I Robot, Your Companion

The concept of a cognitive robotic companion inspires some of the best science fiction but one day may be science fact following the work of the four-year COGNIRON project funded since January 2004 by the IST's Future and Emerging Technologies initiative. But what could a cognitive robot companion do? The example that's often used is a robot that's able to fulfil your needs, like passing you a drink or helping in everyday tasks," says Dr Raja Chatila, research director at the Systems Architecture and Analysis Laboratory of the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (LAAS-CNRS), and COGNIRON project coordinator. "That might seem a bit trivial, but let me ask you a question: In the 1970s, what was the use of a personal computer?" he asks. In fact, it was then impossible to imagine how PCs would change the world's economics, politics and society in just 30 years. The eventual uses, once the technology developed, were far from trivial. COGNIRON set out on the same principle, ...