Summer Term 15

Seminar Social Robotics

Social robotics, human-oriented robotics and human-robot interaction are growing research fields in robotics that consider the "human in the loop" and develop theory, experiments and methods that enable robots to better live, work and interact with humans. Example problems include sensory perception of humans, human behavior learning, planning among humans, or design and usability of human-robot interaction interfaces. Methods from robotics may be combined with methodologies and theory from human-computer interaction, social psychology, or cognitive science.

In this seminar, students will learn to search for, read, present and summarize a scientific paper. We will offer a selection of recent, particularly relevant publications from the above fields. Students will pick their preferred paper and search for at least one more related paper on their own. During the seminar, participants are supposed to contribute with questions, answers, comments and observations.

Learning to efficiently read a paper and to find relevant papers in a given area is a critical but rarely taught skill. We will practice those skills, starting with the following questions regarding the paper itself and its research area:

• What is the main research problem addressed in the paper?
• Why is this problem important?
• What are the novel ideas and key concepts proposed by the authors?
• How does the paper relate to other papers?
• Are there concepts or methods in the paper that are unclear?
• What are the flaws or limitations of this paper?
• How would you extend this work?

• What are key papers in a given area?
• Who are the important authors in a given area?
• What are the top conferences and journals in that area?

Information

• Organizers: Prof. Dr. Kai Arras
• Co-Organizers: Timm Linder, Luigi Palmieri, Billy Okal
• Language: English
• The seminar is restricted to 10 students, first come first served.

Schedule

• 29 April 2015: Introduction and brief presentation of all papers. Room 01-016, building 101, 12h - 14h
• 08 May 2015: Assignment of the papers to the students. Room 01-016, building 101, 13h - 14h
• 13 July 2015: First version of the slides and the report must be sent to the supervisor.
• 27 July 2015: Blockseminar in which all papers are presented and discussed. Room 01-016, building 101, 9h - 16h
• 31 July 2015: The final version of the report has to be submitted to the supervisor.

Requirements

• In the area of your paper, conduct a small literature review, find at least two important related papers.
• Present your paper and the result of the literature review in a 30 minute talk (+10 minutes discussion).
• Attend the blockseminar and actively participate in the discussions. Read all presented papers (also those of the other students) in a quick "first-pass" fashion (will be defined).
• Write a summary about your papers which does not exceed 7 pages (latex, a4wide, 11pt). Longer summaries will not be accepted.
• Talk and summary can either be in German or English.
• The final mark is a combination of four factors: literature review, presentation, summary report, and active participation during the Blockseminar.

Slides

• Introduction, Requirements, Formalities [pdf]
• How to conduct a literature survey and how to read a paper: a tutorial [pdf]
• Spotlight presentations of the papers [pdf]

Blockseminar