Speck&Tech 74 "(A)I, Robot"

Dear Speckers,

After the successful collaborations of 2023 and 2024 (twice!), this year we are once again collaborating with the Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science (DISI) of the University of Trento, to celebrate the 17th edition of the ICT Days. Being this year's topic "Humans, Robots and AI", we will have the pleasure of hosting two great talks on this topic: welcome to "(A)I, Robot"!

This event will be fully in English. Access to the venue will be granted solely to people possessing a regular ticket that will be scanned at the entrance of the Auditorium of the Dipartimento di Lettere e Filosofia. If you can't physically attend, you can follow the live-stream here. Please find below our amazing speakers:

1. ANGELO CANGELOSI
🇬🇧 Cognitive Robotics: from Babies to Robots and AI

ABSTRACT: Can robots learn languages like humans do? This talk dives into Cognitive Robotics, where AI, Psychology, and Neuroscience join forces to teach robots how we think, learn, and communicate. Researchers use iCub and Pepper robots to explore how babies acquire words, gestures, and even abstract concepts like numbers. But it’s not just about words: robots also develop a Theory of Mind, learning to interpret human intentions and build trust. The discussion goes beyond tech, tackling ethics, AI’s limits, and the future of human-robot collaboration. Can machines truly understand us? Let’s find it out!

BIO: Angelo Cangelosi is a Professor of Machine Learning and Robotics at the University of Manchester (UK) and co-director and founder of the Manchester Centre for Robotics and AI. Awarded a prestigious ERC Advanced Grant, his research interests are in cognitive and developmental robotics, human-robot interaction, trust, and AI for healthcare. With over £38M in research funding and 300+ publications, his work spans major international projects like eTALK, TAS Trust Node, and THRIVE++. He’s an editor-in-chief, conference chair, and author of the books Developmental Robotics and Cognitive Robotics (MIT Press). His research is shaping the future of AI and robotics.

2. LEONARDO CAVAGNIS
🇬🇧 Edge AI: Bringing Intelligence to Embedded Devices

ABSTRACT: Artificial intelligence is no longer confined to the cloud. Thanks to Edge AI, we can now run AI models directly on embedded devices with limited power and resources. This session will explore the full pipeline of developing a Tiny Machine Learning (TinyML) model, from data collection to deployment, addressing key challenges such as dataset preparation, model training, quantization, and optimization for embedded systems. We’ll explore real-world use cases where AI-powered embedded systems enable smart decision-making in applications like predictive maintenance, anomaly detection, and voice recognition. The talk will include a live hands-on demonstration on how to train and deploy a model using popular tools like Google Colab and TensorFlow, and then run real-time inference on an Arduino board.

BIO: Leonardo Cavagnis is an experienced embedded software engineer, interested in IoT and AI applications. At Arduino, he works as a firmware engineer, developing libraries and core functionalities for boards while also focusing on communication and engaging with the community.

This initiative is part of the ICT Days events:

and is powered by TELMEKOM:

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