Robots at Play Prize 2007

10.000 euro cash prize to the most playful robotic system

www.robotsatplay.dk

The Robots at Play Prize 2007 is an international prize for the most playful and/or interactive robotic system. It is given in connection with the Robots at Play Festival in Odense, Denmark, on 23-25 August 2007, and sponsored by Fionia Bank. The festival and prize is chaired by Professor Henrik Hautop Lund.

Robotic systems are entering into the daily life on citizens all over the world. Vacuum cleaners, lawnmowers, toys, playgrounds, rehabilitation equipment, fitness equipment, etc. are becoming robotic systems. In such a development, it is crucial to design robotic systems that are interactive and well integrated into the daily life in its natural surroundings, being at home, in the urban space, in sports club, in theatre, in hospitals, in developing countries, etc. This design challenge demands integration of different disciplines such as robotics, design, interaction design, and arts.

The Robots at Play Prize of 10.000 euro is aimed at reinforcing the integration of such disciplines and societal understanding in robotics. The prize promotes robotic systems for use in all aspects of daily life for the benefit of humans and interactivity with humans.

A prominent example of such a system is playware, which combines robotics, design, arts, play studies and industrial development to create the playgrounds of tomorrow - playgrounds that are based on robotic components in order to create joyful physical activity in fight against obesity. The Playware is developed by one of the committee members and therefore not nominated for the Robots at Play Prize, and serves only as an example.

Call for candidates:
The international Robots at Play Prize is open to any candidate robotic system world-wide. It is open for anybody world-wide to suggest candidate robotic systems. Candidate robotic systems will be evaluated during the festival by an academic/industrial committee based upon their qualities in terms of being
· interactive
· innovative
· playful
and also in terms of their
· design
· functionality
· potential impact on society

The committee will evaluate the nominated candidates. Nominated candidates are invited to join the Robots at Play Festival in order to showcase their robotic system to the public, as part of the evaluation for the prize. The Robots at Play Prize 2007 ceremony will be held on evening 24th August 2007 in Odense, Denmark, during the Robots at Play Festival.

Candidate descriptions including abstract, www-information, photo, and inventor/developer contact information should be sent to the committee chair Professor Henrik Hautop Lund, University of Southern Denmark, by email: hhl at mmmi.sdu.dk, no later than 1st August 2007.

Committee:
The committee consists of members from the Academy of Fine Arts, RoboCluster, and Danish industry


Robots at Play Festival:
The overall aim of the Robots at Play Festival is to spread knowledge about robotics by presenting interactive robotic systems in the daily life of the citizens. Therefore, the festival takes place on an open city square, in art museums, library, bars, cinema, etc. in the city centre of Odense that has nominated "play and robotics" as its future focus for industrial and city development. Apart from the prize, the festi-val hosts numerous events like robot construction, robot bazaar, robot film presentati-ons, play, learning, robot art exhibition, robot art performances, RoboMusic development, a stage show, an international Playful Robotic Art conference and a debate on robotics ethics. All events take place in the centre of the city amongst the citizens in their daily environment. Please have a look at the video from last year's festival, and the descriptions of activities and photos of some of the robots from the forthcoming 2007 festival on the web-site.

+ info: please, write you to Luigi Pagliarini

Robots at Play Festival, Odense, Denmark, 23-25 August 2007: http://www.robotsatplay.dk

Yours sincerely,

Henrik Hautop Lund, professor
Chair of the Robots at Play Festival

Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Institute
University of Southern Denmark
Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense M, Denmark
Tel: +45 6550 3574 Fax: +45 6615 7697
www.adaptronics.dk
hhl at mmmi.sdu.dk