🌍✨ Reflecting on a remarkable evening at the Edinburgh Futures Institute with Ameca, Jeanette Winterson, Ingo Keller and Jennifer Williams. Tonight’s discussions delved into the future of technology and creativity, exploring how Ameca, as an advanced humanoid robot, can redefine our understanding of human interaction and storytelling. Jeanette, Ameca and Ingo, covered intersections of technology, literature, and the future of human connection. A big thank you to all who attended and contributed to such an engaging discussion! Ingo Keller Data-Driven Innovation Initiative Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh Futures Institute #EdinburghFuturesInstitute #Ameca #JeanetteWinterson #AI #Literature #FutureOfWork #Innovation #robotics #AI #Ameca #HumanRobotInteraction #TrustInRobots #HelpingPeople #HelpingLearning #HelpingSociety #TheNationalRobotarium
The National Robotarium
Business Consulting and Services
Edinburgh, Midlothian 7,355 followers
The National Robotarium is a world-leading centre for Robotics and Artificial Intelligence.
About us
The National Robotarium is a world-leading centre for Robotics and Artificial Intelligence at Heriot-Watt University's Edinburgh campus. The National Robotarium is a Data-Driven Innovation hub, funded in partnership with The University of Edinburgh as part of the £1.5bn Edinburgh and South-East Scotland City Region Deal. The Deal is supported with £300m funding from the UK Government and £300m funding from the Scottish Government. For more information: https://thenationalrobotarium.com Watch how the UK’s leading centre for Robotics and AI is making a global impact: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWJSd06b76k
- Website
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https://thenationalrobotarium.com/
External link for The National Robotarium
- Industry
- Business Consulting and Services
- Company size
- 201-500 employees
- Headquarters
- Edinburgh, Midlothian
- Type
- Educational
- Founded
- 2022
- Specialties
- robotics, electronics, research, and artificial intelligence
Locations
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Primary
Edinburgh, Midlothian EH14 4AS, GB
Employees at The National Robotarium
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Dr Adrian Smales
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Oliver Lemon
Professor of AI; Academic Co-Lead at the National Robotarium
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Professor Lynne Baillie (she/her)
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Adam A. Stokes
Full Professor & Chair of Bioinspired Engineering at The University of Edinburgh | Founder | Academic in Residence at Archangel Investors Ltd.
Updates
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The National Robotarium reposted this
Last week I posted some thoughts on the Offshore Wind Scotland DeepWind cluster event on steel floating substructures. There was no rest the following day as a second DeepWind event was taking place at The National Robotarium at the Heriot-Watt University campus - this time the Survey & Inspection subgroup were hosting an Automation & Robotics workshop in what was an ideally suited venue. [TL;DR] - the improving sensor & platform capability is impressive - big challenges to ensure accuracy & quality remains as we efficiently process ever growing volumes of data. Increasing use of AI will feature - but how to ensure the training set is good enough? The event was opened by Mike Ellis of Sonardyne International Ltd before Naomi Battison who welcomed us to the National Robotarium and Andrew Pratt of North of Scotland KTP Centre spoke about what was on offer to companies from KTP. The opening presentation was by Joe Tidball of Beam - formerly Rovco/Vaarst who updated us on the change of branding and the latest news on their fleet of vessels and robots. Of note was their new Xplorer 18 ASV, a hybrid for autonomous operation with the option to be fully crewed. René Rasmussen of MacArtney Underwater Technology Group took us through the Focus 3 ROTV and the eBOSS system. Chris Almond of Kraken Robotics gave examples of their survey offering, focussing mainly on their acoustic coring technology - definitely a presentation that works best with videos! In the afternoon, we heard from Aspect Land & Hydrographic Surveys Ltd, GEOxyz, BeeX who all spoke about the capabilities of their ROVs/fleet. They were followed by John Houlder of Sonardyne International Ltd who spoke about the importance of accuracy in a true north seeking capability and the importance of post processing your data to ensure maximum accuracy. The final presentation came from Melissa Sandison, PhD who spoke about the support and resources available at Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult DARE facility. It was nice to see the SEAJET kit we'd worked on the analysis of appearing in the video she shared. They're planning a demonstration event in November with live demos featuring several of the companies who presented at this workshop. My final thoughts: the improving quality of data available from sensors and platforms is impressive, it highlights the need for - and value - that can be be driven from smart, optimised post-processing analysis techniques. AI techniques are certainly a compelling option, however, many speakers noted that building a high quality set of training data is not straightforward (or cheap) for these challenging subsea conditions. Automation will certainly be important in the future, allowing companies to do more with the same headcount - the challenge will be ensuring quality and accuracy doesn't drop. Thanks as always to Paul O'Brien for his compering of the event and to the caterers for the most impressive pastry selection I've ever seen at a business event!
