
Workshop on Robotic Household Interaction: Research, Implementation, and Community
The robot household challenge is one of the most important problems of service robotics, and the advances in this area are crucial for the commercialization of robotics and the wide adoption of robots in society.
The workshop aims to propel the discussion on the topic of tackling the household challenge and facilitate the sharing of valuable research results and insights. The robot skills relevant to the household challenge are mobile pick and place, cutting, pouring, wiping, using home appliances, handling soft objects and other meal preparation and cleaning actions. To establish the workshop as a yearly recurring event, we will encourage the participants to demonstrate and share implementations and provide an open-source infrastructure for those interested.
The long-term goal of the workshop is to build a vibrant community around the robot household challenge.
The workshop will host presentations, poster sessions and a panel. In the latter, we will facilitate a discussion on the criteria that autonomous household robots should exhibit and discuss the importance of different criteria such as explainability, lifetime learning and transferability to new contexts.
We want the workshop to be a platform for hosting a competition in robot household actions, where people could collaborate and compete with complementary and alternative approaches. The competition will concentrate on one specific topic each year: setting a table, preparing a sandwich, sorting groceries into the shelves, etc.
We will present one approach to tackling the household challenge that our lab has been working towards over the last fifteen years.
We will also provide our open-source infrastructure where interested researchers can contribute their demonstrations in a virtual building setting.
Program
time | October 1st, 2023 | |
---|---|---|
08:30 – 09:00 | Organizer committee | |
09:00 – 10:00 | Keynote 1 | |
10:00 – 11:00 | Coffee break | |
11:00 – 12:30 | Keynote 2 | |
12:30 – 13:30 | Lunch | |
13:30 – 14:00 | Keynote 3 | |
14:00 – 15:00 | Keynote 4 | |
15:00 – 16:00 | Coffee break | |
16:00 – 17:30 | Keynote 5 | |
17:30 – 19:00 | Discussion |
The workshop’s extended abstract emphasizes the significance of the robot household challenge in the realm of service robotics. It acknowledges that advancements in this area are pivotal for robotics commercialisation and widespread adoption in society.
The primary goals of the workshop are outlined as follows:
Discussion and Knowledge Sharing: The workshop aims to stimulate discussion on the challenges associated with household robotics and provide a platform for researchers to share their valuable research findings and insights.
Relevant Robot Skills: It recognizes the importance of specific robot skills relevant to household tasks, such as mobile pick and place, cutting, pouring, wiping, using home appliances, and handling soft objects, among others.
Establishing a Community: The long-term objective is to build a vibrant community focused on the robot household challenge, with the aspiration of making the workshop an annual event.
The workshop program includes various activities:
Presentations: Researchers will have the opportunity to present their work.
Poster Sessions: Participants can engage in poster presentations to showcase their research.
Panel Discussion: A panel discussion will center around the criteria that autonomous household robots should meet. This will encompass topics like explainability, lifetime learning, and adaptability to new contexts.
Additionally, the workshop intends to serve as a platform for a competition related to robot household actions. This competition will encourage collaboration and competition on specific topics each year, such as setting a table, preparing a sandwich, or sorting groceries onto shelves.
Furthermore, the workshop will feature a presentation of one approach developed over more than fifteen years to address the challenges of household robotics. An open-source infrastructure will also be provided to allow interested researchers to contribute their demonstrations in a virtual building setting.

References
[1] R. D. Arnold and J. P. Wade, “A Definition of Systems Thinking: A Systems Approach,” Procedia Computer Science, vol. 44, pp. 669–678, 2015, doi: 10.1016/j.procs.2015.03.050.
[2] P. Drijvers, H. Kodde-Buitenhuis, and M. Doorman, “Assessing mathematical thinking as part of curriculum reform in the Netherlands,” Educ Stud Math, vol. 102, no. 3, pp. 435–456, 2019, doi: 10.1007/s10649-019-09905-7.
[3] J. Biggs, “Enhancing teaching through constructive alignment,” High Educ, vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 347–364, Oct. 1996, doi: 10.1007/BF00138871.
[4] C. Städeli, A. Grassi, K. Rhiner, and W. Obrist, Eds., Kompetenzorientiert unterrichten: das AVIVA-Modell, 1. Aufl. Bern: hep, der Bildungsverlag, 2010.
[5] J. B. Biggs and C. S. Tang, Teaching for quality learning at university: what the student does, 4th edition. Maidenhead, England New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, Society for Research into Higher Education & Open University Press, 2011.
Organizers
- Vanessa Hassouna University of Bremen
- Prof. Dr. h.c. Michael Beetz University of Bremen
- Prof. Pedro U. Lima Instituto Superior Técnico (IST)
- Prof. David Vernon Cargenie Mellon University Africa
- Prof. Alessandro Saffiotti University of Örebro
Speaker
- Kei Okada University of Tokyo
- Prof. Amy Loutfi Örebro University
- Prof. Dr. h.c. Michael Beetz University of Bremen
- Prof. Dr. Sven Behnke University of Bonn
- Serena Ivaldi INRIA Nancy Grand-Est and LORIA
- Prof. Ram Ramamoorthy Institute of Perception, Action and Behaviour
- Prof. Dr. Stefan Wermter University of Hamburg
- Prof. Jeannette Bohg Stanford University
- Dr. Karinne Ramirez-Amaro Chalmers University of Technology
- Prof. Chad Jenkins University of Michigan
- Dr. Martin Guenther German Research Center for Artificial Intelligencen
- Maya Cakmak University of Washington,
Financial Support
The workshop will be supported by the Collaborative Research Center "Everyday Activity Science and Engineering (EASE)," funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) at the University of Bremen.