Robotics, art and culture in RoboCity16

Last week we had the opportunity to take part in Robocity16, an event organized by the consortium Robocity2030, which celebrates this year its tenth anniversary and is formed by the University Carlos III, the Polytechnic University of Madrid, the University of Alcalá, the University King Juan Carlos, the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) and the National University of Distance Education (UNED).

Research groups presented their novelties while companies, students and other groups shared space and time at the Higher Technical School of Industrial Engineers in Madrid for two days, to show the current state of affairs in the different fronts of robotics research nowadays and how they fit and they will fit into the present and future society.

Robots with social skills, Doris and Urban, from the Polytechnic University of Madrid, in Robocity16.

Among the activities carried out on 26 and 27 May in Robocity16, stand out different issues such as government or educational applications, or work related issues that the use of robots may pose in the future. But in order to reflect and build the future it is essential to have art as a tool, and that is why Ricardo Dominguez, director of ROS Film Festival, was invited to take part in the workshop “Robotics, Art and Culture” organized by the researcher Concha Monje from the University Carlos III of Madrid, in which also took part Carlos Salgado, illustrator and concept artist of the film Autómata, Belinda Washington, journalist, actress and singer, and Rosa Montero, journalist and writer who created the replicant detective Bruna Husky.

The topics approached during the workshop ranged from the sources of inspiration and the creative process to design a robot for a film in the most appropriate way, as is the case of Pilgrim 7000 for Autómata, to possible applications of robotics and artificial intelligence, such as an application that could detect and warn the environment when someone is having a bad day and needs extra support to meet these challenges, as Belinda Washington pointed out during her speech.

During the workshop “Robotics, Art and Culture” with Carlos Salgado, Belinda Washington, Rosa Montero and Ricardo Dominguez.

Initiatives such as the ROS Film Festival were shown to be essential tools for creating and facing the future of a society conditioned by technological advances, which should be actively involved in setting the guidelines for this development. Part of the audience of the event came directly from the awards ceremony of Robotize your idea, an initiative held in RoboCity16 that rewards innovative ideas in robotics in four different categories: service / health, industry / construction, aerospace / security and education / entertainment.

And it is precisely ideas, imagination and reflection what we expect to see soon in the short films at the ROS Film Festival, which can be submitted until September 7, after completing the pre-entry (deadline: July 31), to visualize and build together our future with robots.