What challenges do we face in robotics?
Though solid and robust, robotics technologies still find natural environments and human interaction challenging. Some human activities are hard for robots, yet they are often the activities we would like robots to do, such as preventing danger to human lives, physical and mental stress, and humiliation. The challenge is making robots intelligent and adaptable enough to perform dangerous, arduous, annoying tasks for humankind, in our real world. This is due to challenges in the way robots are built. We need to make them more adaptable, flexible, and strong. They should perceive and understand their environment, be more intelligent and able to learn. They should also interact better with people, to make them more socially acceptable and intuitive to use. This new generation of robots should integrate smoothly in the environment by being energy-efficiency, and by limiting e-waste production,

But the challenges we have to face are not just technological: we need to devise the social and the economic models that can take advantage of robots at work and make an equitable use of the wealth produced.

What do we need to overcome these challenges?
We need to take advantage of current robotics technologies and current advances in other disciplines, to explore new approaches, combining interdisciplinary knowledge and methods. We should focus on the needs of potential users, being them companies, public bodies, citizens, in the variety of fields where robotics has potential for bringing benefits and progress.

What do you imagine will be the robot of the future and its role in society?
I envisage a variety of different robots in our future society, taking care of hard work, producing wealth for humans, helping humans in daily life and reaching areas humans cannot. The right question to ask is what role human beings should have in the future, and which technological progress is needed to fulfil this vision. By delegating hard and tedious work to robots, people can focus on the most rewarding life activities, involving social relations, creativity, personalised production, empathy.

Stay tuned for more Q&As from the Robotics Flagship. Results from the Preparatory Action application will be announced early December at the ICT Conference in Vienna.

This is the first of many activities we will host to engage the community. You can read more about the Robotics Flagship in a nutshell here.

We received 125 replies (120 from Europe) from roboticists.

In what areas does robotics have the highest potential to benefit society?

Overall, replies show the potential of robotics in all sectors to benefit society, since they all received an average score above 3 out 5 (high potential). Sectors which received the highest average score were industry, logistics, agriculture, inspection of infrastructure, healthcare, exploration, and transport, in that order, all of with an average above 4. Other sectors highlighted by respondents included ecology and environmental protection, tourism, construction, and the use of robots for human understanding, or for scientific investigation of body and brain.

What are the main challenges to achieving this potential?

The main challenge to achieving this potential was seen as technological with an average score of 4.35 out of 5 (very challenging), then societal and regulatory (average scores of 3.69), and finally economic (average score of 3.52). Respondents also highlighted ethical, ideological and political challenges.

What are the key abilities that need to be developed for the robots of tomorrow?

Central to the flagship proposal is the need for new robot abilities that will make robots a reality in our everyday lives. All abilities shown below were seen as central to develop the robots of tomorrow with average scores above 2.9 out of 5 (very important). Abilities which received the highest average score were learning, advanced sensing, cognition, in that order, all with an average above 4. This clearly shows the need to develop robotics and AI hand in hand. Other abilities highlighted by respondents included, reliability, security and safety, reconfigurability, modularity and customisation, advanced actuation, and efficient energy usage.

What resources would you need to make your robots a reality?

Finally, we asked the community what resources they would need to make their robots a reality. Not surprisingly, funding came out on top with an average score of 4.7 out of 5 (very important), next came experimental sites (3.72), networking opportunities (3.75), fabrication facilities (3.58) and standards (3.31).

So what else did the community think would be helpful? Time, software and hardware aggregators, integrators, and maintainers, ethical and legal support, as well as a better understanding of user requirements and social attitudes.

What would you like to see in a robotics flagship?
Finally, we asked what the community would like to see in a robotics flagship. There were too many suggestions to post here, but a recurring theme was high risk projects and big ideas, the need for cross-disciplinary research, and the hope that robots will finally leave the lab to work alongside humans.