A workshop in Göterborg, Sweden (January 13-14, 2005) about robot applications for every day use. Seems appealing. I was unaware the Future Applications Lab was into robot stuff. My research is not directed towards robot but the integration as well as the effects of such technology is definitely of interest.

The workshop aims to investigate and explore possible robot applications in domestic and other everyday environments. The specific robots explored in the workshop can be domestic and entertainment robots (e.g. Sony’s Aibo, Nec’s PaPeRo), humanoids (e.g. Honda’s Asimo, Sony’s Qrio), professional service robots, insect inspired robots and robots on wheels (like the so-called Swarm-Bots created in a European project). We hope that each participant has an interest in a specific robot, and that the characteristics of that robot will inspire one or several applications. The motivation is to invent robot applications that make it interesting for people to interact with robots on an everyday basis. We are interested in questions such as: What characteristics of robots can create new possibilities for everyday interactions with humans? What novel robot services can be achieved with combining several robots in an everyday setting, or by combining robots with other media?