What will the next generation of robot helpers look like? If you’ve got a vision,
now’s your chance to show us what you think! First Prize is a 2 week placement at the prestigious Sebastian Conran design studios in London and a selection of the best entries will be exhibited at the Living Machines conference in Barcelona in 2012.

You’re free to draw, sketch, paint or make a 3D computer model of a robot companion in any of these 4 environments:

1 The healthcare environment – a larger robot that has the strength to
lift/carry a person. Possible uses could include bed to wheelchair or wheelchair
to car aids, transfer to and from the bathroom, walking and washing assistance.

2 The home environment – a general-purpose household assistant that might
carry out tasks such as food preparation, tidying, cleaning as well as social
activities such as game playing.

3 The outdoor environment – A medium sized robot designed to travel over a
variety of terrains, carry, act as a guide or perform tasks such as gardening
or operate as a guard/warning device.

4 The active environment – a robot companion to support and maximize healthy
aging. With the ability to socialize, learn skills such as golfing, dancing,
monitor sleep/activity/medication/entertainment patterns and preferences,
coach and encourage.

Your designs should show robot companions interacting with people, emphasizing that future robots are there to support humans, not replace them!

How To Enter

You can submit up to 4 individual submissions, group work is also encouraged.
The submission date is Friday  March 3rd, 2012. Please use the SHU digital drop box to send in your submissions. All submissions and questions regarding the competition should be addressed to: Professor Ian Gwilt (i.gwilt@shu.ac.uk).

Create your designs on an A3 format (landscape or portrait). Remember to indicate
which environment your robotic companion is designed to operate in. Label any particular devices, characteristics, materials, capabilities or attachments that your robot companion might have. Please submit your designs digitally as a PDF. You will need to rescan your submission if you have created it off the computer, as we will only accept digital submissions.