Credit: Human Brain Project

Last week, the eyes of the scientific community were fixed on the € 1.2 billion Human Brain Project (HBP) as more than 150 European neuroscientists raised concerns over the project’s management in an open letter to the European Commission.

One of the two Europe’s Flagship Initiatives, the HBP spans 112 research institutions across 24 countries and was launched last year with the grand vision of creating a long-needed ICT infrastructure for future brain research. Not without controversy, the project adopted a bottom-up approach to build a computer simulation of the brain based exclusively on the fundamental understanding of neurons and their interactions.

The public outcry is not surprising given that the project has been surrounded by heated discussions from the very beginning when a number of labs refused to be part of the project because of its narrow focus on ICT and an apparent lack of basic neuroscience. Now many researchers fear that the inevitable failure of the project will cause a wave of adverse reaction to neuroscience undermining the future of the field.

The letter was largely driven by the recent changes made in the project plans for the next stage, which limits the role of cognitive scientists who pursue the difficult task of understanding the brain on the level of thought and behaviour. Now the labs working in this direction are to be repositioned from the project’s core to what is known as partnering projects (PPs). The concern is that, while the resulting computer simulations may not be completely useless, without a more pronounced theoretical component they will fail to elucidate brain functions.

A detailed review of the second stage by the EU commission is scheduled for January 2015 and the letter’s authors hope to bring the attention of the reviewers to the flaws in both science and management of the project. The second stage is expected to receive € 100 million over the course of 2 to 3 years, with a 50/50 split between the CP and the PPs.

The official response, released by the HBP two days after the letter, shows signs of disposition and openness to dialogue. The response states that “the members of the HBP are saddened by the open letter” and invite the signatories to engage in direct discussion with the project leaders. Importantly, the response strongly suggests that cognitive neuroscience and other basic research will have an increasingly crucial role in the project as the required ICT platform comes into place.

Lots of researchers still firmly stand by the project arguing it’s a long-needed change in brain research. You may also be interested in reading this article defending the project by Richard Frackowiak, the co-executive director of the HBP.

What is clear is that the HBP has not managed to entirely unite neuroscientists, but when it comes to such grand projects this is not as surprising as it may seem. The management might need to become more consensual and we can only hope that HBP will continue its 10-year journey to unravel the universe inside our heads.

The European Commission recognizes Robotics as a key industry for the future of Europe

The European Commission has recently agreed to launch a Public Private Partnership in Robotics (PPP) between academia and industry for 2013. 

The initiative aims to  help Europe-based companies take a larger share of the global robotics market which is valued at  an annual 15.5 billion euros!

Vice President of the European Commission’s Digital Agenda, Neelie Kroes, stated that “A strong robotics industry is key to Europe’s future competitiveness. Growing our robotics industry means new jobs and a strong European manufacturing sector. ” In fact, the commission maintains that three million jobs are created or maintained worldwide as a result of using one million industrial robots.

Specific goals of the PPP aim to promote the growth of domestic and professional service robot markets and to reach out to new users and markets. The PPP will also contribute to policy development while addressing ethical, legal and societal issues concerning the use of robots.

As an important step in the process,  A recent survey, carried out in each of the 27 member states, examines public attitudes towards robots including public perceptions, acceptance levels and worries and reservations among EU citizens over 15 years of age.

Results of the survey show that the majority of EU citizens have a positive view of robots with percentages as high as 88% in countries such as Denmark and Sweden. According to the study, Europeans’ positive attitudes on robots are based on the notion that they are helpful  because they can assist humans in tasks that may be too difficult or too dangerous for us to do.  However, the study also pointed out that Europeans believe robots require careful management and the fear that they might steal people’s jobs is still present.  

When it comes to where Europeans think robots should be used, sectors such as: space exploration , manufacturing , military and security and search and rescue tasks were most prevalent. On the flip-side,  people were more hesitant to favour the use of robots for the care of children, the elderly or the disabled however, results also demonstrated that few Europeans have had personal experience with robots and that, the common conception of a robot tends to be that of a machine used in the workplace rather than a human-like machine that helps in the home.

If you’re interested in new kinds of European Robotics projects, check out Robot Companions for Citizens which aims to develop robots to help tackle some of Europe’s critical societal challenges. The innovative Robotics  project is striving for a 1 billion euro grant from the European Commission and the competition has now come down to the wire! Click HERE for more information.

You can also follow the Robot Companions for Citizens Facebook page.

Hiro, a humanoid robot developed by professor Osamu Hasegawa at the Tokyo Institute of Technology has been proclaimed a ¨world first¨for its ability to ¨learn¨from its environment and research relevant information on the web.

While Hiro seems to be an impressive robot, he’s not in a league of his own. Experts in the field have been focused on developing these types of ¨learning¨robots for quite sometime. However, the fact that these types of robots are becoming increasingly ubiquitous, emphasizes the need to get the word on the street! “I want people to know we already have this kind of technology. We want people with different backgrounds and in different fields to discuss how it should be used, while it is still in its infancy” states professor Hasegawa in an article on Hiro.

As expressed in the article, this type of robot could be useful for a wide range of purposes— domestic, traffic control, and even earthquake detection. Dr. Vincent C. Müller, the research coordinator for the project EUCogII,  was one of 400 experts who attended the 2011 European Robotics Forum earlier this year in Västerås, Sweden.  Müller believes cognitive robots could  hold the key to solving situations like Fukushima, whose unfolding events cannot be predicted. “We need to focus on developing intelligent, flexible, biologically inspired alternatives.  Robots of the future need to be less like laptops and more like cockroaches, adaptive and low power”.

Paolo Dario, head of one of the European Commission’s 2011 Flagship Initiatives:  Robot Companions for Citizens,  was another expert present in Västerås. He describes the robots his team is aiming to develop as ¨apprentices able to learn from experience, to understand the goals of their actions, to adapt to contingencies and to anticipate, in a developmental and evolutionary way, the intentions of their human companions.¨