The European Project PERSEO to training new generations of researchers
European Union project PERSEO (PErsonalized Robotics as SErvice Oriented applications), that we are a partner in, aims to train a new generation of research and professional figures to face research challenges in the market of personal robots.
PERSEO’s research program is split into three Research Themes that are aimed at investigating personalization of robot capabilities at different levels of possible Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), in particular Physical, Cognitive, and Social. This requires research skills ranging from computer science and AI to automation, ethics, and psychology.
Personal robots is an area with its own challenges particularly connected to the need for significant personalization of robot behaviour to match user needs as well as preferences. To help progress, this project is developing a research community to investigate robot capabilities to understand and also model interaction with humans and then be able to adapt the robot’s behaviour to each context. Software integration mechanisms that allow an easier personalized configuration approach for robots will also be developed to be able to meet user needs.
At PAL Robotics we will take part in Early Stage Research training and Human Action Learning and Physical Capabilities Modelling. Overall, the project will look at user-oriented design and development of novel imitation learning techniques for enhancing PAL Robotics’ TIAGo and ARI robots. The aim is learning human actions while modelling the physical capabilities of the human and then mapping them on the robot. In the project this will include upgrading robot’s hardware and software in connection with experimental results.
PAL Robotic’ TIAGo and ARI robots
TIAGo
Our research TIAGo platform (which stands for Take It And Go) is ready to adapt to meet all of your research needs – not the other way around. The versatile TIAGo robot combines navigation, perception, manipulation & Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) skills out of the box. Perception abilities are such as people tracking, facial recognition and emotion recognition. Nonetheless, TIAGo has autonomous navigation and localization, mapping and obstacle avoidance that are accessed through ROS.
ARI
PAL Robotics’ ARI is a high-performance robot with human-like features and was designed for a wide range of multimodal expressive behaviours and gestures, focused on social interaction. Our social humanoid robot ARI is suitable for research in human-robot interaction, perception, cognition and navigation.
Read the answers to all your questions about ARI.
Job offer for 15 PhD students
Applications are created for 15 Early-Stage Researcher (ESR) positions which are funded by the Marie-Sklodowska-Curie European Training Network on “PErsonalized Robotics as SErvice Oriented applications” (PERSEO) within the Horizon 2020 Programme of the European Commission.
The network will work with and train 15 early-stage researchers in research and development for “PErsonalized Robotics as SErvice Oriented applications”. The consortium is formed by eight prestigious European Universities and two leading robotics businesses plus nine partner organisations to cover a full training programme on scientific, technical, and personal development skills. Placements will include secondments in current world-leading organisations in Spain, Germany, Austria, the UK, Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands, etc, to gather knowledge and expertise to then implement in Europe. Thus, collaboration within the network is strongly encouraged.
Work at PAL Robotics
We have a new candidate that will be joining us on the PhD programme for project PERSEO, in the field of Human Action Learning and Physical Capabilities Modelling here, at PAL Robotics. We are happy to introduce you to Lorenzo Ferrini! Lorenzo got his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering and Master’s degrees in Robotics and Automation Engineering at the University of Pisa. According to Lorenzo, he believes that this experience at PAL Robotics thanks to PERSEO will allow him to grow in the field of robotics and understand more about different approaches in the world of robotics research.
Find out more about PERSEO
The PERSEO project has funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme – this is under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 955778. The PERSEO project includes nine partners and ten beneficiaries involving a number of European countries, such as Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Netherlands, Italy and more.
In addition to the PERSEO project, PAL Robotics works on many EU projects covering areas such as smart cities, factories of the future and Artificial Intelligence (AI). We are always on the lookout for new potential partners, to find out more about EU projects or request information, visit PAL Robotics’ collaborative projects webpage and don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.
If you want to read more, don’t forget to check our blog about our robotics and research.