The SOCRATES project was a European PhD training network for young scientists active in the area of interactive social robotics aiming at eldercare. The unique multidisciplinary project trained researchers with both academic and entrepreneurial spirit and expertise, well suited for a career in both academy and industry.
Eldercare is a major societal challenge for Europe. By 2050 the number of older adults in many countries will exceed 30%. To reduce the social and economic impact, technological solutions are needed and robot technology is expected to play an important role. To achieve acceptable solutions, with natural, ethical, safe, and efficient human-robot interaction, a major push in Social Robotics is necessary.
Social Robotics is an important trend within human-robot interaction (HRI); the goal is to equip robots with cognitive abilities so they can interact with humans by adhering to certain social cues and rules. This requires well-functioning interaction at several levels: exchange of low-level physical information but also exchange of higher-level concepts such as actions, intentions, beliefs, emotions, and attention. The interaction must adapt to changing tasks, environments, and humans, and must be socially acceptable and safe. Social interaction with older adults is even more complex since it must accommodate different levels of physical and cognitive abilities affecting perception, coordination, concentration, focus, and memory. Interaction is still a limiting factor for older adults to accept assistive robots.
To meet these challenges, SOCRATES addressed research in social robotics and focused on Interaction Quality - a term introduced as a way to describe how fit a specific mode of interaction is for a given task, situation, and human. This is a novel research perspective in Social robotics. The research objective was to improve the robots’ ability to interact with older adults in a natural, ethical, safe, and efficient way.
A holistic approach to design and development of socially interacting robots is essential to achieve successful acceptance and adoption of the robotic systems by older adults. Social and psychological aspects must be considered by systematically involving end-users. Successful research training in social robotics must be a multidisciplinary process that integrates technical knowledge of hardware and software, psychological knowledge of interaction dynamics, social knowledge of the users and domain-specific knowledge of the target application. For successful penetration into society, business aspects must also be considered.
The aim of the SOCRATES program was to implement a successful multidisciplinary and intersectoral PhD training program, to develop the field of Social Robotics focusing on Interaction Quality aspects, with a clear application focus on Robotics in Eldercare. This aim has been accomplished by achieving the following objectives:
1. Recruiting 15 early-stage researchers (ESRs) and providing them with interdisciplinary training comprising
a. User-driven research in five key thematic areas: Emotion, Intention, Adaptivity, Design, and Acceptance, focusing on applications of robotics in eldercare,
b. Multidisciplinary and multi-methodological training in the six disciplinary areas Cognitive Science,Computer Science, Social Psychology, Robotics, Systems Integration, and Business Entrepreneurship,
c. Hands-on experience of knowledge transfer, business development, and commercialisation of robots, through training by the industrial and business-oriented partners in the consortium,
2. Training in complementary/transferable skills to promote a career in both academia and industry.
