Humanoid robots at Arcada research fair online 31.3

Published: 30.03.2020 / Education / Event / Press release / Research

What will be the role of the humanoid robot in the Finnish society and on the labor market? How do we deal with the ethical dilemmas that AI and robots bring?

Arcada is investing in the technology of the future, and has through the The Humanoid Service Project/AFORA acquired social and humanoid robots of the type Amy Waitress and Sanbot Elf, the first of their kind in Finland.

AFORA (Amy for Arcada) is a learning and development project where students and employees together explore social and humanoid robots' opportunities in various work environments and industries. These types of robots are used in the retail, hotel and restaurant industries as well as in social and health care.

- The project aims to contribute knowledge and understanding of robotics as well as explore how robots work in different service sectors, without forgetting humanity and ethics. The opportunities that robots offer in, for example, healthcare are great, which is more relevant than ever right now, says Christa Tigerstedt, lecturer in Business Administration. Tigerstedt has led the multi-professional project together with Shuhua Liu, PhD in Information Systems, and Dennis Biström, lecturer in Information Technology. 

The project, which extends beyond industry-specific boundaries, also wants to concretely include robotics into Arcada's learning environments by actively engaging students around the theme.

- The purpose of our project is to give both students and staff an opportunity to experience what interaction with robots can mean and understand what opportunities and challenges are related to social and humanoid robots, says Tigerstedt.

The robots will be presented during Arcada's research fair Future Ready/Färdig för framtiden on the 31st of March. This year, the research fair will be conducted online. Please see link below. Students, staff and other interested parties are warmly welcome to attend the fair. See the attached PDF for detailed program. 

Watch the recording of our virtual fair from 31.3 here on our Youtube channel!

 

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