Periodic Reporting for period 2 - INBOTS (Inclusive Robotics for a better Society (INBOTS))
Reporting period: 2019-07-01 to 2021-06-30
New robotic technologies have promised to facilitate, assist, augment or supplement our work and daily life. This evolution of robotics implies a closer physical, cognitive and emotional interaction with humans in a broad range of application domains. These rapid technological developments are expected to revolutionise our society. The changes will create new opportunities for people, but will also create new dangers and responsibilities that need to be elucidated and contained. Furthermore, the rapid advances in robotics make it difficult for the general public to completely understand the state of the technology, which creates negative perceptions and overestimated expectations that should be clarified. Therefore, the main challenge that INBOTS wants to overcome is the lack of a clear understanding and communication between all the involved stakeholders. These limitations hinder current efforts to successfully discuss and agree on the many important technical and non-technical aspects in the field. Therefore, with the purpose of optimising the outcomes of the coordinate and support action, INBOTS will focus mainly on Interactive Robots, which we define as any robot that is interacting in close proximity with humans.
The overall objective of this project is to create a community hub that can bring together experts to debate and create a responsible research and innovation paradigm for robotics. INBOTS provides a platform to establish a working synergy between four pillars that covers all stakeholders in Interactive Robotics: the technical expertise pillar, the business expertise pillar, the ethical, legal and socio-economic (ELSE) expertise pillar, as well as the end-users, policy makers and general public pillar.
Conclusions: The project objectives has been achieved. INBOTS project has produced relevant reference documents, has created a network of experts and lay the foundation for future debates. INBOTS Consortium has been active in dissemination and exploitation of the results in scientific publications, conference presentations and a communication activities, press contacts and contacts with industry. The collaboration and networking with on-going projects and other European networks and initiatives has been remarkable.
The overall objective of this project is to create a community hub that can bring together experts to debate and create a responsible research and innovation paradigm for robotics. INBOTS provides a platform to establish a working synergy between four pillars that covers all stakeholders in Interactive Robotics: the technical expertise pillar, the business expertise pillar, the ethical, legal and socio-economic (ELSE) expertise pillar, as well as the end-users, policy makers and general public pillar.
Conclusions: The project objectives has been achieved. INBOTS project has produced relevant reference documents, has created a network of experts and lay the foundation for future debates. INBOTS Consortium has been active in dissemination and exploitation of the results in scientific publications, conference presentations and a communication activities, press contacts and contacts with industry. The collaboration and networking with on-going projects and other European networks and initiatives has been remarkable.
The work of INBOTS has been divided into seven measurable, specific objectives that corresponds to the Work Packages 1-7:
WP1: Promote entrepreneurship and nontechnical support to SMEs. In this second reporting period, the Consortium consolidated and improved the approach developed in the first period for analysing different Interactive Robotics markets. Furthermore, the market analysis has been extended to other two Interactive Robots fields: Industrial Collaborative Robots (IndCOBOTs) and Surgical Collaborative Robots (SurgCOBOTs). All these outcomes have been collected in the White Paper on Interactive Robotics market analyses and support tools for SMEs (D1.2).
WP2: Promote debate on legal, ethics & socio-economic aspects. The most controversial issues to overcome non-technical barriers related to robotics uptake have been carefully analyzed in written publications and have been orally disseminated in multiple debates at different conferences and webinars. Monitor INBOTS engagement with social responsibility strategies and the path dependency in the robotics sector. The debate on the ethical, legal, and socio-economic barriers to develop a robotic responsible research and innovation paradigm has been actively promoted and sensible suggestions to move forward towards it have been made. All these aspects have been included in the INBOTS White Paper on Interactive Robotics’ legal, ethics & socio-economic aspects (D2.2).
WP3: Promote highly-accesible and multidisciplinary education programs. The SoA regarding robotic education in schools, universities and beyond the educational system resources has been analysed. We focused in particular in developing, classifying and promoting resources for robotic education for different levels, from pre-school to academia and in the professional and service environment, focusing in particular on learning resources and tools highly accessible for the different potential users. It has been reported in the Final Report on Interactive Robotics' education programs and learning activities (D3.2).
WP4: Coordinate standardization and benchmarking. The list of existing standards on the INBOTS website was regularly updated and future actions on the identified standardization potentials developed. An overview of different standardization tools and when to use which tool was produced. A CEN Workshop Agreement (CWA) was developed. Two standardization strategies on how to go forward with the standardization of active exoskeletons in the manufacturing domain and teleoperated surgical robots in the healthcare domain are described in D4.2 “White Paper on Standardization and Interactive Robots”.
WP5: Propose a regulatory & risk management framework. An update of the relevant European and national frameworks about standardization, product safety certification and liability rules have been analysed, and a careful study of the current initiatives on the regulation of AI, has been undertaken. The structural contact with the relevant European and national authorities has been reinforced, while new contacts have been established. This information has been collected in the white paper on Interactive Robotics regulatory and risk management framework (D5.2).
