Passion is what drives us. Passion creates art, science and technology, and it is passion that drove Dr Conor McGinn, Assistant Professor in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, to start Trinity’s first and only robotics research group. This research group exists with the aim to develop assistive robots to help to increase the independence of those people living with disabilities and the elderly population. Speaking to The University Times, McGinn says that as an undergraduate he had a passion for “getting stuff done” outside of class, but there weren’t many opportunities.
Fortunately this changed upon graduation when he was given the opportunity to pursue a PhD in robotics under the supervision of Prof Kevin Kelly. Together, over the course of several years, they built the robotics research group from the ground up.
The club that McGinn originally set up, under advice from students in some of the world’s top robotics clubs, was just the beginning of Trinity’s first and only robotics research group. This was a ground-up approach, started and built by students. “This is something that is almost unheard of”, he says. Different students got involved for various reasons. Some had a point to prove when exam results didn’t reflect their goals and some wanted to be creative and put their talent to use. In order to gain funding, they looked at every opportunity, from appealing to the UN to looking for philanthropists to invest and, in a lot of cases, resorting to paying for resources from their own pocket.
The students believed they could build something bigger. In talking to a number of them after one of their weekly meetings, it’s clear why they got involved. The ages of students range from undergraduates who have been involved before even entering college to PhD students whose research is in this area. Speaking to The University Times, both Eamonn Burke and Patrick Lynch, who are both working in robotics research, noted how they have been involved for a number of years, and one unique aspect of this group is that everyone works on the whole project. They don’t just split up and work on small parts. Burke explained “I got involved with it years ago and did my masters in it first because I had worked with Conor previously”. Cian Donovan, a first-year engineering student, got involved with the project while he was still in secondary school and works on a lot of the smaller electronic parts of the project.
The Sii (“Socially Intelligent Interface”) robot is a snapshot into what McGinn thinks can be achieved, as well as a sneak peek into how these robots should look and move. The current model has a 3D-printed head and LCD screens for a mouth, which are used to convey a number of emotions. As robotics is such a new area in engineering, it’s not just the maths and the physics that build the robots. It’s also down to the psychology behind how humans interact with robots. Understanding human psychology is essential for the design of these assistive robots. A lot of this is under-researched, yet it has so much potential. As a group, McGinn wants students to move forward and to empower students into tackling problems and finding a solution. “This, for me, is the perfect example of investing in students. We are trying to empower students to do research, trying to empower students to solve real problems and every single time we’re putting our money where our mouth is.” The field of robotics is one of the few fields where a genius-level base of knowledge is not necessary, as you can make an extraordinary contribution by embracing what skills are needed to make it work. The beauty of robotics is that it pulls from all areas of knowledge.
We are trying to empower students to do research, trying to empower students to solve real problems and every single time we’re putting our money where our mouth is.
Sitting in on a group meeting, it’s very clear that there is an egalitarian structure in place. Everybody involved has an equal say. It seems to be that, in order to have a fully functioning group, there needs to be a situation where people feel like they are being listened to and that the ideas that they are bringing to the table are useful. Only being there for about half an hour, it’s clear that there is a relaxed atmosphere due to the students involved being genuinely interested and not only doing it because they have to.
McGinn started this group with roughly 40 to 50 students investing their own time and money on building small robots to sumo wrestle each other. By working on these robots, the gap between the students and McGinn’s knowledge started to decrease. The goal behind all of this was to build robots that were as sophisticated as possible to solve real world social problems. One of the driving forces behind this project is to stop students getting bored. If students aren’t applied to something they’re interested in, they stop going to class and thus it’s really hard to find where the most talented students are.
Robots are constantly getting more complicated and expensive, which requires a much larger investment not just in terms of resources but also time and research. The group at the moment are working on “air muscles”, a technology where a moveable tube imitates the movement of a muscle. The hope of the project is that it will include people from the BT Young Scientist competition all the way up to postdoctoral and professor levels. McGinn recalls that he has “seen the students in Trinity constantly punch above their weight” and wants them to have the chance to continue doing this. The Aerobot as a robot is fairly simple, but it is a very good example of just how adaptive a simple robot can be. Dynamic robots can be reasonably cheap and simple but very effective at the same time.
The group at the moment are working on “air muscles”, a technology where a moveable tube imitates the movement of a muscle.
McGinn aspires to see Trinity enter and one day win some of the world’s top robotics competitions. “Wouldn’t to be amazing if Trinity engineering could go out and win something like this?” he asks. Robocup is one of these competitions. Trinity would design robots to try win the “At Home” category, which ties in with everything that this research group is trying to achieve. These robots perform normal household chores like answering the doorbell and cleaning the house. In order to get to this level of engineering, McGinn states, there needs to be serious investment by the department.
The world is constantly developing and growing. Now more than ever it’s time to invest in this type of research. Very little of the work that gets done in universities and technology industries is aimed at improving the lives of those living with disabilities. The long-term goal of this project is to build personal service robots. People with disabilities are constantly not taken into consideration as much as they should be in this area. In the 2006 census, some 14,000 people declared that they were living with a disability. This might only represent a small part of the population but it is still hugely significant. One of the reasons that not enough research goes into improving technology for those with disabilities is that so many cases are unique which makes it harder and more expensive.
One of the robots that this team have built can deal with steps and getting onto public transport such as trains. This is just a snapshot of what robots can achieve. In a lot of cases, it’s hard to see just how much a robot can achieve by just looking at it. McGinn wants to see robots built that can help those with disabilities achieve tasks on their own that may not have been previously possible.
One huge problem that is affecting the lives of elderly people is loneliness and boredom. In a recent survey performed in the UK, it was revealed that 50 per cent of the population over 70 are living with a television as their number one source of company. Boredom can be a huge detriment to people’s lives, but with the right application of technology and research a robot can be put in place as an assistance.
These types of robots lend themselves to the constant controversy of ethics that goes into the development of robots. Are robots over-taking human jobs? Could they pose a threat? Do I really want a robot living with my parents or grandparents? The reality is that robots like the ones that McGinn and his group are working on actually have a huge potential to change the world and make people’s lives better. The conception we have in our heads that robots are the enemy are causing delays in this development. Discussions in this area are happening, but often they don’t include engineers. These students are becoming more ethically responsible for not only what they build but how they are used. It’s about how a robot is built and not how it is deployed. By looking at the use of drones, it’s obvious how much devastation they can cause. On the opposite side of the argument, they could just as easily be used to distribute medical supplies and food. In order to change this, not only do engineers need to be involved in the discussion, but people need to start talking about how we can use technology in the same way that people talk about sports or even politics.
