Social Robots: From Maths to Technology

Conference-Workshop: 16 March at 1:30 p.m., Pirineos Campus Auditorium

In the future, people are going to be increasingly in contact with “social robots”, specifically designed to interact with humans. Children are also probably going to run into them quite frequently in schools, hospitals, etc. This has led to new ethical dilemmas around the definition of social robots and their impact on vulnerable groups, such as children and the elderly. José Manuel del Río and David Ríos Insúa, CEO and CSO of Aisoy Robotics, which pioneers the creation of emotional social robots with a high impact on child-robot relationships, will participate in the workshop to explain the workings of their social robot Aiko and discuss ethical issues related to the use of social robots.

Aiko Robot, a revolutionary mentor to learn

The conference will allow us to discover how Aiko can be implemented, programmed and used to become an affectionate, helpful and accommodating friend. We will understand her qualities as a mentor to learn new languages (English, Spanish) and enhance STEM and social-emotional skills through game-based learning activities and useful conversations. And we will reflect on the use of social robots from an ethical perspective.

David Ríos Insúa

 heads the AXA-ICMAT Chair in Adversary Risk Analysis and is a Research Professor at ICMAT-CSIC. He is also a Full Professor of the Statistics and Operations Research Department at UCM (on leave of absence), a member of the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences and Chief Security Officer at Aisoy Robotics.

José Manuel del Río

 is the CEO of Aisoy Robotics. He is an entrepreneur who specialises in Artificial Intelligence projects. He has a degree in Computer Science from UPM.