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🎫 There's only a few days left to grab your ticket to see our #HumanoidRobot Ameca in conversation with Jeanette Winterson at Edinburgh Futures Institute! This special hybrid event, taking place on Mon 7 Oct, will mark the official opening of the institute's 'Learning Curves' season, and our first collaboration with fellow Data-Driven Innovation Initiative hub #EFI. 🤝 Sign-up at: https://lnkd.in/eyE9psem ❓ DID YOU KNOW❓ The #DDI initiative was established as an innovation network that grows talent, skills and entrepreneurship in #tech and #data. Made-up of six partner hubs, the network harnesses its world-leading expertise and technology to help organisations tackle challenges across a number of target sectors, inc. #RoboticsandAutonomousSystems #FinTech #DigiTech and #space, boosting economic and social benefits for the Edinburgh and South-East Scotland region. Find out more at: https://ddi.ac.uk/ Bayes Centre | Usher Institute, The University of Edinburgh | #EdinburghInternationalDataFacility | #EasterBush | The University of Edinburgh | Heriot-Watt University
Our Learning Curves: Autumn 2024 event season that explores themes of education and learning kicks off very soon! Join us for the first two events featuring two incredible authors! 7 October - Jeanette Winterson in conversation with Ameca 8 October - Literature is not a Luxury with Bernardine Evaristo Both events will be held at Edinburgh Futures Institute and will be livestreamed. Free to attend but booking essential! Check out the season's full programme and book your tickets 🎟️ https://lnkd.in/e5yfq-Hu #challengecreatechange The University of Edinburgh | The National Robotarium | Centre for Technomoral Futures | Data-Driven Innovation Initiative | Edinburgh Centre for Data, Culture & Society | The New Real creative community
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Researchers from the #NationalRobotarium will feature in the Heriot-Watt University Healthy Ageing Showcase event, taking place in the James Watt Centre from 2pm on Wed 2 Oct. The event - spearheaded by the University's Global Research Institute in Health and Care Technologies - brings together experts from across Scotland's science community to share and explore the innovative technologies and projects that are improving patient wellbeing and enabling people to live independently for longer. Get your FREE 🎟 at: https://lnkd.in/eudJbzui #robotics #AI #SmartSensors #technology #innovation #events #HelpingHealth #HelpingPeople #HelpingIndustry #HelpingSociety #TheNationalRobotarium
It’s finally the week of the Healthy Ageing Showcase! Wednesday 2nd October, James Watt Auditorium The 3rd instalment of the sneak peek series highlights the work of Professor Kelly Wolfe, PhD and her team who studies if older adults learn better with a partner than individually and whether social robots can be used to support learning in older age. In her latest study, conducted in collaboration with the The University of Edinburgh Prof Sarah E. MacPherson and the The National Robotarium Dr Mauro Dragone, Kelly employed a robot to assist older adults in a cognitive matching game. The robot provided instructions and engaged interactively with participants, offering real-time responses as they played together, enhancing both the gaming experience and participant engagement. If you would like to explore this research further, then sign up to the Healthy Ageing Showcase #HealthyAgeing #Robotics #Innovation #HeriotWattUni #HealthTech #NationalRobotarium #RegisterNow
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💡 "Recent reports have illuminated the complex challenges the UK’s health service faces. While the government’s ambitious 10-year plan rightly emphasises digital transformation, there’s a complementary opportunity we mustn’t overlook: the transformative potential of robotics in healthcare – not just for patient care, but as a driver of economic growth for the entire UK." 🤖 Business Development Manager at #TheNationalRobotarium, and champion for #HealthcareRobotics, Lisa Farrell, outlines how the UK can benefit from greater adoption of #robotics technologies in its drive to address the NHS's most pressing challenges. 📰 Read the full article in Robotics & Automation Magazine: https://lnkd.in/eRdmUnxQ Heriot-Watt University | Data-Driven Innovation Initiative | #robots #AI #healthcare #NHS #DigitalTransformation #RoboticsRevolution #automation #innovation #HelpingHealth #HelpingPeople #HelpingIndustry #HelpingSociety #HelpingTheEconomy #NationalRobotarium
