Master's degree graduates interested in developing a research project on "Critical Analysis of Psychological and Developmental Aspects of Social Robotics" can apply.
Project description: .
The work funded by this scholarship will be carried out at the Research Unit on Theory of Mind, Catholic University of Sacred Heart, Milan, Italy. Within a paradigm of hybrid interactions between humans and social robots, in which behavioral and emotional attunement are fundamental, psychological constructs and cognitive models of trust-based exchanges will be respectively operationalized and implemented. These constructs and models will be based on the link between trust dynamics and Theory of Mind, conceived as the ability to understand and attribute emotional and epistemic mental states to others. The cognitive models will be tested in real-life situations through the lifespan to tailor them to the specific users' needs and to the different contexts of application. This will enable human-centered hybrid interactions between humans and social robots. The candidates'evaluation will consider possible expertise in cognitive/psychological sciences, programming and the design of models of interaction between humans and artificial agents.
Scientific project coordinator: Prof. Antonella Marchetti, Department of Psychology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (e-mail: antonella.marchetti@unicatt.it)
You can Ask info to sara.invitto@unisalento.it
Closing date: 8 August 2022.
Information can be found at the following link: https://dottorato.unipi.it/index.php/it/concorsi-d-ammissione-a-a-2022-2023/item/669.html
Research Unit on Theory of Mind (UniToM)
In recent years, both interest in social robots and the possibility of humans interacting with them in various fields, from educational to clinical, have grown exponentially. Research to date teaches us that when objects have human-like characteristics - as in the case of anthropomorphic robots - humans relate to them 'as if they were' social partners, i.e. using the mechanisms of human social cognition to understand and interpret robot behaviour. This field of research, in which several disciplines, including robotics and psychology, collaborate, is called Human-Robot Interaction.
In recent years, the Research Unit on Theory of Mind (UniToM, directed by Antonella Marchetti and whose members include Davide Massaro, Cinzia Di Dio, Federico Manzi) - Department of Psychology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan - has been studying the psychological components involved in interactions between humans and robots, combining knowledge from Developmental Psychology and Robotics. In fact, while Developmental Psychology studies the development of the cognitive, emotional, intellectual, and social capacities of human beings and their functioning throughout life, from infancy to old age, Robotics applies these notions to the implementation of neural networks that can allow the robot to 'learn' and behave appropriately with the humans.
To tackle this research challenge, an interdisciplinary approach is essential. In fact, UniToM has developed numerous national (Agnieszka Wykowska , IIT; Antonio Chella, University of Palermo; Daniele Nardi, La Sapienza University) and international collaborations (Angelo Cangelosi, University of Manchester; Hiroshi Ishiguro, University of Osaka; Shoji Itakura, Doshisha University; Takayuki Kanda, Kyoto University; Paul Harris, Harvard University; Michaela Gummerum, University of Warwick) with research centers in both robotics and psychology, to try to answer the various questions emerging from these new forms of interaction between humans and robotic agents.
In addition to the study of human-robot dynamics and relationships, UniToM, also thanks to its various interdisciplinary collaborations, is developing artificial cognitive models for more effective interactions between humans and robots. These models are inspired by the theories of social cognition and in particular Theory of Mind.