WP6: Promote societal and socio-economic uptake of robotics. The assessment of best practises and promising areas for societal uptake of robots continued in order to create an overview of the situation in Europe in terms of technology readiness and adoption potential. Plans to implement strategic initiatives with companies to support development and diversification towards potentially promising areas. Survey research result about what we need to know to enable citizens to adopt and accept robots in their daily lives. INBOTS White Paper on strategies to increase Interactive Robotics public awareness and acceptance (D6.2)
WP7: Organise dissemination & robotics community outreach activities. We have focused on communicating the progress of the project to end users and the public, increasing awareness of interactive robotics issues among stakeholders. The Report on Networking Activities (D7.2) has been elaborated, specifying the actions carried out to communicate the project, interact with the public and create community around interactive robotics. The Final Report on Communication, Dissemination and Exploitation Activities (D7.5) has also been produced, which summarises the communication and dissemination activities carried out in INBOTS throughout the project period, following the communication and dissemination strategy. The INBOTS Final Conference (May 2021) has been successfully organised.
WP1: Promote entrepreneurship and nontechnical support to SMEs. In this second reporting period, the Consortium consolidated and improved the approach developed in the first period for analysing different Interactive Robotics markets. Furthermore, the market analysis has been extended to other two Interactive Robots fields: Industrial Collaborative Robots (IndCOBOTs) and Surgical Collaborative Robots (SurgCOBOTs). All these outcomes have been collected in the White Paper on Interactive Robotics market analyses and support tools for SMEs (D1.2).
WP2: Promote debate on legal, ethics & socio-economic aspects. The most controversial issues to overcome non-technical barriers related to robotics uptake have been carefully analyzed in written publications and have been orally disseminated in multiple debates at different conferences and webinars. Monitor INBOTS engagement with social responsibility strategies and the path dependency in the robotics sector. The debate on the ethical, legal, and socio-economic barriers to develop a robotic responsible research and innovation paradigm has been actively promoted and sensible suggestions to move forward towards it have been made. All these aspects have been included in the INBOTS White Paper on Interactive Robotics’ legal, ethics & socio-economic aspects (D2.2).
WP3: Promote highly-accesible and multidisciplinary education programs. The SoA regarding robotic education in schools, universities and beyond the educational system resources has been analysed. We focused in particular in developing, classifying and promoting resources for robotic education for different levels, from pre-school to academia and in the professional and service environment, focusing in particular on learning resources and tools highly accessible for the different potential users. It has been reported in the Final Report on Interactive Robotics' education programs and learning activities (D3.2).
WP4: Coordinate standardization and benchmarking. The list of existing standards on the INBOTS website was regularly updated and future actions on the identified standardization potentials developed. An overview of different standardization tools and when to use which tool was produced. A CEN Workshop Agreement (CWA) was developed. Two standardization strategies on how to go forward with the standardization of active exoskeletons in the manufacturing domain and teleoperated surgical robots in the healthcare domain are described in D4.2 “White Paper on Standardization and Interactive Robots”.
WP5: Propose a regulatory & risk management framework. An update of the relevant European and national frameworks about standardization, product safety certification and liability rules have been analysed, and a careful study of the current initiatives on the regulation of AI, has been undertaken. The structural contact with the relevant European and national authorities has been reinforced, while new contacts have been established. This information has been collected in the white paper on Interactive Robotics regulatory and risk management framework (D5.2).
WP6: Promote societal and socio-economic uptake of robotics. The assessment of best practises and promising areas for societal uptake of robots continued in order to create an overview of the situation in Europe in terms of technology readiness and adoption potential. Plans to implement strategic initiatives with companies to support development and diversification towards potentially promising areas. Survey research result about what we need to know to enable citizens to adopt and accept robots in their daily lives. INBOTS White Paper on strategies to increase Interactive Robotics public awareness and acceptance (D6.2)
WP7: Organise dissemination & robotics community outreach activities. We have focused on communicating the progress of the project to end users and the public, increasing awareness of interactive robotics issues among stakeholders. The Report on Networking Activities (D7.2) has been elaborated, specifying the actions carried out to communicate the project, interact with the public and create community around interactive robotics. The Final Report on Communication, Dissemination and Exploitation Activities (D7.5) has also been produced, which summarises the communication and dissemination activities carried out in INBOTS throughout the project period, following the communication and dissemination strategy. The INBOTS Final Conference (May 2021) has been successfully organised.
The expected impacts that this project will imply are the following:
- Collaboration between diverse robotics communities
- Higher level of European involvement in global robotics regulatory policy and standardmaking
- Lower non-technical market barriers to robotics market readiness and take-up
- Increase the uptake by entrepreneurs and end users
- Engagement if community and non-technical experts
- Measurable evolution in the public awareness and understanding of robots
- Increase public and private investment interest in robotics technology
- Collaboration between diverse robotics communities
- Higher level of European involvement in global robotics regulatory policy and standardmaking
- Lower non-technical market barriers to robotics market readiness and take-up
- Increase the uptake by entrepreneurs and end users
- Engagement if community and non-technical experts
- Measurable evolution in the public awareness and understanding of robots
- Increase public and private investment interest in robotics technology