New Israeli Consortium will Tackle Human-Robot Interaction

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Autonomous robotic platforms currently operate in a “sterile” human-free environment, such as logistics centers and automated production and assembly lines. Integrating robots in a shared workspace environment with human teams will allow the transfer of routine, dull and burnout-inducing tasks to robots and reduce workloads on human teams, thereby increasing crew productivity. 

Such integration will only be possible when human crews feel confident and able to communicate naturally with robots, operating in their close environment. 

In an attempt to close this technological gap, the Israel Innovation Authority has recently approved the establishment of a new innovation consortium focusing on Human-Robot Interaction.

The consortium is led by Elbit Systems C4I and Cyber, for Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) technologies research and development. It includes leading robotics companies and academic researchers in the fields of Artificial Intelligence, computer science and behavioral sciences, with the goal of developing an innovative HRI infrastructure, addressing the need for close interaction between robotic systems and human users natural communications (verbal & gestures) technologies, according to relevant social codes, robotic platforms level of autonomy methodologies, and more, according to Elbit’s announcement.