LIREC at the IFA 2008

According to the various press releases of the IFA, “visitors [...] will find the most exciting innovations for the media, entertainment and simplified operating systems at the Science and Technology Forum (TWF). […]The TWF is a unique combination of specialist exhibition and a forum for discussions about innovative media technology. In its concentrated form it represents the many technical skills and capabilities of all the various branches of industry, media and institutions participating in the IFA.”

In 2008 universities, research institutes and project groups of international repute are exhibiting future standards for the digital television of tomorrow, high-definition vision in cinema quality, television and communication via internet structures, screens and projection systems for the impending 3D-TV, innovative services and robot intelligence.

In the robotic field the Group for Interdisciplinary Psychology (GRIP) of the Otto-Friedrich-University Bamberg (Germany) has been invited to present the Pan-European Project LIREC and first results concerning their studies with the robotosaurus PLEO. Together with UGOBE, the makers of PLEO, GRIP showed the technical possibilities and limits of the little robot. More than 1500 visitors attended the stand and so there were a lot of discussions on psychological and ethical issues.

Parallel to these contacts, GRIP performed a survey amongst the IFA visitors on the individually estimated importance of different robot features: subjects were asked about their preferences regarding the outer shape of a hypothetical robot product, “eRoy” , its communication, memory, mobility and other issues. The evaluation of the collected data is still ongoing.

From the dissemination point of view, the presence of LIREC at the IFA was very successful: Additionally to the daily presence at the PLEO booth GRIP performed two talks on LIREC and the usefulness of PLEO for psychological experiments. These talks “Autonomous life form – robotosaurus PLEO builds a close and intimate relationship with people?” were also provided over the IFA homepage as live streams. There were reports and interviews in online magazines, blogs, radio stations and newspapers.

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