Designing Social Robots for Human Interaction

About

The intersection of humans and robots has become increasingly critical as society integrates robotics into everyday life. This course offers an in-depth exploration of social robotics, a branch of robotics that involves the design, development, and study of robots that interact and communicate with humans or other robots in a socially meaningful manner. Participants will investigate concepts such as robot design for social interaction, ethical considerations, and real-world applications using various robot platforms as hands-on case studies.

Course leader

Farnaz Baksh, Junior Research Fellow in Computer Engineering at the University of Tartu Institute of Technology and Matevž Borjan Zorec, Junior Research Fellow of Distributed Systems at the University of Tartu Institute of Computer Science

Target group

Bachelor's, Master's and PhD students

Course aim

By the end of the course, students will:
- understand key concepts in human-robot interaction (HRI) and the design principles behind socially interactive robots;
- be able to design and implement various design and research methods in HRI scenarios;
- program and customise a social robot for specific interaction scenarios;
- gain a basic understanding of MLOps and AIoT concepts;
- demonstrate knowledge of the ethical and societal implications of deploying social robots in various domains;
- collaboratively develop and present a prototype robot application addressing a real-world social challenge.

Fee info