What You Say Is What You Did

A new European project hopes to make robots more trustworthy

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Year by year, robots become better and better at negotiating each time more complex social interactions with humans. However, much as their social intelligence has improved, these interactions still suffer from a lack of transparency. In other words, unlike humans, robots are not capable of understanding and explaining their actions in intentional terms, which prevents them from having more effective communication with humans. To the joy of robots and humans alike, this challenge is now addressed by the What You Say Is What You Did (WYSIWYD) project, launched earlier this year.

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Innovation Convention 2014

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This week, from March 10-11, over 2000 people from a variety of sectors involved in research, innovation and science gathered to take part in the 2nd Innovation Convention. The event, held this year in Brussels, is a key initiative of the Innovation Union, which aims to make Europe a more innovation-friendly environment – an idea that lies at the core of the European Union’s 2020 strategy.

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ICT 2013: Create, Connect, Grow

From November 6–8, nearly 5000 of Europe’s top researchers, engineers, industry representatives, politicians, journalists, entrepreneurs, and students gathered in Vilnius, Lithuania to share insight and future visions for the future of ICT in Europe. The global event also provided  an inspiring setting for the discussion of European ICT policy as well as networking opportunities for business, research, and innovation groups.
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Robots Shed Light on Evolutionary Processes

Machines give us clues about communication in the animal kingdom

Chimps, birds and bees are just a few of the many animals that communicate with each other when searching for food. Since everyone’s got to eat, communication during foraging is essential among social animals. In order to study how different types of communication strategies might evolve, the University of Lausanne (UNIL) and the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) teamed up to conduct a joint research project.
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