Dates and Times
21 November 2022
18:00 - 19:30
Location
Address: Questacon - National Science and Technology Centre King Edward Terrace Parkes, ACT 2600
Organiser
Questacon and University of Canberra
Enquiry
Damith Herath
Event about:
Robots Among Us - A Book Launch & Conversation
Robots are hiding in plain sight among us!
Whether it’s a self-driving car, a vacuum cleaner or a service robot delivering your next meal, robotics is a fast-changing discipline that’s no longer just engineering. It has implications across society and the economy and challenges social norms. What do you know about our robotics future? How do you feel about collaborating with a robot?
Join us for an enlightening, entertaining and wide-ranging conversation about robotics with some leading thinkers. Separate the hype from the facts and see where robotics is heading and what it means for our way of life.
H?osted by Questacon and the University of Canberra, the event will include a series of brief talks and a panel discussion moderated by Dr Will Grant.
The event will also feature “Judy”, the robotic art installation by choreographer Melanie Lane and you will have an opportunity to meet and interact with the Pepper Robot by SoftBank Robotics.
The event coincides with the return of Questacon's "Born or Built?" exhibition and the launch of a new multidisciplinary book on robotics: The Foundations of Robotics – A Multidisciplinary Approach with Python and ROS.
T?he event is co-hosted by Questacon – The National Science and Technology Centre and Faculty of Science and Technology, the University of Canberra, with generous support from Bluerydge.
Additional Information
T?he Panel
Dr Sue Keay is recognised as one of Queensland’s most influential people (The Courier Mail’s Power100), Sue is an experienced R&D leader with a focus on robotic technologies that build community and generate impact. She’s an adjunct Professor at QUT, and the Founder and Chair of Robotics Australia Group, representing the robotics industry in Australia.
Bhante Sujato is a former musician with the post-punk Alternative rock Australian band Martha’s Vineyard, who had toured with, amongst others, Simply Red, INXS, Eurythmics, and proto-punk garage band The Saints before disbanding in 1990, Sujato became a monk in 1994 in the ascetic Forest Tradition of Ajahn Chah, a religious order which encourages a life of contemplation and meditation.
Dr Elizabeth Williams is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Cybernetics at the Australian National University (ANU). She completed her PhD in experimental nuclear structure at Yale University in December 2009, did postdoctoral work in fundamental and applied nuclear physics at Yale and CSIRO, and joined the ANU in 2012, where she held an ARC DECRA fellowship. She has created and used cyber-physical systems to carry out her research in nuclear science, and has always had a fascination with how complex systems come together in a human context.
Massimiliano (Max) Cappuccio is a senior researcher in the Trusted Autonomy group and a member of the AI Hub at the School of Engineering and Information Technology of UNSW Canberra. His research in human performance and human-machine interaction attempts to combine different embodied approaches to cognition. As a cognitive philosopher and a technology ethicist, his research on intelligent systems is interdisciplinary and aims to integrate phenomenological analyses, empirical experimentation, and synthetic modelling.
The Conversation is moderated by Dr Will Grant – Senior Lecturer in Science Communication at the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science at ANU. Awarded for his public policy and outreach work, Will has authored or co-authored dozens of works in various scholarly outlets (including Public Understanding of Science, Environmental Communication, Computers in Human Behaviour, Scientometrics and Higher Education Policy), and written commissioned and pitched articles and opinion pieces in high impact public facing outlets (including The Guardian, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, The Conversation, Times Higher Education, The Canberra Times, The Brisbane Times, Crikey, The Drum, Climate Spectator and ABC Environment), focusing mostly on the interaction of science, politics and technology. Will is regularly heard on Radio National discussing science for Research Filter and Nightlife, as well as podcasting in The Wholesome Show, G’day Patriots and G’day Sausages, charting in the Australian iTunes top 50.
UC acknowledges the Ngunnawal people, traditional custodians of the lands where Bruce campus is situated. We wish to acknowledge and respect their continuing culture and the contribution they make to the life of Canberra and the region. We also acknowledge all other First Nations Peoples on whose lands we gather.