A*STAR unveils Singapore's first social robots

Social robots OLIVIA and LUCAS will be displayed at Robocup 2010 for the benefit of future generations.

The Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) will be at Robocup 2010 to debut OLIVIA and LUCAS, the first social robots to be unveiled in Singapore, from June 20 to 25, 2010 at Suntec City Level 4, according to an A*STAR report.

Developed under A*STAR’s Social Robotics Programme (ASoRo), the robots are results of the integration of research capabilities of the Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R), the Data Storage Institute (DSI) and the Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech).

Collaborating in the areas of Robotic Sense, Robotic Intelligence and Mechatronics, the programme develops innovative and unique robotics technologies that will benefit both the industry and the community, targeted at various sectors including entertainment, education, security, healthcare, and home assistance.

“The OLIVIA and LUCAS robots are the outcomes of our social robotics research programme aimed at benefiting future generations of the modern world that will likely see robots as part of their environment,” said Said Dr. Li Haizhou, Programme Manager of A*STAR’s Social Robotics Programme.

A social robot is an autonomous robot that interacts and communicates with humans by following social behaviours and rules. The OLIVIA project aims to develop an experimental platform for social robot study.

As one of the first in this area, this platform is equipped with state-of-the-art robotic enabling technologies, featuring robotic brain, attention-directed dialogue and human-robot interaction. It also demonstrates the latest speech recognition technologies, vision understanding and motion learning and control technologies.

In this exhibition, OLIVIA displays its ability of social interaction with human in performing daily tasks such as playing music, controlling electrical appliances and making calls.

“At A*STAR, our approach in designing and developing technologies are not only influenced by strict technical performance criteria but motivated by social concerns, and we believe that our technologies will benefit the industry and end-users alike," added Dr. Li.