New project section: SNGNN

I have just included in the website a section for my new project SNGNN: link. SNGNN is a Graph Neural Network to model adherence to social-navigation conventions for robots. Given a particular scenario composed of a room with any number of walls, objects and people (who can be interacting with each other) the network provides a social adherence ratio from 0 to 1. This information can be used to plan paths for human-aware navigation. More information in the project's page.

MDPI Special Issue of Applied Sciences on Cognitive Robotics

A new MDPI Special Issue of Applied Sciences on Cognitive Robotics has been announced:
Link to the Special Issue: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/applsci/special_issues/cognitive_robotics
Deadline: 15 May 2020 (articles can be submitted and published before the deadline).
Impact factor: 2.217

There is a growing desire to develop robots that are capable of helping humans with daily tasks. Cognitive robots need to explore and understand their environment, choose a safe and human-aware course of action, and learn—not only from experience but also through interaction. In particular, cognitive robotics aims to endow robots with the capacity to plan solutions for complex goals and to enact those plans while being reactive to unexpected changes in their environments. Among the limiting factors for their application in real-life scenarios, there are clearly ethical, technological, and economic challenges.

Cognitive robotics includes studies on advanced mechatronics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, as well as cognitive psychology and brain science in the frame of cognitive science. The aim of this Special Issue is to gather scientific papers addressing any of the challenges of cognitive robotics. The topics of this Special Issue include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Active perception
- Architectures and frameworks for cognition
- Cognitive human-robot interaction
- Cognitive modelling and development
- Knowledge discovery and representation in robots
- Learning for action and interaction
- Cognitive architectures for interactive robots
- Neurorobotics
- Social and assistive robots

Guest editors:
Prof Antonio Bandera
Dr Luis J. Manso
Dr Zoe Falomir

PhD Studentship position: Deep Learning in Graph Domains for Sensorised Environments (re-opened)

Applications are invited for a studentship in the Aston Institute of Urban Technology and the Environment (ASTUTE), funded by the School of Engineering and Applied Science. The topic of the studentship will be Deep Learning in Graph Domains for Sensorised environments.
More information: https://jobs.aston.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx?ref=R190311
Application form: https://map.aston.ac.uk/urd/sits.urd/run/siw_ipp_lgn.login?process=siw_ipp_app&&code1=EAS031PR&code2=0032
Don't hesitate to contact me in case you have any questions.

PhD Studentship position: Deep Learning in Graph Domains for Sensorised Environments

Applications are invited for a studentship in the Aston Institute of Urban Technology and the Environment (ASTUTE), funded by the School of Engineering and Applied Science. The topic of the studentship will be Deep Learning in Graph Domains for Sensorised environments.
More information: https://jobs.aston.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx?ref=R190198
Don't hesitate to contact me in case you have any questions.

New paper in Complexity

New paper published in the journal of Complexity (Hindawi) entitled "A Deep Evolutionary Approach to Bioinspired Classifier Optimisation for Brain-Machine Interaction" (Jordan J. Bird, Diego R. Faria, Luis J. Manso, Anikó Ekárt, and Christopher D. Buckingham).

RoboComp got accepted in Google's GSoC'19

Google has officially announced the list of organisations participating in GSoC'19 and RoboComp is in! The next important deadlines are:

• 26 February - 25 March: Students get involved in the project and disscuss ideas with the mentors. If you're thinking about participating as a student, please follow all the tutorials.
• 25 March - April 9: Student application process.
• May 6: The list of accepted students is announced.

Theres a RoboComp-specific FAQ.

New paper in Cognitive Systems Research

New paper published in the journal of Cognitive Systems Research (Elsevier) entitled "The CORTEX Cognitive Robotics Architecture: use cases" (P. Bustos, L.J. Manso, A.J. Bandera, J.P. Bandera, I. Garcia-Varea, J. Martinez-Gomez). LINK TO THE ARTICLE.