First Danish Geminoid

Denmark has become the Center of  Japanese robotics in Europe. After introduction of therapy robot PARO in Denmark 2008 and the robot suite HAL from Cyberdyne in 2010, now the first Geminiod outside Japan is developed at Aalborg University in cooperation with ATR and Kokoro. The purpose of the project led by Henrik Scharfe, Associate Professor, and Director of Center for Computer-mediated Epistemology, is to systematically investigate certain aspects of Human Robot Interaction, the novel concept of Blended Presence, and by studying cultural differences in the perception of robots.The project is intended to advance android science and philosophy, in seeking answers to fundamental questions, many of which that have also occupied the Japanese researchers. The most important questions are:
- What is a human?
- What is presence?
- What is a relation?
- What is identity?
The Danish Geminoid will be modeled over professor Henrik Scharfe and is expected to arrive in April 2011. Pictures, videos etc about the geminoid project will be published at
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Geminoid/165003313547811
Update 2011-03-10: Check out video below for first impressions.

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The first geminoid, HI-1, was created in 2005 by Prof. Hiroshi Ishiguro of ATR and the Tokyo-based firm, Kokoro.

Denmark first with Social Robot Drivers License

Denmark is first in Europe to qualify care personal with a social robot drivers license. The first International Certification Workshop with a group of participants from Spain, the Netherlands and Sweden was recently held at the Danish Technology Institute, DTI, in Odense. The aim of this workshop was to learn how to use PARO but also to discuss ethical issues.
In 2008 a study found that therapy robot PARO soothed dementia patients and helped them communicate. Since then the DTI has become the European distributor of PARO and encouraged every Danish nursing home to buy one. So far Danish nursing homes have purchased 110 PAROs, mainly with public funds.

Ethical Recommendation on Social Robots
Denmark was one of the first countries in the world with recommendations on social robots. It started in 2007, when the Danish Council of Ethics launched a popular debate about new intelligent technologies through a campaign site. The debate unfolded later in the media and through a long series of debates that were arranged all over the country. After the debate, the Council publishing its considerations on social robots. The Council believes that the development of robots for use among people as everyday help, as entertainment or therapy is a development that in time will involve more and more ethical consideration, including some which are currently to difficult to foresee or describe. It is therefore important that robot technology is followed-up and commented upon from an ethical standpoint.
The recommendations on social robots cover four main topic:

1. Social robots and welfare technology as elements of care and therapy 
2. Product responsibility and social robots 
3. When social robots pretend to have an inner life 
4. Social robots, monitoring and privacy

These recommendations can be useful for politicians, developers and other stakeholders in the area as good points to bear in mind when legislating in this area and when new technology is being developed. 

Danish Centre for Robot Technology expands

Danish Technological Institute's Centre for Robot Technology, one of Europe's leading innovators of robotics, is expanding with larger robot laboratories built in the science park Forskerparken in Odense. The new building takes part in strengthening the Centre’s ties to University of Southern Denmark, which is close by together with other of the Centre’s partner companies.

Centre for Robot Technology has expanded rapidly the last year and now has 40 employees with more to come. The new building triples the Centre’s working area for a robot laboratory, offices and much more.

The Centre’s partners among companies, research institutions and other interest groups in Denmark and foreign countries will be encouraged to use the facilities in the robot for a unique collaboration between research, development and innovation.The building supports the Danish Science Ministry's desire to link research institutions and GTS institutes - among them Danish Technological Institute - closer together to provide more research-based GTS service to Danish companies.

The graph below shows some links to Danish robotics stakeholders and some robotics projects supported by the DTI.

EyeSeeCam wins 10.000 EURO award at Danish RoboDays

EyeSeeCam from University Hospital in Munich Germany won among 25 nominated research projects the international robot award at 10.000 euros at the annual RoboDays robot festival in Odense, Denmark, and is worth 10.000 Euros.

EyeSeeCam is a unique camera system that is controlled with the eyes. It is the only system that can record what the eyes of its user really see. Unrestricted user mobility and field of view as well as the utilization of biological image stabilization reflexes are main benefits of EyeSeeCam.

EyeSeeCam was initially developed at the Institute of Neuroscience of LMU Hospital under Prof. Thomas Brandt. The current versions were refined by Dr Schneider within CoTeSys and also used as a very useful tool in several other CoTeSys projects.