Symposium on Developmental Robotics

9.30am-5.30pm, Friday 31st August 2012 Department of Psychology
(http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/psychology)
University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN

Developmental robotics (aka epigenetic robotics) is an emerging research field that seeks to use insights from developmental psychology and neurobiology to develop the perceptual, cognitive, motor, and social capabilities of autonomous robots. The discipline looks in two directions: both to create advances in artificial intelligence and to devise embodied model systems in which hypotheses about human development can be explored.

This 1-day symposium features leading international experts in developmental robotics and child development and will focus on both experimental and synthetic approaches in the development of language, social behaviour, cognition and motor skills. The symposium is open to researchers and graduate students working in related fields such as robotics and psychology.

Please contact Gill Ryder (g [dot] ryder [at] sheffield [dot] ac [dot] uk) NO LATER THAN THE 14TH OF AUGUST to register for the meeting. There is no charge for attendance (which includes lunch) but places are limited. Please use the REGISTRATION TEMPLATE at the end of this email.

Sponsored by:

• The Sheffield Centre for Robotics (SCentRo)
• The FP7 Experimental Functional Android Assistant (EFAA) Project (http://efaa.upf.edu/)
• The University of Sheffield, Cognitive Development Group (http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/psychology/research/groups/developmental/)
• The Convergence Science Network for Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems (CSN) (http://www.csnetwork.eu/)

Chair: Tony Prescott (Director, Sheffield Centre for Robotics) (http://www.abrg.group.shef.ac.uk/people/tony/

Keynotes:

• Yiannis Demiris, Imperial College London (http://www.iis.ee.ic.ac.uk/yiannis/webcontent/HomePage.html): Robots for modelling and assisting development
• Danielle Matthews, Sheffield Cognitive Development Group (http://www.shef.ac.uk/psychology/staff/academic/danielle-matthews): Origins of the Human Pointing Gesture: The onset of triadic communication
• Peter Dominey, INSERM, Lyon, France http://www.isc.cnrs.fr/dom/dommenu-en.htm): Development of robot communication: from pointing to grammatical constructions
• Jesse Snedeker, Laboratory for Developmental Studies, Harvard http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/~lds/index.html?snedeker.html): How to ground abstraction: lessons from word learning and children’s lexical processing
• Paul Vogt, Tilburg University, Netherlands http://www.paul-vogt.nl/): Towards modelling language acquisition using empirical data of language socialisation in different culture

Short talks:

• Paul Verschure, University of Pompeu Fabre, Barcelona (http://specs.upf.edu/people/331): Developing a sense of self through social cognition: Insights from robotics
• Elizabeth Milne, Sheffield Autism Research Lab (http://www.shef.ac.uk/psychology/staff/academic/elizabeth-milne): Perceptual abnormalities in autism: Insights from EEG
• Stuart Wilson, Active Touch Laboratory @ Sheffield (ATL@S) (http://www.abrg.group.shef.ac.uk/people/stuart/): From somatotopic maps to body schema (draft title)
• Dan Carroll, Sheffield Cognitive Development Group (http://www.shef.ac.uk/psychology/staff/academic/dan-carroll): When getting it all wrong is a great improvement: The emergence of cognitive flexibility in preschool children
• Kevin Gurney, Adaptive Behaviour Research Group (ABRG) (http://www.abrg.group.shef.ac.uk/people/kevin/): Developing new skills in humans and robots

Directions:

The Psychology Department is on the corner of Western Bank and Northumberland Road, for directions and maps see http://www.shef.ac.uk/psychology/contact_us. The symposium will be held in the Psychology Lecture Theatre (ground floor of main building).