Interview with Prof. dr. ir. Dirk Lefeber, head of the Robotics and Multibody Mechanics Research Group, VUB, Brussels

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Infoclip: Interview on Robotics with Dirk LEFEBER, head of the Robotics and Multibody Mechanics Research Group of the VUB Brussels

VUB exterior shot and 'Brubotics' logo on brochure

SOUNDBITE (English), Dirk LEFEBER, Head of Robotics department, VUB, So robotics is a research group that consists of 8 different research groups that are doing research on human centre robotics. So all topic brings together humans and robotic devices are research topics that we try to cover with the robotics research groups. So we have in the research we have groups we have different types of discplines of course with people coming from robotics from artificial intelligence, but also people from human sciences where will have social people invovled with social robotics, psychologists and also psychotheropists to look at the outer effect on humans for rehibilitation.

SOUNDBITE (English), Dirk LEFEBER, Head of Robotics department, VUB, If you look at different changes in our society in the coming years will we look the aging of our society and of less people who will be working, more people that will be retired. So I think in the future we need more assistance from robots. Robots will never replace humans in the future, but we will be able to assist people to for instance in rehibilitation, if we have a pyschotheropist with the aid of the robot they will be able to do more in rehibilitation exercises with patients than what is possible now in the force of manual theropy.

SOUNDBITE (English), Dirk LEFEBER, Head of Robotics department, VUB, There are already a number of groups that are looking at what are the legal aspects that are the effect on ethics and I think it is very important that Europe also takes on some position in this because at the moment we don't really know what a robot can do or may do with people and there should be some legislation that is coming up because of the new uses of these types of robots.