KEIKO

Funding project 76251-1337/2022

SWZ Link HERMES: https://www.simzentrum.de/forschungsprojekte/hermes

SWZ Link KEIKO: https://www.simzentrum.de/forschungsprojekte/keiko

LINK Project Optical EEG for human-machine interfaces https://www.iei.tu-clausthal.de/forschung/messtechnik/oeeghmi

The joint project “Kognitiv und Empathisch Intelligente Kollaborierende Roboter” (KEIKO) is a cooperation between the University of Duisburg-Essen, Georg-August University Göttingen and Clausthal University of Technology. The aim of the project is to equip collaborating robots (cobots) with empathic intelligence in order to enable conflict-free and safe cooperation between humans and machines. Researchers from the fields of computer science, psychology, neuroscience and engineering are working together in the interdisciplinary project coordinated by the Simulation Science Center Göttingen-Clausthal.

KEIKO builds on the Clausthal preliminary project “Heterogene Mensch-Maschine-Teams” (HerMes) and is funded as part of the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture program. The aim of the project is to design cobots in such a way that they can understand human emotions, behavioral patterns and intentions and react adaptively to them. To this end, topics such as trust building, movement trajectories, emotional parameters and data fusion are being researched in six sub-projects.

A central focus is on the contactless recording of physiological and psychological data obtained with the help of wearables and wireless sensor technology. In combination with machine learning algorithms, this data will be used to give the cobots empathic intelligence. At the end of the project, a cobot should be able to carry out a simple (dis)assembly task together with a human. This would be an important step towards human-centered and intuitive collaboration between humans and robots.