Lirec will be hosting a unique event next month for all robot lovers.

We will be opening the doors of one of our robotics research spaces in Hatfield to a selected 15 people and treat them to an evening of drinks, food, talks around the topic of robot research realities & fictions and some real robots!

You will hear from:

Prof. Dr. Kerstin Dautenhahn from the Adaptive Systems Research Group at the University of Hertfordshire 

Nicolas Nova

Robot fictions: entertainment cultures and engineering research entanglements

This will be a talk about the propagation of the robot myth in engineering spheres. About how androids, zoomorphic devices, artificial intelligence and automation appear as inevitable tropes in technological research. The speech will uncover what is hidden behind this phenomenon and look at the complex interactions between entertainment cultures (Science-Fiction, toys or video-games) and scientific research.
The talk will address how robot fiction influences the design process and leads to expectations about what will happen in the future. But the presentation will also deal with how to go beyond existing metaphors, the role of design research in this and the very notion of robots. We will mention examples such as twitterbots, walking architectures and people kicking hospital robots.

Sign up for a chance to attend and we'll be in touch to confirm the lucky winners on June 1st. 

Any questions? Ask Alexandra at alex@designswarm.com