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Robot

The Competitions

THEMES of THE COMPETITIONS

The concepts of body, mind, and soul are integral to understanding social behavior and communication, and their incorporation is crucial in the development of social robotics.

BODY

  • The physical embodiment of a robot greatly influences how it interacts with humans. Humanoid robots, for example, can leverage body language and gestures to convey meaning and establish a more natural form of communication.

  • The physical presence of a robot also impacts the way people perceive and respond to it. A well-designed and aesthetically pleasing robotic body can enhance user engagement and foster a positive social connection.

BRAIN

  • The "mind" of a robot refers to its cognitive abilities, including perception, learning, reasoning, and decision-making. These capabilities are essential for robots to understand and respond intelligently to human behavior and social cues.

  • Cognitive processes enable robots to adapt to changing social contexts, understand user preferences, and make decisions that align with social norms. This is crucial for effective and meaningful human-robot interaction.

HEARTH

  • The metaphorical "heart" or "soul" of a robot represents its emotional intelligence and capacity for empathetic responses. Emotions play a significant role in human communication, influencing how we connect with others.

  • Incorporating emotional understanding and expression in robots allows them to respond appropriately to human emotions, creating a more authentic and relatable interaction. This can involve recognizing and responding to facial expressions, tone of voice, and other emotional cues.

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4 Competitions

Robotic Arm Challenge

This is an application driven competition inspired by the industrial scenarios where autonomous robots provide services to manipulate, assemble, or modify objects eventually resulting in a new final product.

Humanoid Robot Challenge

The main focus of this challenge is the creation of social behaviours for humanoid autonomous robots with particular attention (but, not limited to) to Human-Robot-Interaction and Cooperation, Navigation and Mapping in dynamic environments, Computer Vision and Object Recognition under natural light conditions, Adaptive Behaviours and Ambient Intelligence.

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Robot Design Challenge

​​With the increasing release of robots with a diverse set of appearances and applications, this competition wants to further challenge the development of new innovative robots that may overcome several nowadays issues connected to robots, such as costs, new materials, new levels of anthropomorphism, hardware.

Game Jam PRO (Purpose Robotics Orientation) Challenge

This Game Jam PRO (Purpose Robotics Orientation) combines the excitement of building a robot to better understand human-robot interaction, and, as a consequence, the inclusion of social robots, and the creation of new opportunities for novel game experiences.

Robotic Arm Challenge

This is an application driven competition inspired by the industrial scenarios where autonomous robots provide services to manipulate, assemble, or modify objects eventually resulting in a new final product.

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Robots

The robotic arm available for the competition will be:

  1. Comau e.Do 

​e.DO is a modular, multi-axis robot, with integrated open-source intelligence, developed for the world of training, the result of the advanced and easy-to-use engineering that characterizes all Comau industrial robots.

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Description

The Arm Robotics Competition provides with a chance to collaborate in solving a shared challenge through innovation and teamwork. PhD Students/Researchers teams participating in this challenge are tasked with programming the robotic arms to compete some specific tasks. Alongside this technical aspect, participants develop a team identity, refine teamwork abilities, and promote networking within the social robotics community.

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On the first day, participants will be trained to use the robotic arm and will spend the day learning the robotic hardware and software used to program it. The competition will begin on the second day, and it will be based on particular activities that must be done within set performance restrictions. The participants, divided into teams of around 4/5 persons, will program the robot to achieve the greatest potential performance. Each team will have access to a robotic arm on their co-working tables so that they may test the functionality of the software developed prior to the demonstration phase.

 

The demonstration phase will take place in the afternoon on the second day. During this round, the tutors, together with a panel of appointed judges, will go around the tables testing the robot control programs developed by the various teams and provide a score based on the jury's assessment criteria. The winner of the challenge will be announced during the social event on May 31st.

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Humanoid Robot Challenge

The main focus of this challenge is the creation of social behaviours for humanoid autonomous robots with particular attention (but, not limited to) to Human-Robot-Interaction and Cooperation, Navigation and Mapping in dynamic environments, Computer Vision and Object Recognition under natural light conditions, Adaptive Behaviours and Ambient Intelligence.

Robots

The robots available for the competition will be:

  1. Aldebaran Pepper

  2. Furhat Robotics

  3. 3D Robotics MARRtina

  4. Orazio OhBot Robot

  5. Protom Robotics Classmate

The Scenario

The ultimate scenario is human-robot interactions in the real world. To build up the required technologies and approaches, a basic information stand is provided as a general scenario. Here the robot will provide information and interact with people. The nature and details of the information can be defined by the participants.

​Description

Coming soon

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The main goal of the robot is to welcome and provide some information to two newcomers approaching the stand where the robot is. The robot need to maintain appropriate engagement between the two people and eventually if the information involves some locations, papers, etc. 

The robot needs to use social cues (verbal, non-verbal, paraverbal, or a combination of these) to interact with the people.

