Building a Future with Robots

Traditional psychology and neuroscience can often struggle to fully understand how humans work. Synthetic psychology offers a complementary approach, taking theories and testing them out in robotic models to see if human-like behaviour can be recreated. This can lead to new insights which might not be gained from looking solely at a biological system.

Sheffield Robotics is an interdisciplinary group which spans across departments, faculties and universities. Synthetic psychology is an example of the kind of work that can take place at the intersection of specialisms. In this video, Professor Tony Prescott explains some of the projects taking place within the group including a humanoid robot called the iCub and a whiskered robot inspired by rats.

In October 2016, Switzerland hosted the world’s first Cybathlon, where pilots with severe physical disabilities competed using advanced assistive technologies.

The Cybathlon provides a platform for accelerating the development of new skills and novel assistive technologies that are useful for people with disabilities where they need it most - in daily life. Cybathlon athletes not only tackle challenges, proving their speed and skill using the most up-to-date prostheses and technologies, they also play a vital part in the development of these assistive devices.

Professor Mahnaz Arvaneh along with others at The University of Sheffield joined Team Gray Matter, an independent team, training to compete in a Brain Computer Interface (BCI) Race. In this video, we hear from some of the members of the team, including their pilot, Peter Gray who took some time out from his intensive training at the University to talk to us about his experience so far and his expectations for the system.

Natural organisms, through millions of years of natural selection, have evolved to take on the challenges of their environment. These attributes make them adaptable, versatile and robust and it is these design goals that researchers aim to achieve in robotics.

In this video, Dr Sean Anderson explains how the answer to a biological question - why can’t we tickle ourselves? - helped researchers at The University of Sheffield to solve a particular robotic problem.

Previously we have seen how bioinspiration can influence the design of individual robots. But the natural world can also offer a solution for multi-robot systems where robots need to work cooperatively. In this video, Dr Roderich Gross explains what the collective behaviour of social insects such as ants and termites can offer the field of robotics.

In this video, Owen and Jonathan discuss some of the industries that could benefit from drone technology in the near future. We’ll then hear from Noel Sharkey about some of the ways this technology is already being put to use.

We’ve talked about the importance of designing a robot to make responsible decisions, but what about making responsible decisions when designing robots?

In this video, Professor Noel Sharkey talks about some important ethical considerations for developing autonomous robots. Noel is Emeritus Professor of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence at The University of Sheffield, co-founder of the International Committee for Robot Arms Control and co-founder of Responsible Robotics.

How will autonomous vehicles drive on the roads of today? How can we ensure that they will drive safely alongside humans? Automated technology in cars could help to prevent accidents and reduce congestion and emissions in cities. However, automated driving is highly complex and requires systems to respond to a wide range of real-world driving situations.

Professor Sandor Veres has been working with telematics company The Floow LTD to develop automated vehicles that can learn from the behaviour of human drivers. In this video, we’ll first hear from Dr Sam Chapman, Chief Innovation Officer at the Floow, as he explains the types of information that can be gathered from drivers and how this can be used to educate drivers, and improve infrastructure and town planning. We’ll then hear from Sandor about how this data is helping the University in their current research project, designing systems that use driver experienced based decision-making (DEBDAC).

Autonomous systems need to process large volumes of data which can arrive from multiple, diverse sensors such as RADAR, LIDAR and cameras. In this video, Dr Lyudmila Mihaylova explains how her research is tackling this challenge, by developing intelligent algorithms that can extract meaningful information from these large data sets.

Lyudmila also discusses her research with the SETA consortium, which is helping to change the way that mobility is organised, monitored and planned in large metropolitan areas. By collecting and processing dynamic data from people, cars, city sensors and distributed databases, this project hopes to inform decision makers on how to improve town planning and infrastructure, as well as allowing individuals to plan their journeys in a more efficient and sustainable way.

In this video, we join Dr Jonathan Aitken and Dr Owen McAree in their Sheffield Airport hangar to find out how they have designed an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) - more commonly known as a drone - to be able to sense it’s environment.

They explain some of the different kinds of sensors that have been fitted to the drone so that it can build a picture of its surroundings and explore some of the ways this could be useful in the real world.

So far, we have seen that in order for a robot to be autonomous it first needs to be able to sense its environment and then to respond to it. But how does a robot decide how to respond? In this video, Owen explains why we need to design robots that are able to make responsible decisions. What do you think responsibility means for a robot?