Robot Office Worker

An office in Milton Keynes has taken on a humanoid staff member.

12:40 17 June 2016

The Transport Systems Catapult has a new office manager – Friendly Betty the robot.

 

Friendly Betty is a highly sophisticated robot, running artificial intelligence-driven software developed by a University of Birmingham-led research team. She was designed to carry usual office tasks including monitoring the environment by collating data on clutter, checking fire doors and assessing how many staff members are in the office outside working hours, among others. 

 

Betty, which also features scanners and cameras, is part of the £7.2 million EU-funded STRANDS project that aims to empower robots to act intelligently in real-world environments while understanding 3D space.

 

Dr Nick Hawes, who leads the STRANDS project, said: “For robots to work alongside humans in normal work environments it is important that they are both robust enough to operate autonomously without expert help, and that they learn to adapt to their environments to improve their performance.

 

"Betty demonstrates both these abilities in a real working environment: we expect her to operate for two months without expert input, whilst using cutting-edge AI techniques to increase her understanding of the world around her.”