CFP: RSS Workshop on Socially Assistive Robotics 2006

Robotics: Science and Systems (RSS) Workshop on "Socially Assistive Robotics", August 19th, 2006, Philadelphia, PA, USA

http://robotics.usc.edu/interaction/rssws06/ws-SAR06.html

Call for Posters:

The organizers invite you to submit a 2-page poster abstract for the RSS 2006 Workshop on "Socially Assistive Robotics". The number of posters that can be accepted is limited; acceptance will depend on relevance to the workshop topics and contribution quality. The accepted posters will be included in the workshop proceedings and the authors will have the opportunity to present their work during the poster session. Please submit your poster abstracts by email to tapus(at)robotics.usc.edu (use "RSS Workshop 2006 Abstract Submission" in the subject).

Key Dates:

• Deadline of abstract submission: June 25, 2006

• Notification of acceptance: July 15, 2006

• "Socially Assistive Robotics" RSS Workshop: August 19, 2006

Description:

Research into Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) for socially assistive applications is still in its infancy. Various systems have been built for different user groups. For example, for the elderly, robot-pet companions aiming to reduce stress and depression have been developed, for people with physical impairments, assistive devices such as wheelchairs and robot manipulators have been designed, for people in rehabilitation therapy, therapist robots that assist, encourage and
socially interact with patients have been tested, for people with cognitive disorders, many applications focused on robots that can therapeutically interact with children with autism have been done, and for students, tutoring applications have been implemented. An ideal assistive robot should feature sufficiently complex cognitive and social skills permitting it to understand and interact with its environment, to exhibit social behaviors, and to focus its attention and communicate with people toward helping them achieve their goals.

The objectives of this workshop are to present the grand challenge of socially assistive robotics, the current state-of-the-art, and recent progress on key problems. Speakers at the workshop will address a variety of multidisciplinary topics, including social behavior and interaction, human-robot communication, task learning, psychological implications, and others. The workshop will also cover a variety of assistive applications, based on hands-off and hands-on therapies for helping people in need of assistance as part of convalescence, rehabilitation, education, training, and ageing. The proposed workshop is aimed at providing a general overview of the critical issues and key points in building effective, acceptable and reliable human-robot interaction systems for socially assistive applications and providing indications for further directions and developments in the field, based on the diverse expertise of the participants.

Topics:

• Social and physical embeddedness

• Encouraging compliance, goal sharing and transfer

• Designing behavioral studies

• Modeling embodied empathy

• Experimental design for human-robot interaction

Organizers:

Dr. Adriana TAPUS
Robotics Research Lab/Interaction Lab
Computer Science Department
University of Southern California
RTH 423, Mailcode 0781
941 West 37th Place, Los Angeles, CA, USA
e-mail: tapus(at)robotics.usc.edu


Prof. Maja MATARIĆ
Robotics Research Lab/Interaction Lab
Computer Science Department
University of Southern California
RTH 407, Mailcode 0781
941 West 37th Place, Los Angeles, CA, USA
e-mail: mataric(at)usc.edu