RoboRevolution: Innovations Shaping Tomorrow

As technology continues to advance, robots are increasingly being incorporated into various aspects of our daily lives. The healthcare industry is no exception to this trend. In fact, robots are being utilized more frequently in clinical interventions due to the benefits they offer. In particular, robots are proving valuable tools in supporting individuals of all ages - from children to adults - through various medical procedures, therapy sessions, and rehabilitation programs. Robots are even being implemented to mitigate distress and moderate anxiety in patients. Their versatility is opening up new possibilities for improving healthcare outcomes and patients' overall quality of life.

Papa, hefty, clumsy and brainy Smurf are probably who you are thinking about right now... We are going to reinvent the meaning of the blue cartoon characters so you now think of Symbiotic Multi-Robot Fleets (SMuRFs). The SMuRFs include a wide range of robots with the ability to work together for inspections offshore and in the nuclear sector. In addition to this we will discuss the challenges all whilst debunking common robot myths along the way. Daniel is a final year PhD hailing from the University of Glasgow who recently won IET Rising Star of the Year and has travelled all the way from California Institute of Technology (Caltech) following a recent visiting student researcher position.

Most of us are familiar with the annoying buzzing of notification vibrations or haptic feedback from a game controller, but can simple vibrations help you to feel calmed or comforted? What if vibrations could remind you of past pleasant experiences, like hugging your partner, petting your cat or walking along the beach? In this talk I'll introduce Emotionally Resonant Vibrations, how they work in theory, how they work in practise and the situations where they may be uniquely beneficial, such as for people with social anxiety.