On March 31, We Robot 2016 will host four workshops designed by experts to help people from other disciplines get up to speed in their specialty. We hope these workshops will be attended by people who want to learn about the topics, and by people willing to share their expertise with both experts and neophytes.

We talk about robots all the time, but do we really know what a robot is? What can they do? What do they have difficulty doing? Will they rise up and kill all humans? In this workshop, we’ll discuss what’s hard about building robots and getting them to work in the real world. We’ll look at current robotic technologies, and what the current and near-future limits of these technologies are. To hammer the point home, we’ll build a complete mobile robot during the workshop, get it to do a simple task, and laugh at it when it fails. We’ll also play around with a robot speed camera, and see if we can trick it into not giving us a speeding ticket. The goal of the workshop is to give you an insight into the mechanical minds (and eyes and arms and legs) of robots, and a realistic understanding of what they can currently do, and what they might be able to do in the near future.

William D. Smart will join We Robot 2016 to hold a workshop on “The Robot Revolution has been Rescheduled (until we can debug the sensors)”: Technical Aspects of Robotics on Thursday, March 31st at 2:00 PM at the University of Miami Newman Alumni Center in Coral Gables, Florida. Bill Smart is an Associate Professor at Oregon State University, where he co-directs the Robotics program.  He holds a Ph.D. and Sc.M. in Computer Science from Brown University, an M.Sc. in Intelligent Robotics from the University of Edinburgh, and a B.Sc. (hons) in Computer Science from the University of Dundee.  Prior to moving to Oregon State in 2012, he was an Associate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, with a courtesy appointment in Biomedical Engineering, at Washington University in St. Louis.  His research interests cover the fields of human-robot interaction, machine learning, and mobile robotics.  His recent work has focused on how robots and robotic technologies can be used for people with severe motor disabilities.  He is particularly proud of his Erdős (3), and his Bacon number (also 3).

On March 31, We Robot 2016 will host four workshops designed by experts to help people from other disciplines get up to speed in their specialty. We hope these workshops will be attended by people who want to learn about the topics, and by people willing to share their expertise with both experts and neophytes.

Dan Siciliano will join We Robot 2016 to hold a workshop on Funding the Future: Financial Aspects of Robotics on Thursday, March 31st at 3:45 PM at the University of Miami Newman Alumni Center in Coral Gables, Florida. F. Daniel Siciliano, JD ’04, is a legal scholar and entrepreneur with expertise in corporate governance, corporate finance, and immigration law. He assumes a variety of leadership roles at the law school, including faculty director of the Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Center for Corporate Governance, associate dean for executive education and special programs and co-director of Stanford’s Directors’ College. He is also the co-originator of the OSCGRS (Open Source Corporate Governance Reporting System) Project. Previously, Siciliano was a teaching fellow for the law school’s international LLM degree program in Corporate Governance and Practice and executive director of the Program in Law, Economics and Business. He is the senior research fellow with the Immigration Policy Center and a frequent commentator on the long-term economic impact of immigration policy and reform. His work has included expert testimony in front of both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Prior to joining Stanford Law School, Siciliano co-founded and served as executive director of the Immigration Outreach Center in Phoenix, Arizona. He has launched and led several successful businesses, including LawLogix Group—named three times to the Inc. 500/5000 list. Siciliano serves as a governance consultant and trainer to board directors of several Fortune 500 companies and is a member of the Academic Council of Corporate Board Member magazine.

On March 31, We Robot 2016 will host four workshops designed by experts to help people from other disciplines get up to speed in their specialty. We hope these workshops will be attended by people who want to learn about the topics, and by people willing to share their expertise with both experts and neophytes.

What is a tort? Can a robot commit one? What other laws might robots break? Which agencies in Washington’s alphabet soup like the FTC, FAA, NHTSA, and others matter for robotics and why? Is it better to lay out specific, intricate rules for robots, or should we just require that they “act reasonable?” This session will provide a foundation for asking and answering legal and policy research questions related robotics. It will cover basic legal concepts as applied to sophisticated computational technology. Not only will we cover the basic structures and laws relevant to robots, but we will review some basic principles behind why these laws exist, and what kinds of laws are useful in various contexts. The goal for this session will be to equip you with the tools necessary to ascertain the merits of robotics laws and propose alternatives for the stinkers.

Professor Woodrow Hartzog will join We Robot 2016 to hold a workshop on Juris Machina: Legal Aspects of Robotics on Thursday, March 31st at 9:30 AM at the University of Miami Newman Alumni Center in Coral Gables, Florida. Prof. Hartzog is an internationally-recognized expert in the area of privacy, media, and robotics law. He has been quoted or referenced in numerous articles and broadcasts, including NPR, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and USA Today. Prof. Hartzog’s work has been published in numerous scholarly publications such as the Columbia Law Review, California Law Review, and Michigan Law Review and popular national publications such as Wired, Bloomberg, New Scientist, The Atlantic, and The Nation. He is also a contributor to Forbesand a frequent guest contributor to LinkedIn, Concurring Opinions, and other popular blogs. Before joining the faculty at Cumberland School of Law, Prof. Hartzog worked as a trademark attorney at the United States Patent and Trademark Office in Alexandria, Virginia, and as an associate attorney at Burr & Forman LLP in Birmingham, Alabama. He also served as a clerk for the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, D.C., and was a Roy H. Park Fellow, at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prof. Hartzog is an Affiliate Scholar at the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School. He also serves on the advisory board of the Future of Privacy Forum.

On March 31, We Robot 2016 will host four workshops designed by experts to help people from other disciplines get up to speed in their specialty. We hope these workshops will be attended by people who want to learn about the topics, and by people willing to share their expertise with both experts and neophytes.

What are research methods? How do you conduct a study? Are researchers biased? This session is your primer if you want to get into social science or you want to be able to make snarky comments about other people’s work. The field of human-robot interaction is rife with social science methods, because human behavior is usually way more interesting than robot behavior. Social science studies involve research methods and statistics. In this session, we’ll be covering the former, i.e. how to design and execute an investigation. There will be little to no math (sorry, math nerds), and many examples with robots.

Dr. Kate Darling will join We Robot 2016 to hold a workshop on Electronic Love, Trust, & Abuse: Social Aspects of Robotics on Thursday, March 31st at 11:15 AM at the University of Miami Newman Alumni Center in Coral Gables, Florida. Dr. Darling is a Research Specialist at the MIT Media Lab and a Fellow at the Harvard Berkman Center. Her interest is in how technology intersects with society. Kate’s work has explored economic issues in intellectual property systems and increasingly looks at the near-term effects of robotic technology, with a particular interest in law, social, and ethical issues. She runs experiments, holds workshops, writes, and speaks about some of the more interesting developments in the world of human-robot interaction, and where we might find ourselves in the future.