Assistive Robotics: Investigating deployment of empathetic and consciousness-based robotic system

There are many applications of robotics in healthcare including robotised patient monitoring systems, robot-assisted cognitive and social therapy and assistive robotics. The health care systems in Europe and the most developed countries in the world are faced with challenging transition processes due to demographic change. The increase of the elderly population and the expectation of life brings about serious risks, with some profound socio and economic impact on our societies. To reduce the burden of social care, integration of existing unobtrusive, easy-to-use and transparent monitoring systems are proven to be an acceptable solution by the elderly and their careers. The ultimate goal of research is to replace the carer with a virtual intelligent carer capable of interpretation and understanding of their activities.

The aim of this project is to develop a relatively unexplored field of research where an intelligence environment is integrated with intelligent social robots to support elderly and/or disabled people with their daily activities. Based on sensory devices installed in the environment including computer vision systems, users’ behavioral patterns will be inferred and they will be used by a team of cooperating intelligent robots aim at preventing possible dangerous situations by interacting with user or careers. The human behavioral analysis module and robot intelligence will be designed through innovative computational intelligence methodologies. This project will investigate deployment of empathetic and consciousness-based robotic system for 1) assisting the elderly and humans with learning and physical disabilities in an attempt to improve the level of care they receive and quality of life, and 2) supporting care staff in what can be an incredibly strenuous job.

In order to be eligible to apply, you must hold, or expect to obtain, a UK Master’s degree (or UK equivalent according to NARIC) with a minimum of a merit, and/or a UK 1st Class/2.1 Bachelor’s degree (or UK equivalent according to NARIC) in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Computer Systems Engineering, mathematics or related disciplines.