Robotoriale : First edition !
On Wednesday, April 27th, the first “Robotoriale” took place, a PhD meet-up of Robotics by Design Lab.
The PhD students of Robotics by Design Lab and the Strate Research team had the opportunity to get to know each other and kick-off a new dynamic in Strate's research department.
To welcome the four PhD students of Robotics by Design Lab, we had the honor to have with us Dominique Sciamma, Managing Director of Strate and Frédérique Pain, Director of Strate Paris. They passionately presented the lab’s genesis, original vision, and its significance for Strate. RbD lab is a living and multidisciplinary laboratory, which is why the role of design and designers is important, seeking to imagine a new ecology of living together with emerging technologies such as AI and robotics, while questioning them through design
We retain from their speech that even if the social conception of robotics has evolved, Strate always believed and advocated for a concept of robotics that allows better understanding the relationship we have with the world and the living. Moreover, our industrial partners are key, as this relationship cannot exist without field studies.
Presentation of the PhD students and their research
Next, the four PhD students of Robotics by Design Lab presented the main lines of their research topics and their roles in their respective companies. These four theses are co-directed by Strate Research with the host laboratories to establish the multidisciplinarity that RbD Lab values. This round table discussion was an opportunity to highlight the variety of topics addressed by design and robotics, as well as the major challenges of each topic at different levels.
• Antoine Auton got the ball rolling by presenting with enthusiasm the research axes of his thesis with Spoon, ENSTA and Strate. His topic is an AI model capable of creating social bonds. Thus, Antoine will work on artificial creatures, the Spoonies, which adapt to their context, and modify their behavior according to the way users interact with them. These creatures position themselves against the streamlining of AI that is starting to arrive in our daily lives (Alexa, Siri or the assistant from Google).
To this purpose, Antoine gave the example of imagining a disabling trait, such as a voice that stutters; a defect that aims to modify how the robot's personality is perceived, making it inevitably more endearing and therefore perhaps more likely to create real relationships over time.
• After Antoine, it was Hazar Zilelioglu who presented the main lines of his thesis with frog design, Altran, Cardif-BNP Paribas and UPEC, but also to tell us about his background rich in experiences. Hazar's profile is a true demonstration of multidisciplinarity. Besides his studies in animal physiology, a master's degree in neuroscience, and an internship on brain imaging in Cuba, Hazar worked on the impact of AI on user experience of thermal comfort in autonomous cars at Altran.
His research is on the topic of "preservation of the human-pet relationship through artificial intelligence and robotics for aging well at home" for the elderly who are vulnerable at home, while facilitating the functional aspect without impairing the emotional aspect. This thesis will be able to identify the needs of the user as well as those of the animal via numerous sensors, to obtain an appropriate response from the AI.
• Mégane Sartore then took the floor to present her vision on robotics as a way to reach Ikigaï, the Japanese concept which means "reason for being". As an occupational psychologist, Mégane uses her various experiences in field studies, particularly in sales, recruitment and healthcare industry, to reflect on what would the well-being at work be like, and even how it would be to work in an era where human-robot interaction is omnipresent. To this end, she is carrying out a CIFRE thesis with SNCF, LINEACT and Strate. Fascinated by airplanes, railways, User Experience and design, Mégane gave us a speech with many examples and anecdotes.
• Finally, Nawelle Zaidi presented her thesis on healthcare, more particularly in the residential care ecosystem for the elderly. After a scientific career at Centrale Marseille Engineering School, Nawelle studied design at Strate. Before working in design agencies such as Joshfire, she continued her career in the medical-social sector by joining Voluntis to design the user experience of digital therapeutic platforms for cancer patients and doctors.
Within Robotics by Design Lab, she is starting her thesis at Korian and Korian Foundation for Ageing Well, on the uses of social robotics with seniors and caregivers in residential care facilities. The thesis is supervised by Stéphane Vial and Thomas Watkins from the social innovation laboratory Projekt of the University of Nîmes.
Presentation of Dominique Deuff
To conclude these very rich presentations, Dominique Deuff shared her experience by presenting the main lines of her thesis: "Living together with social machines". This thesis in psychology and design started in 2018 at Orange with the academic support of the LS2N laboratory of the University of Nantes (with Isabelle Milleville as thesis supervisor) and Strate. During her thesis, Dominique studied the different design and observation tools such as cultural probes, but also shared a very powerful tool coming from complexity sciences: systemics. Her latest ideas left a mark on us: For the latest design phase of her thesis, she is currently working on the notions of 'robjects', weak robots, objects with behaviors.
During the last part of the meeting, we exchanged on the illustrations of the different theses, notably with the help of the illustrator Sylvie Captain-Sass who was also present at our first Summer Camp on June 11th.