intelligence

Prof Ahmad Lotfi (Senior Member, IEEE) received his BSc. and MTech in Control Systems from Isfahan University of Technology, Iran and Indian Institute of Technology, India respectively. He received his PhD degree in Learning Fuzzy Systems from University of Queensland, Australia in 1995. He is currently a Professor of Computational Intelligence and acting head of Computing and Technology Department, Nottingham Trent University, UK, where he is leading the research group in Computational Intelligence and Applications. He has authored and co-authored over one hundred scientific papers in the area of computational intelligence, ambient intelligence and control. His research interest is mainly in the area of computational intelligence, ambient intelligence and natural computing. Specific areas of interest include learning fuzzy systems, neuro-computing, sensors network, adaptive systems, data mining and intelligent mobile robot navigation strategies. He has extensive research in ambient assisted living. He has managed to secure research founding from European Ambient Assisted Living Joint Programme to support his research group. He has been member of the organising committee for many national and international events and conferences. Namely, he was the organiser and chair of the organising committee for the 7th International Conference on Intelligent Environments. Prof. Lotfi is a member of the IEEE CIS Emergent Technologies Technical Committee.

Dr Amir Pourabdollah is currently a senior lecturer in computer science at Nottingham Trent University, UK. He received his BEng in Telecommunication Engineering from the University of Tehran, Iran in 1993, then his MSc and PhD in Computer Science both from the University of Nottingham, UK in 2009. Before joining Nottingham Trent University he has been a multi-disciplinary research fellow in various research groups within the University of Nottingham, including Advanced Data Analysis Centre, Intelligent Modelling and Analysis (IMA), Lab for Uncertainty in Data and Decision Making (LUCID), Horizon Digital Economy Institute, and Centre for Geospatial Science. His research interests in the field of Artificial Intelligence include fuzzy logic systems (inference optimization, non-singleton and type-2 systems), uncertainty management, bioinformatics intelligence and geospatial intelligence. Amir is the lead guest editor for Special Issue of Springer's Journal of Ambient Intelligence & Humanized Computing dedicated to Human Behaviour Monitoring, Interpretation and Understanding (NOTION).

Prof Giovanni Acampora (Senior Member, IEEE) received the Laurea (cum laude) and Ph.D. degrees in computer science from the University of Salerno, Salerno, Italy, in 2003 and 2007, respectively. Currently, he is an Associate Professor in Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Computing at University of Naples Federico II. From July 2011 to August 2012, he was an Assistant Professor in Process intelligence at the School of Industrial Engineering, Information Systems, Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), Eindhoven, The Netherlands. Previously, he was a Research Associate at the Department of Computer Science, University of Salerno. He was also a Member of the Multi-Agent Laboratory at the University of Salerno and the Co-responsible Scientist of the CORISA Research Centre. From September 2003 to June 2007, he was also involved in the CRDC-ICT Domotic project, where he was engaged in the research on multiagent systems and artificial intelligence applied to ambient intelligence environments. In this context, he designed and developed the Fuzzy Markup Language, an XML-based environment for modeling transparent fuzzy systems. Currently, FML is under consideration by the IEEE Standard Association to become the first standard in computational intelligence. Currently, Prof. Acampora acts as Chair of IEEE CIS Standards Committeeand as vice-Chair of IEEE CIS Task Force on Ambient Intelligence. Prof. Acampora has written some seminal papers on computational intelligence applied to ubiquitous computing and, in particular, his work about fuzzy computation in smart environments is one of the most cited papers of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL INFORMATICS.

Mariacarla Staffa, is a Assistant Professor in Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Robotics and Computer Science at the University of Naples Federico II, Italy. She received the M.Sc. degree in Computer Science from the University of Naples Federico II with honors, in 2008. She got a Ph.D. in Computer Science and Automation Engineering from the University of Napoli in 2011. She was visiting researcher at the “Institute de Système Intelligentes et de Robotique” of the University of Paris “Pierre et Marie Curie”. She is member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and of the EUCognition - European Society for Cognitive Systems (ID: 2037). She is also part of the IEEE RAS Technical Committee for Cognitive Robotics. She serves as Expert Reviewer for European Commission Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (Area: AI and Robotics). She is member of the PRISCA (Projects of intelligent robotics and advanced cognitive systems) Laboratory, making research in the fields of Cognitive Robotics, Artificial Intelligence and Social and Assistive Robotics, and of the QUASAR (Quantum Computing and Smart System) Laboratory, where she collaborates with experts of machine learning, quantum computing and smart systems. Additionally, she is affiliated to the ICAROS center (Interdepartmental Center for Advances in Robotic Surgery) ofthe University of Naples Federico II, aiming at creating synergies between clinical and surgical practice and research on new technologies for omputer/robot assisted surgery. She is mainly interested in exploring computational neuroscience and cognitive robotics to generate innovative strategies and solutions for scientific problems and technological limitations. She authored several works on Social Assistive Robots, Adaptive Human Robot Interaction, Human Behaviour and Emotion interpretation, etc.

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