Workshops

We welcome participants with any disciplinary background and educational level.

In science fiction, since long authors like Isac Asimov and Philip K. Dick have reflected on the implications of developing robots that are similar to humans. Moreover, television series and movies like Westworld, Blade Runner and Ex Machina present these implications to a larger audience. As developments in this direction are progressing, it may be time to reflect on what we would wish for, and what perspectives and ethical we should consider.

In this workshop we will address these by regarding recent developments, discussing philosophical and especially ethical issues and by exploring these with collective thought experiments. If possible, we will report on the outcomes in an academic publication.

Participants are invited (not required) to contribute with an essay in English using the 2 page extended abstract New Friends conference template. These will be peer reviewed and if they meet the conference standards, they will be published in the workshop proceedings. All contributions will be discussed during the workshop and authors who want to present their paper will be given the opportunity to do this in a 10 minute oral presentation.

Deadline for contributions is June 15, 2018

Submission page: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=nf18ws2

Some suggested contribution topics:

Humanoid robots in autism therapy and education

Humanoid robots for training purposes

The ultimate difference: if robots where completely similar to us, what would still make humans different?

Social and psychological impact of humanoid robots in society.

Ethical aspects of relationships between humans and humanoids

Limitations on humanoid functionality based on ethical considerations.

Responsible: Marcel Heerink
Room:101 postgraduate building
Date: June 26, 14.00-17.00 pm
Length: 3 hours
Participants: max 45

Since the ancient Greek, coaching aimed to help people to become the best version of themselves and through reach their max potential, to improve their quality of life. Since the beginning of the 21st century, robot training, tutoring, coaching, etc. have been on the work agenda of several relevant research groups.

In this workshop, we want to approach the challenge that represents social robotics coaching systems from the conception of the design, to the review of the deployment. The challenges, related to more established technologies aimed to be cover are: technical, educational, therapeutical, ethical, legal, and economical.

The workshop is directed at motivated and open-minded researchers working on AI and robotics from different fields of expertise. This workshop is aiming to create a context to present and discuss novel approaches and concerns from designing to deploying social robots powered by coaching skills.
For that reason, the following communities are kindly invited to participate:New Technologies: Philosophers, Judges, Lawyers, Academia, etc.Human-Robot Interaction: Psychologists, Sociologists, Anthropologists, Cognitive Science Engineers, etc.Social Robotics: Engineers, Care Professionals, Practitioners, etc.Others: Bioethicists, eco-Friendly Professionals, Communication and Audiovisual Media, etc.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Submitted abstracts should be one or two pages pdf files following the template of the 2018 New Friends Conference. You can direct questions to jalboc@mit.edu

PRESENTATION

All presentations can be done through physical presence at the conference or with a  l10 minutes video presentation. We encourage all accepted papers to present a video presentation of their paper to be introduced in the proceeding of the new friends conference.

Responsible: Professor Jordi Albó Canals
Date: Junio 27: 15:00 pm to 18:00 pm
Room: auditorium theater.
Length: 3 hours
Participants: All registered attendees.