"New Frontiers of Intelligent Robotics"

Host institution: The University of Tokyo Site: Academic Park (Tokyo) Period: From July 20 to July 29, 2001 Coordinator: Dr. Hirochika Inoue, Professor, Faculty of Information Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo Organized by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and Association of International Education, Japan in cooperation of the University of Tokyo New Frontiers of Intelligent Robotics The Advanced Science Institute 2001 (ASI2001) is a 10-day seminar held this year on the theme "New Frontier of Intelligent Robotics," with an aim at advancing the discussion on where robotics are heading in the new century. In the past, robots have been considered as "objects to be created." However, four decades of robotics research has brought us to a new stage of robotics R&D. Companies will soon be providing various genres of robots to the end-user market. The Humanoid Robotics Project of Japan is working to develop and provide a platform for humanoid R&D. Through such effort, robots are evolving to a level where they can be used as general tools for studying humans and robots. Humanoids are no longer viewed as merely human-shaped robots, but also as novel computing machinery which can not only compute but also behave. As such, they are becoming powerful research tools for conducting experimental studies on both humans and humanoids. Having just crossed the threshold into a new millennium, we are facing new and exciting challenges in the field of robotics. These include three promising new undertakings: (1) advanced R&D of robotics core technologies, (2) real applications for human-centered roboticized society, and (3) synthetic study of human behavior and intelligence as general science. Given these prospects, now is an ideal time for us to draw a road map for robotics research in the future. ASI2001 is organized to offer promising young researchers from the East Asia-Pacific region such an opportunity while interacting with lecturers selected from among the world's leading researchers in this field. The lecture topics are carefully chosen from the following fields and approaches. 1. Advanced Sensing and Control 2. Software and System Design 3. Perspectives of New Avenues 4. Applications Through this 10-day program, the participants are provided with opportunities to learn about and discuss intelligent robotics research and, through their interaction, to stimulate future cooperation in this rapidly advancing field.