LIREC Project at Portugal Tecnológico 2010 trade fair

EU FP7 ICT-215554 LIREC - 10 parceiros liderados pela Queen Mary University of Londo

“2010 edition of Portugal Tecnológico trade fair ended with a participants positive balance. With more than 36.000 visitors and 350 companies, the show brought together professionals and general public to the biggest innovation and technological Portuguese event.”

João Santos Pereira / Liliana Ferreira, in Imprensa do Portugal Tecnológico.

Portugal Tecnológico 2010 closed the parallel set of conferences with a presentation of LIREC project (Living with Robots and Interactive Companions) by Ana Paiva, from INESC-ID and Tiago Correia, from CNOTINFOR, participating in a panel: “Virtual companions: Science Fiction or Reality”, moderated by Lourenço Medeiros, a well known SIC TV Channel journalist, in which have participated about 50 people.

Jornalista Lourenço Medeiros modera painel com Ana Paiva e Tiago Correia

On the debate, a broad concept of virtual companions was explored, and LIREC challenge was pointed as being “making robots and virtual characters believable long term companions, capable of understanding emotional mood of humans and, by using past interaction memory events, adjusting their behaviour accordingly”.

Conferência "Companheiros Virtuais: ficção científica ou realidade"

Workshop reflectiu sobre futuras aplicações comerciais da investigação em curso

The panel was followed by a workshop, in which several speakers revealed diverse possibilities, limitations and embodiments of the set of resources and theories being developed. It was an opportunity for the about 30 participants reflect about the different roles of virtual agents, like game companions or mediators on the teaching and learning process. Possible commercial outcomes were foreseen on education and edutainment. We don’t complete fulfilled the objective of attract to the debate industrial players, due to the fact, may be, that our research is to much driven by academic goals.

O pequeno Mozart cativou os mais pequenos

... e não só

The main protagonists of the event were Little Mozart and iCat.

Quem vai ganhar esta partida?

O iCat suscitou a curiosidade de graúdos e miúdos

Some references on the press about the event:

In RTP TV Channel 1, in SIC TV Channel, in AICEP Portugal Global, in Jornal de Negócios, in tek.sapo.pt…

Photo album