Team InnoRobots

The Solution
Social robotics is a not very well known, but aspiring area of science which explores of possibilities of implementing robots into social environments and tasks. The subject not being very well known makes the researchers of this area have to explain the very basics whenever they want to spread their knowledge on this matter. The solution produced to this issue by InnoSummer 2011-team Social Robotics is a good-looking and fun interactive presentation that the experts and people alike can use to explain what social robotics is about.

The Team
The team worked full time for the summer 2011 as a part of Demola InnoSummer 2011 on project. The team consisted of four people with very different backgrounds both technically and culturally. Social Robotics was created with Iranian mechatronics-expertise, Spanish passion towards programming in Java and to open source, alongside with some Finnish Flash knowledge and concept design.

The Project
The final product of the project is a interactive presentation which consists of dynamic flash graphics and Action Script 3 programming and a sweet dynamic text-to-speech program that was modified from a open source one. Together these elements create a kind of virtual social robot called ILO, with which the presenter can interact in an interview to ask the robot for knowledge on social robotics. After the interview the presentation can be taken into multiple different semi-interactive scenarios which show in more detail how social robotics could help and be possibly implemented into the everyday life of different people, such as children or people with brain-related conditions such as Alzheimer disease

The Future
There are plans to establish Tampere as the social robotics-capital of Finland, but it is unclear whether that should have any connection to this project whatsoever.