Israel to Establish Elbit Systems-Led Consortium to Develop Human-Robot Interaction Technologies

Israel Innovation Authority recently approved the establishment of a new innovation consortium, led by Elbit Systems C4I and Cyber, for Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) technologies research and development.

Dr. Aviv Zeevi, VP Technological Infrastructure at the Israel Innovation Authority, commented: “The Israel Innovation Authority is working to close technology gaps in the field of robotics using various tools as well as by promoting knowledge transfer from the defense sector and academia to the wider industry.”

The new consortium includes leading robotics companies and academic researchers in the fields of Artificial Intelligence, computer science and behavioral sciences, with the goal of developing an innovative HRI infrastructure, addressing the need for close interaction between robotic systems and human users natural communications (verbal & gestures) technologies, according to relevant social codes, robotic platforms level of autonomy methodologies, and more.

Today, autonomous robotic platforms (those not continuously controlled by a human operator) operate in a “sterile” human-free environment, such as logistics centers and automated production and assembly lines. Integrating robots in a shared workspace environment with human teams will allow the transfer of routine, dull and burnout-inducing tasks to robots and reduce workloads on human teams, thereby increasing crew productivity and reducing their rotation. Such integration will only be possible when human crews feel confident and able to communicate naturally with robots, operating in their close environment.