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🚀 Exciting times at the Scotsman’s Data Conference 2024! Ameca, one of the most advanced humanoid robots, had the privilege of meeting David Lee to delve into the pressing issues of deepfakes and disinformation. Their conversation highlighted the urgent need for innovative solutions to combat the challenges these technologies present in our digital landscape. Heriot-Watt University Data-Driven Innovation Initiative #Deepfakes #Disinformation #DataConference2024 #DigitalLiteracy #Collaboration #Scotsmandataconference2024 #robotics #AI #Ameca #HumanRobotInteraction #TrustInRobots #HelpingPeople #HelpingLearning #HelpingSociety #TheNationalRobotarium
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Researchers and students from the #NationalRobotarium Edinburgh Centre for Robotics and Heriot-Watt University have had a record 8️⃣ papers accepted for #EMNLP2024, the 2024 Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing. The prestigious international conference, which explores advancements in Artificial Intelligence, Large Language Models, Natural Language Processing and #ConversationalAI in #robotics is taking place in Miami, Florida from 12-16 November. Congratulations to everyone who was accepted! 🌟 #robots #AI #LLMs #NLP #research #science #CDT #HeriotWattUni The University of Edinburgh
Really exciting news: we got 4 papers accepted at #EMNLP2024 that belong to the "Multimodality and Language Grounding to Vision, Robotics and Beyond" track. Looking forward to meeting everyone who is attending EMNLP in Miami this year. Feel free to ping me to discuss Multimodal Learning and Embodied AI! List of accepted papers below: 1) "AlanaVLM: A Multimodal Embodied AI Foundation Model for Egocentric Video Understanding" (ArXiv: https://lnkd.in/dMrRUZUb) Authors: Alessandro Suglia Claudio Greco Katie Baker Jose L. Part Ioannis Papaioannou Arash Eshghi Ioannis Konstas Oliver Lemon TL;DR: We present a fine-tuning recipe to build VLMs able to understand egocentric videos and generate answers to visual queries. 2) "Shaking Up VLMs: Comparing Transformers and Structured State Space Models for Vision & Language Modeling" (ArXiv: https://lnkd.in/eiJpMgNM) Authors: George Pantazopoulos Malvina Nikandrou Alessandro Suglia Oliver Lemon Arash Eshghi TL;DR: Detailed comparison between Transformers-based and SSM-based Vision and Language models which allowed us to uncover some serious problems in current Multimodal #GenerativeAI models. 3) "Repairs in a Block World: A New Benchmark for Handling User Corrections with Multi-Modal Language Models" (on ArXiv soon) Authors: Javier Chiyah-Garcia Arash Eshghi Alessandro Suglia TL;DR: We explore VLMs' capabilities (including OpenAI GPT-4o) to process third-position repairs in a situated instruction-following task with a new dataset, and compare them with human participants with an in-person study. 4) "Investigating the Role of Instruction Variety and Task Difficulty in Robotic Manipulation Tasks" (ArXiv: https://lnkd.in/ebwv8439) Authors: Amit Parekh Nikolas Vitsakis, Alessandro Suglia, Ioannis Konstas TL;DR: Multimodal models are resilient to nonsensical instructions but they struggle with more common observational changes indicating a need for improvements in evaluating generalisation capabilities both inside and outside the domain. Heriot-Watt University The National Robotarium #NLProc #GenerativeAI #AI #ML #Robotics
