Lab located at UTS Tower building 2, level 11, room 121 (CB02.11.121) - Imaged supplied
Project develop associated industry partners:
Sydney Water, Tianfu, Burwell Technology, Tokyo Electric Power Company, Ausdrill (Perenti Group), Meat and Lifestock Australia
The UTS:RI Human Robot Interaction Lab is focusing on solving the challenges in robots interacting with humans including social robotics.
Social robotics is the study of taking robots out of the more industrial settings associated with robotics and into the hands of the general public. Robots are not yet commonly available in general spaces and some may not feel comfortable around or interacting with robots. Social robotics explores the human reaction to robots and how robots can be made more approachable and intuitive to interact with. This is where humanoid robots or service robotics come in to bridge the gap between robotics and the wary end user.
The Human Robot Interaction Lab houses the first PR2 robot (high-end humanoid) in Australia as well as a number of Pepper Robots from SoftBank Robotics. These robots are able to move around and communicate with humans through gestures and speech and are able to perceive humans through their array of sensors. By interpreting the human’s gestures and speech, these robots are able to converse with humans and perform simple interactions. Other robots such as the Therabot, an animal shaped robot designed to provide companionship by mimicking animal behaviour. Other robotic platforms available in the lab: NAO, Aibo robot dogs.