Sheffield Robotics Seminar - The EMERGENCE experience: assistive robotics development in the UK

Sheffield Robotics Seminar: The EMERGENCE experience: assistive robotics development in the UK

Speaker: Dr Stephen Potter, Translational Research Associate, Centre for Assistive Technology and Connected Healthcare (CATCH), Sheffield Centre for Health and Related Research (SCHARR)

Date: Friday 7th March 2025 

Time: 12.00 - 13.00

Location: Pam Liversidge Building, Room F12

https://www.emergencerobotics.net/ 

EMERGENCE, an EPSRC Healthcare Technologies Network+, has the goal of fostering collaboration and innovation within the UK in the field of assistive robotics for supporting people living with frailty to live independently and well. We are particularly concerned with addressing the practicalities of providing acceptable, useful and viable domestic assistive robotic services, practicalities which have frequently been ignored or overlooked in previous assistive robotics development. As a consequence, this has meant that robots have rarely been able to make the leap from the laboratory to the living room.

EMERGENCE began in early 2022, and is led by Professor Praminda Caleb-Solly of the University of Nottingham, with the support of co-investigators from Heriot-Watt University, the University of Hertfordshire, the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University. Other collaborators include partners from the health and care, housing provision and robotics sectors. As EMERGENCE enters its final stages, in this talk I summarise the project’s achievements and offer some personal reflections on the state of assistive robotics development in the UK.