Other signs that we’re emerging from the COVID Cocoon…

The UK-RAS Network (the EPSRC UK Robotics & Autonomous Systems Network) has two virtual programs/events that run from May through July. Since they are virtual, our UK and international Readers with interests in medical, care, and service robots can take advantage of these multiple sessions spread across three months. Even better, they’re free.

The Robotics Summer Showcase kicks off on Wednesday 5th May with an online opening ceremony and preview of Showcase events. Event time is 3-4pm BST (10-11am EDT). Registration for the opening is via Eventbrite here. The Events Page link here and above has a full list of the 15 events with more information and updates. There are also videos from the 2020 challenges.

Highlights are:

• Robotics + Care Mashup (10th – 14th May) – five-day online “mashup” event bringing together care professionals, academics and technology providers to prototype new solutions to support the care sector, hosted by the UK’s first National Robotarium, a collaboration between Heriot Watt University and the University of Edinburgh.
• Establishing a UK Surgical Robotics Roadmap (14th May 2pm – 3.30pm BST) – workshop bringing together multi-disciplinary international experts from the domain of surgical robotics – spanning laparoscopic surgical robots, continuum surgical robots, intra-corporeal robots and microrobots – to shape science policy and funding.
• 4th UK-RAS Conference for PhD and Early-Career Researchers: Robotics at Home (2nd June 10am – 4pm BST) – virtual event specifically designed for PhD students and early-career researchers to foster research progress and offer opportunities for networking.
• Humans in the Loop and Human-Robot Teaming for Remote Inspection (15th June 11am – 12pm BST) – take part and ask questions in this interactive showcase from the Human-Robot Interaction theme of the ORCA Hub, using Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Interaction to help people manage, control, and cooperate with remote robots from the safety of a control room.
• The Ethical Black Box in Human-Robot Dialogue (13th July 2pm – 3.30pm BST) – virtual demonstration of the Ethical Black Box platform – developed by researchers at the University of Oxford and Bristol Robotics Lab – which collects data for use in the event of an accident.

The Showcase closes in July with virtual award ceremonies for the prestigious international Surgical Robot Challenge and Medical Robotics for Contagious Diseases Challenge, the much-anticipated launch of the UK-RAS Network 2021 White Papers, and concludes with the Robotics Summer Showcase Closing Ceremony (30th July, 4–5pm BST; keynote speakers to be announced).

UK Festival of Robotics, 19-25 June (formerly Robotics Week)

The full week festival is still under development. More information will be on the main page here. Follow on Twitter at @UKRobotics.

Hat tip to Nicky of EvokedSet Ltd. for the heads up