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The Story Of Boston Dynamics

From military robots to beer commercials.

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Boston Dynamics is the rock star of robotics. It recently featured in a beer commercial during the Super Bowl. How did a company that started as a military contractor become a novelty in beer commercials? Dwain Allan and Christoph Bartneck discuss the past, present and future of the company with Robert Cheek and Stephen Hickson.

Transcript

The transcript of the episode is available as a PDF. You can also follow the episode with subtitles through Descript.

HRI-Podcast-Episode-019-The-Story-Of-Boston-Dynamics-Transcript

ISSN 2703-4054

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Flaky Conferences and Journals in Human-Robot Interaction

I recently published a podcast episode in which I had the pleasure to interview the organisers of a fraudulent conference that had accepted my nonsense paper. In the meantime, more and more invitations to flaky and potentially fraudulent and predatory conferences come across my desk. They follow the same schema as the Science Horizon Conferences. It is time to start a list. I will try to keep this list updated as new invitation to submit come in. Please contact me if you cam across an event or journal that would qualify for this list.

Flaky Conferences, Symposiums and Forums

Flaky Journals

Robots in Education

An Introduction to High-Tech Social Agents, Intelligent Tutors, and Curricular Tools

Our new book “Robots in Education” has been published by Routledge.

Robots in Education is an accessible introduction to the use of robotics in formal learning, encompassing pedagogical and psychological theories as well as implementation in curricula. Today, a variety of communities across education are increasingly using robots as general classroom tutors, tools in STEM projects, and subjects of study. This volume explores how the unique physical and social-interactive capabilities of educational robots can generate bonds with students while freeing instructors to focus on their individualized approaches to teaching and learning. Authored by a uniquely interdisciplinary team of scholars, the book covers the basics of robotics and their supporting technologies; attitudes toward and ethical implications of robots in learning; research methods relevant to extending our knowledge of the field; and more.

The Science Beyond the Horizon

How do predatory conferences work?

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Predatory conferences have become a global problem that plagues the scientific community. The Science Horizon Conferences claims to organize ten conference in 2022 in Europe, including the International Conference and Expo on Robotics & Artificial Intelligence. In this podcast episode I investigate this conference and its organizers Shaik Riyaz and Devasai Udarapu. My nonsensical abstract submission passed their peer review process and was accepted for a keynote presentation. I confronted Devasai with this complete lack of academic rigor in an interview. Anton Angelo and David Kaye share their view on this conference, predatory conferences in general and what impact they have on the scientific endeavour.

Transcript

The transcript of the episode is available as a PDF. You can also follow the episode with subtitles through Descript.

HRI-Podcast-Episode-018-The-Science-Beyond-The-Horizon-Transript

ISSN 2703-4054

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The Laws Of Robotics

We discuss the three laws of robotics by Isaac Asimov.

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In our previous podcast episode The Good Robot we discussed the difficulty of enabling robots to act ethically. When talking to journalists or policy makers about machine ethics you frequently get the response, well, Issac Asimov already solved that problem with his three laws of robotics. These laws are so seductively simple that most will intuitively understand them. In this episode of the Human-Robot Interaction podcast, Sean Welsh and I will have a close look at these laws and try to understand why barely anybody has ever tried to use them in their robot.

Transcript

The transcript of the episode is available as a PDF. You can also follow the episode with subtitles through Descript.

HRI-Podcast-Episode-017-The-Laws-Of-Robotics-Transcript

ISSN 2703-4054

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There is method to the madness

I talked about HRI methods with Tony Belpaeme.

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The success of Human Robot Interaction depends on utilizing our understanding of the interaction between humans and robots in the development of new technology. These new technologies then need to be rigorously tested to proof their benefit. In other words, it is time for an HRI study. In this episode we will discuss some of the major decision you need to make when designing a study with Tony Belpaeme who recently published a book chapter entitled “Advice to new human-robot interaction researchers”. Choose wisely, for while the true study will bring you knowledge, the false study will take it from you.

Transcript

The transcript of the episode is available as a PDF. You can also follow the episode with subtitles through Descript.

HRI-Podcast-Episode-016-There-Is-Method-To-The-Madness-Transcript

ISSN 2703-4054

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Why do all social robots fail in the market?

The resurrection of dead robots.

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While working on our first Human-Robot Interaction textbook, we noticed that almost all the robots mentioned in the book had failed in the market. Our book had become an obituary. I talked with Lundy Lewis, Frederic Kaplan, Amro Najjar, Robert Cheek and Tomas Concha (NTT Disruption) about why almost all social robots failed in the market. The Aibo and Jibo robots are examples of robots that were brought to the market, failed and were resurrected from the dead. One in fame and one in shame.

Transcript

The transcript of the episode is available as a PDF. You can also follow the episode with subtitles through Descript.

HRI-Podcast-Episode-015-Why-Do-All-Social-Robots-Fail-In-The-Market-Transcript

ISSN 2703-4054

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Artificial Artificial Intelligence

Did Zach pass the Turing test?

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Alan Turing devised the Imitation Game as a test the intelligence of machines. This test is also used in human-robot interaction. But what happens if not a computer is trying to convince you that it is a human, but a human is trying to deceive you in thinking he is an artificial intelligence? In this episode we will discuss the Turing Test, the Zach super computer and what it means to think. I interviewed Diane Proudfoot and David Farrier about the Terrible Foundation, Turing Test and Artificial Intelligence.

The transcript of the episode is available as a PDF. You can also follow the episode with subtitles through Descript.

HRI-Podcast-Episode-014-Artificial-Artificial-Intelligence-Transcript

ISSN 2703-4054

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Pre-Order Discounts

Promotional discounts available.

Our book is almost ready for shipping and you can order the book at Cambridge University Press. There are two promotional discounts available. There is a 30% discount available until April 22nd with the code 99451 during checkout. A second code worth 20% is available until December 2020 with the code HRI2020. Please consider ordering the book to support the struggling publishing business.

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