From Observations, Imitation to Skills transfer

Abstract:

Future robots and smart machines will better assist us in our daily lives. With the ageing population in particular, these machines will become more and more necessary to fulfil our needs. The focal point of our works can be said to blend together two key elements:

• Capabilities - the incorporation of capabilities to high performance
  multi-functional robots.
• Communication - development of natural communication mechanisms for
  the better utilisation of these robots.

The increasing of the capabilities of these robots will require mechanisms that take into account the natural ways in which human-human skills transfer, bringing this forward to human-robot skills transfer. In this talk, I will bring forward these ideas via several examples of humanoid skills acquisition - drawing on the current state-of-the-art to future prospects of these systems.