The Somabotics programme
Somabotics is a new £6.5M research programme at the University of Nottingham funded by UKRI that will run for five years from October 2024.
The programme is led by Professor Steve Benford, who is a Professor in Computer Science.
The vision of Somabotics is to creatively embody artificial intelligence. Technically, it seeks to augment both human and robot bodies to deliver deeply embodied and hence meaningful human experiences of AI. It focuses on artistic and aesthetic experiences of AI as being especially meaningful and powerful for driving innovation in AI. In practice, this involves collaborating with world-leading artists to deliver a programme of artworks involving people and robots, which drive the development of new AI and robotics techniques and yield conceptual, methodological and ethical insights. This core research programme is enhanced with a community programme to develop a global network of university and industry partners.
The Somabotics programme will fund a team of 14 at Nottingham:
- Professor Benford
- 3 Associate/Assistant Professors
- 4 Research Fellows/Associates
- A software developer
- 3 PhD students
- Programme Manager
- Technician
It provides ample funding for travel, equipment and opportunities to collaborate with partners across the globe.
The School of Computer Science
Nottingham’s School of Computer Science is a leading UK school with an excellent international reputation for research in AI, responsible AI, robotics, human computer interaction, and mixed reality, and thriving Undergraduate, Masters and PhD programmes. It fosters an inclusive and open culture that encourages multi-disciplinary research. Somabotics is part of a significant ongoing expansion of the School that will provide ample opportunities for career development. It is based on the University’s award-winning Jubilee Campus, which provides a beautiful working environment with excellent connections to the City.
Facilities
The Somabotics programme will make extensive use of the following facilities:
The Cobot Maker Space – a new facility for human-robot interaction that can be significantly extended via the fellowship’s £100K equipment budget.
The Mixed Reality Lab – a 24m x 12, flexible studio space for prototyping interactive installations and performances
The Virtual and Immersive Production Studio – industry state of the art facility for virtual and augmented reality
The University of Nottingham
The University is internationally renowned for both research and teaching, with a broad coverage of disciplines that foster multidisciplinary research. It is consistently tanked among the leading UK Universities for research. It is known for its beautiful campuses and parkland form a green belt that runs from nearby Wollaton park down to the River Trent. It has excellent international collaborations, including through its campuses in China and Malaysia. It is a leader in championing equity and inclusion.
Nottingham is a modern and vibrant city at the heart of the UK, with excellent connections to other major cities including London. It has a thriving cultural scene, rich sporting life, and is rich with amenities and green space while being relatively affordable.
Some background reading
Ultimately, Somabotics aims to extend its scope of publication from HCI to HRI, robotics and general AI, and you will be a key part of driving this. However, here are some examples of recent work that have established the baseline on which we are building here.
This short paper, published at the first ACM International Symposium in Trustworthy Autonomous Systems (TAS ‘23) reflected across a portfolio of artistic projects to draw out five provocations for more creative TAS that underpin our vision for somabotics.
- Benford, S., Hazzard, A., Vear, C., Webb, H., Chamberlain, A., Greenhalgh, C., Ramchurn, R. and Marshall, J., 2023, July. Five Provocations for a More Creative TAS. In Proceedings of the First International Symposium on Trustworthy Autonomous Systems (pp. 1-10).
This paper on the design of ‘multispecies robot worlds’ was a study of the Cat Royale project, an unusual robot artwork created in partnership with the artists Blast Thoery, who part partners in the fellowship. It won a best-paper award at AM CHI 2024.
- Schneiders, E., Benford, S., Chamberlain, A., Mancini, C., Castle-Green, S., Ngo, V., Row Farr, J., Adams, M., Tandavanitj, N. and Fischer, J., 2024, May. Designing Multispecies Worlds for Robots, Cats, and Humans. In Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-16).
This paper, that also appeared at CHI 2024, co-authored with our international partner ITU, Copenhagen, analyses how artists have been employing machine learning, and argues for deliberately introducing ambiguity throughout the ML pipeline.
- Sivertsen, C., Salimbeni, G., Løvlie, A.S., Benford, S.D. and Zhu, J., 2024, May. Machine Learning Processes as Sources of Ambiguity: Insights from AI Art. In Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-14).
This paper, co-authored with our international partner KTH, reflects on the method of ‘soma design’ that we will extend and apply to human-robot interaction in the fellowship.
- Höök, K., Benford, S., Tennent, P., Tsaknaki, V., Alfaras, M., Avila, J.M., Li, C., Marshall, J., Roquet, C.D., Sanches, P. and Ståhl, A., 2021. Unpacking non-dualistic design: The soma design case. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI), 28(6), pp.1-36.
Informal enquiries may be addressed to Professor Steve Benford (steve.benford@nottingham.ac.uk) Please note that applications sent directly to this email address will not be accepted.
We are currently recruiting for 3 Transitional/Assistant/Associate Professors to the School of Computer Science. For more information and to apply please click here - https://jobs.nottingham.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx?ref=SCI375824
We are currently recruiting for a Research Associate/Fellow. For more information and to apply please click here - https://jobs.nottingham.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx?ref=SCI391524