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Ameca, one of the world's most advanced humanoids, will be interviewed by renowned author Jeanette Winterson LIVE at the Edinburgh Futures Institute on Monday 7 October! Also speaking at the event is our Head of Robotics Ingo Keller who will join Jeanette and Chair Jennifer, JL Williams for an insightful, thought-provoking discussion on the future of robots and how the rapid advancement of AI in society will impact people's lives, work and learning. Grab your FREE 🎟 at: https://lnkd.in/eyE9psem More information: https://lnkd.in/eARjGMVy Data-Driven Innovation Initiative | Heriot-Watt University | The University of Edinburgh | Engineered Arts Ltd #robots #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #HumanRobotInteraction #TrustinRobots #events
Our Learning Curves: Autumn 2024 event season that explores themes of education and learning kicks off very soon! Join us for the first two events featuring two incredible authors! 7 October - Jeanette Winterson in conversation with Ameca 8 October - Literature is not a Luxury with Bernardine Evaristo Both events will be held at Edinburgh Futures Institute and will be livestreamed. Free to attend but booking essential! Check out the season's full programme and book your tickets 🎟️ https://lnkd.in/e5yfq-Hu #challengecreatechange The University of Edinburgh | The National Robotarium | Centre for Technomoral Futures | Data-Driven Innovation Initiative | Edinburgh Centre for Data, Culture & Society | The New Real creative community
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Don't forget to drop into the #NationalRobotarium on Tuesday 24 Sept from 1000-1400 for Paragon Rapid Technologies Ltd. demonstration day! The team will be on-hand to showcase the latest in cutting-edge robotics and AI technologies, and showcasing their innovative in-house capabilities for the UK manufacturing sector. Heriot-Watt University staff, students and local robot enthusiasts are invited along for an insightful day of demos and discussions. #robots #AI #engineering #automation #innovation #HelpingIndustry #HelpingPeople #HelpingSociety #TheNationalRobotarium #ParagonRapidTechnologies
Innovative UK manufacturing service Paragon Rapid Technologies Ltd. are holding a demonstration day at the #NationalRobotarium on Tuesday 24 September! Drop by our world-leading facility for #robotics and #AI from 10am and explore a range of cutting-edge technologies and in-house capabilities, with the opportunity to get hands-on with real-world samples. The team will also be joined by experts from HP, who will delve into Multi Jet Fusion (MJF) technology, explaining how it works and why it’s a game-changer for the robotics industry. 📣 Paragon Rapid Technologies Demo day 📅 Tuesday 24 September 🕙 10am - 2pm 📍 The National Robotarium, Heriot-Watt University 🔗 https://lnkd.in/eVTS8pVC Don’t miss this chance to discover the future of innovation and meet the experts driving technological advancements. #robots #automation #engineering #manufacturing #technology #3DPrinting #applications *Featured image - Aurora designed by Jet Cooper https://lnkd.in/et32nDMC
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We're looking forward to hearing more of #Ameca's thoughts at The Scotsman Data Conference, taking place this Thursday (26 Sept) at Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh. 🤖 The advanced humanoid robot will feature alongside other tech experts as they discuss 'Disinformation, Deepfakes and Democracy', all chaired by host David Lee. ✅ Bag your FREE 🎟 and join us and our Data-Driven Innovation Initiative partners for an insightful day of discussion, debate and networking. https://lnkd.in/ez2mwrjC #robotics #AI #humanoids #ConversationalAI #technology #events #legislation #regulation #TheNationalRobotarium #DataCapital
Our comms exec Stephanie Peebles caught up with Ameca from The National Robotarium ahead of next week's Disinformation, Deepfake and Democracy conference. Listen to what Ameca had to say when asked “are you looking forward to next weeks conference?”👀 📍 Be quick - Last remaining in-person tickets left, or register to watch online Register now and secure your spot: https://lnkd.in/ez2mwrjC #DataConf24 #Disinformation #DoingDataRight | Scotsman Conferences and Events | Research Data Scotland | The University of Edinburgh | Edinburgh Innovations | Jarmo Eskelinen | Edinburgh Futures Institute | Bayes Centre | EPCC