Goal of this workshop is to give an overview of the state of the art of personal robots and to discuss the applicability of such robots in the field of AAL. Topics that are specifically related to robot development for elderly people will be tackled: platforms, application scenarios, user acceptance, associated services and market strategies. In recent years, a lot of research and development has been done in the field of personal assistive robotics. Despite the great market potential of such systems robots have not gained any commercial relevance in Europe so far. This workshop presents the current state of the art in welfare robotics research and business as well as the market potentials and challenges that arise for productive usage of those systems. We want to identify prospects, business models and best practices to integrate assistive robotics in domestic environments. This workshop intended to bring together experts from various disciplines (AAL and care experts, robotics manufacturers and researchers, service providers and developers,…) to get a broad overview of current developments and existing challenges in this field and to foster inter-communication between these stakeholders.

The workshop is planned in four consecutive sessions with a specialized topic, namely “technical challenges for welfare robots at home”, “specialized vs. multi-purpose robotic systems for AAL”, “business models / costs” and “user acceptance”.

Organization / Company
The workshop is organized by the Florence Project (www.florence-project.eu; partly funded by the EC through the 7th Framework Programme, grant ICT-2009-248730). The workshop is supported by the German expert group on welfare robotics. 

Organization Committee

• Stefan Gessler, Committee
• Stefan GesslerNEC Europe
• Dr. Birgit Graf, Fraunhofer IPA
• Prof. Dr.-Ing. Andreas Hein, Universität Oldenburg, Oldenburg
• Dietwig Lowet (Florence Coordinator), Philips Netherlands
• Dr. Melina Frenken, OFFIS-Institut für Informatik, Oldenburg