Overview

List of topics

• Trends in neuroscience and neuroscientific models relevant to the design of new robotic systems
• Robotic platforms usable for validating and investigating neuroscientific models
• Brain-machine interfaces and interaction
• Humanoid robots
• Biologically-inspired sensory-motor co-ordination
• Robotics for rehabilitation and assistance
• Human prostheses and exoskeletons
• Novel paradigms of human-robot interaction

Abstract

Robotics is steadily evolving and successfully heading to increasingly advanced theoretical and technological solutions. A growing number of robotic systems are designed to work for, and to interact effectively and friendly with, human beings. To this aim, investigating and taking inspiration from the biological model, in particular from the human model, is now widely accepted as an effective approach by the robotics research community. Neuroscience is also gaining deeper understanding on how the human brain works. New techniques like implantable neural interfaces and functional brain imaging are playing an important role in the progress of neuroscience. The cooperation of neuroscience and robotics is leading to the emergence of a new field of interdisciplinary research defined as Neuro-Robotics. The founding hypothesis of neuro-robotics is that robotics could evolve more rapidly (even introducing a discontinuity in its present steady evolution) through a close and systematic collaboration with neuroscience. On the other hand, it is expected that neuroscience will also benefit from robotics technologies to discover and validate new scientific knowledge on the brain.

The interaction between neuroscience and robotics is typically twofold:

1. neuroscience models can be applied to robot design to achieve better sensory-motor and cognitive performance in robots; and
2. biomimetic robotic systems can be used as experimental tools to validate neuroscience models.

An increasing number of research groups worldwide are pursuing this “neuro-robotics” approach and jointly designing and using a variety of innovative, inherently friendly and highly acceptable robotic systems. This Workshop will discuss and explore the opportunities and the challenges of the collaboration between neuroscientists and roboticists in the quest for a new generation of jointly designed robotic systems.

The Workshop will offer a unique opportunity of interaction among leading international researchers in neuroscience and in robotics, and will provide to those interested in the field of neuro-robotics the possibility to spend a full-immersion day with experts and colleagues, to learn and to discuss personally and interactively.

To achieve its goals, the Workshop will:

• offer tutorial-like lectures by world-renowned neuroscientists on current brain models in areas like motion generation and motor control, manipulation, anticipatory behaviour, mirror neurons, and others;
• present and analyze different case-studies of new jointly-designed and/or jointly-applied robots;
• provide hints and practical indications on new theory and solutions for the development of novel and challenging neuro-robotic systems, capable of going beyond current robotics technology;
• stimulate and moderate an open discussion between neuroscientists and roboticists, with the active involvement of all participants, on the challenges, applications, limitations and perspectives of neuro-robotics.

The Workshop will be particularly useful to students and young researchers entering the robotics research community and dreaming to design a new generation of robots.