Date and time:
September 24 at 7:00am-8:30am (PDT) 10:00am (EDT) 4:00PM (CEST) 11:00pm (JST)
Live Stream: Zoom Webinar (https://zoom.us/j/97080964697)
Live questions and discussion: Slido (https://app.sli.do/event/tijuwmpq)

Speaker: Sami Haddadin
Director of the Munich School of Robotics and Machine Intelligence
Technical University of Munich (TUM)

Moderator: Alessandro De Luca
Sapienza University of Roma

Video on Bilibili: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1SK4y1a76p/
Video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ODK8M90q-dU

Title: Tactile Robots: Safe, Sensitive and Capable to Learn

Abstract:
Robots need to be able to safely and sensitively interact with humans and their environment. This long standing goal of robotics research is still considered a grand challenge of our field. However, recently significant leaps forward, including also breakthroughs in direct human-robot collaboration, were made in particular in industrial robotics. Here, robotic tools enable flexible manufacturing in still untapped markets and applications. Specifically, human-centered robot design, tactile control and physics grounded machine learning algorithms allow robots to acquire new capabilities and skills. This technology will transform traditional manufacturing as we know it today, and start becoming relevant to professional service and domestic applications. Also, in the recent Corona crisis made clear how much tactile robotics technology could support our societal and health needs, as underlined by several applications I will showcase.

 


Sami Haddadin (Speaker Bio)

Sami Haddadin is Director of the Munich School of Robotics and Machine Intelligence at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and holds the Chair of Robotics and Systems Intelligence. Prior to that he was Chair of the Institute of Automatic Control at Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannover and held various positions as a researcher at DLR. He holds degrees in electrical engineering, computer science and technology management from the Technical University of Munich and the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. He received his PhD with summa cum laude from RWTH Aachen University. His research interests include robot design and control, robot learning, collective intelligence, safe human-robot interaction, human neuromechanics, and intelligent prosthetics. He has published more than 200 scientific articles in international journals and conferences. He has received numerous national and international awards for his scientific work, including the IEEE Early Career Award, the RSS Early Career Spotlight, the German Future Prize of the Federal President and the Leibniz Prize. He is a member of the national academy of science and engineering, the Enquete commission AI of the German Parliament and the High-Level Expert Group on AI of the European Commission. Sami’s and his collaborators’ work has found its way into commercial products from various renown industrial robot and UAV manufacturers. Sami is the founder of Franka Emika GmbH (Munich, 2016).