Computer Science and Robotics are converging.  As the IEEE reports, “on the one hand computers are continuing to be humanized and a large number of cyber-physical systems are being developed to act upon the physical world. On the other hand the robotic community is looking into the robots of the 21st century that are versatile computing machines with high social impact potential, such as enhance transportation safety, reduce agricultural pesticide use, and improve public safety and crime-fighting efficacy, among other things. The barriers that restrain their diffusion significantly correlate to the complexity of developing their software control systems, which must be reliable, maintainable, intelligent, and safe.  Robotic Computing (RC) addresses the synergetic interaction of computing technologies and robotic technologies. The synergy between Robotics and Computer Science is both realistic and strategic. Their mutual benefit is to make it possible to build and evolve new robotic systems, to reduce their development cost, and to enhance their quality.”

The First IEEE International Conference on Robotic Computing (IRC 2017, aka Robotic Computing 2017) was held in Taichung, Taiwan from April 10^th-12^th and addressed the synergies between Computer Science and Robotics in a wide variety of applications.

Prof. Bruce MacDonald and Dr Ho Seok Ahn represented the CARES team at the conference.  As a Program Co-chair Prof. MacDonald led a session on Robotic Software and Architecture and Dr Ahn was an organizer of the International Workshop on Collaboration for Humans, Agents, Robots, Machines and Sensors (CHARMS).  Prof. MacDonald and Dr Ahn also presented the following three research papers:

•  Ho Seok Ahn, Min Ho Lee, Elizabeth Broadbent, and Bruce A. MacDonald, “Gathering healthcare service robot requirements from young people’s perceptions of an older care robot”
• Chandan Datta and Bruce A MacDonald, “Architecture of an Extensible Visual Programming Environment for Authoring Behaviour of Personal Service Robots”
• Ho Seok Ahn, Min Ho Lee, Elizabeth Broadbent, and Bruce A. MacDonald, “Is Entertainment Services of a Healthcare Service Robot for Older People Useful to Young People?”