Optional goals include (but are not limited to): the ability to have personalised robot behaviours based on the person (e.g., sentiment, personality traits, etc.); speech recognition; managing and recovering from errors; approaches for fostering transparent, legible and predictable robot behaviours; Theory of Mind.

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Participants will need to bring their own laptop with the needed software already installed.

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On the first day, participants will be trained to use the social robots and will be trained on the software to be used to program it. The competition will start on the second day of the event. The participants will be divided into teams of around 4/5 persons, and they will program the robot to meet the higher criteria described below. Each team will have access to a robot, and depending on the robot model also to a virtual environment, to test the functionality of the software developed prior to the demonstration phase.

The demonstration phase will take place in the afternoon on the second day of the event. During this round, the tutors and a panel of appointed judges will evaluate the teams' implementations developed by the various teams and provide a score based on the below assessment criteria. The winner of the challenge will be announced during the social event on May 31st.

Evaluation Criteria

The Winners and runners-up will be selected based on the following criteria:

  • include human-robot interaction

  • be socially relevant

  • be application directed/oriented

  • be scientifically challenging

  • be easy to set up and low in costs

  • be simple and have self-explaining rules

  • be interesting to watch

  • take a small amount of time

Game Jam PRO Challenge

The Game Jam PRO (Purpose Robotics Oriented) is a unique networking event for PhD students and researchers, who will have 2 days to produce a video game from scratch based on a theme related to Social Robotics. Participants can leverage their skills and experience in the gaming context.

​Description

The Game Jam PRO is held  in collaboration with the Apple Foundation.
The Game Jam PRO is open to PhD students and researchers, who will have 2 days to produce a video game from scratch based on a theme related to Social Robotics. Participants will have the opportunity to leverage their experience in the gaming context.
It is a unique networking event, allowing participants to showcase their research's potential and apply it in a different context.
The morning of the first day will be used to brief participants on the rules and selection criteria, and a brief workshop on the topic of AI in video games will be included.
Participants will be supported by experts who will guide them in choosing the software tools to use and problem-solving.

​Evaluation Criteria

The evaluation criteria include:
Collaboration among participants
Relevance to the theme
Gameplay and user experience
Interdisciplinary nature of the themes addressed
Multiplayer game (collaborative/cooperative)

​Submission

To participate, email to paola.barra@uniparthenope.it
with the following information: Name, Surname, affiliation, and 3 topics of interest.
For any clarification on the conduct of the game jam, please email paola.barra@uniparthenope.it.

Robot Design Challenge (will be held in Odense during  ICSR 2024)

​With the increasing release of robots with a diverse set of appearances and applications, this competition wants to further challenge the development of new innovative robots that may overcome several nowadays issues connected to robots, such as costs, new materials, new levels of anthropomorphism, hardware.

​Description

The design and development of various kinds of robots, and their intelligence and behavior have been evolving continuously. The new era of robotics is witnessing the increasing release of new innovative robots with a diverse set of applications. Especially, the past couple of years have provided more recognition to robots and their importance in various domains of life.

  • How can social robots be part of our life, enrich our life experience, assist, serve and entertain us? 

  • Where is the new generation of these social robots heading? What are the innovative societal applications? What impact are they capable of making? 

  • What are the key enabling technologies that are being improved? 

  • How do we see greater involvement of such friendly and social robots in education, healthcare, and various other sectors? 

If you have a solid idea/working prototype, send your entries to the flagship Robot Design Competition, organized by ICSR, which is now under the Global Robotics, Art, and Science Synergies (GRASS). We also encourage cross-disciplinary experts/teams to bring impactful solutions for the betterment of society.

 
​Submission

Each submission should have a (maximum) 2-page summary. The template is flexible; however, it should include a concise abstract/synopsis of a maximum of 50 words, and enough details to judge the technical novelty of the proposed solution and/or innovative applications of robots. A single link of related video can be included. Video link is optional, and the maximum duration of the video should be 3 minutes. Keep in mind it is not a scientific publication, but the description of a robotics innovation with potential to be developed as a project.

Competition chairs, with the help from experts and reviewers, will select the finalists. Each finalist is supposed to register and present their entry at a dedicated session in the conference, which will be further evaluated by the Jury of peers. Email your submission at competition@icsr2024-competition.org with the subject line starting with: [ICSR 2024 Robot Design Competition]

 
Evaluation criteria

Winners and runners-up in the following three categories will be selected :

  1. Innovative Idea: The entries, which are innovative but are in the early stages of conceptualization will be considered for this category.

  2. Innovative Solution: The entries, which have demonstrated maturity of the proposed solution through prototypes will be considered for this category.

  3. Innovative Application: The entries, which have targeted specific applications through robotics solutions will be considered for this category.

 
Benefits to the finalists:
  • Dedicated slot to present during the final round in the event.

  • A unique opportunity to exhibit the entry during the event in the exhibition areas.

  • Opportunity to have post-event mentorship through industry and academics experts.

 

Certificate and Prize:
For each category, the winners and runners-up will be awarded with certificates and prize money.

 
Dates
  • Submission: 30 April 2024

  • Notification: 10 May 2024

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