Organizers and speakers
(Main organizer and speaker) Dr. Diana Saplacan, Senior Researcher, Robotics and Intelligent Systems, University of Oslo, Norway
Diana Saplacan is a researcher at the University of Oslo, at the Department of Informatics, Robotics and Intelligent Systems Research Group. She has previously worked in the Multimodal Elderly Care Systems (MECS) project. The project investigated the use of a robot as a safety alarm for elderly people that wished to live independently at home. She currently works in Vulnerability in Robot Society (VIROS) research project. A complete list of publications is given here.
She has also recently been listed as one of the 30 women in Norway changing the field of Artificial Intelligence. The nomination was made by the Norwegian Artificial Intelligence Consortium (NORA). She received her Ph.D. degree (2020) from the University of Oslo, Norway, and her M.Sc. degree (2013) from Kristianstad University, Sweden. Her Ph.D. degree is interdisciplinary within Design of Information Systems, at the cross of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), and Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) fields, with Universal Design (UD) knitting these fields. She previously worked as a Lecturer in Computer Science at Kristianstad University, Sweden (2013-2016/2020).
Her current interests include Human-Robot Interaction and Human-Robot cooperation, ethics regarded through Universal Design principles, inclusion, and accessibility. She has published several papers within the area. These are listed on the official webpage here or can be found in the Current Norwegian Publication System in Norway, CRistin.
(Main organizer and speaker) Professor Jim Tørresen, Robotics and Intelligent Systems, University of Oslo, Norway
Jim Torresen is a professor at the University of Oslo, where he leads the Robotics and Intelligent Systems (ROBIN) research group. He received his M.Sc. and Dr.ing. (Ph.D.) degrees in computer architecture and design from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, the University of Trondheim in 1991 and 1996, respectively. He has been employed as a senior hardware designer at NERA Telecommunications (1996-1998) and at Navia Aviation (1998-1999). Since 1999, he has been a professor at the Department of Informatics at the University of Oslo (associate professor 1999-2005). Jim Torresen has been a visiting researcher at Kyoto University, Japan for one year (1993-1994), four months at Electrotechnical Laboratory, Tsukuba, Japan (1997 and 2000), and a visiting professor at Cornell University, USA for one year (2010-2011).
His research interests at the moment include artificial intelligence, ethical aspects of AI and robotics, machine learning, robotics, and applying this to complex real-world applications. Several novel methods have been proposed. He has published over 200 scientific papers in international journals, books, and conference proceedings. 10 tutorials and a number of invited talks have been given at international conferences and research institutes. He is in the program committee of more than ten different international conferences, associate editor of three international scientific journals as well as a regular reviewer of a number of other international journals. He has also acted as an evaluator for proposals in EU FP7 and Horizon2020 and is currently project manager/principal investigator in four externally funded research projects/centers. That includes being a principal investigator at the Centre of Excellence for Interdisciplinary Studies in Rhythm, Time and Motion (RITMO). He is a member of the Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences (NTVA) and the National Committee for Research Ethics in Science and Technology (NENT), where he is a member of a working group on research ethics for AI. More information and a list of publications can be found here: http://jimtoer.no
See a relevant review paper. See a list of past and ongoing research projects here, and with the Vulnerability in the Robot Society (VIROS) project being much relevant for this tutorial.
Torresen has extensive experience in university course teaching; see overview in the CV here and an overview of past invited talks and tutorials here.
(Co-organizer) Professor Tobias Mahler, Department of Private Law, Faculty of Law, University of Oslo
Tobias Mahler is a law professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Oslo, where he is deputy director of the Norwegian Research Center for Computers and Law (NRCCL). He specializes in information and communications technology law. His research is highly interdisciplinary, primarily combining legal research with computer science. His research interests cover a broad range of legal issues arising in the context of (i) robots, particularly with artificial intelligence capabilities, (ii) Internet governance (especially the domain name system), as well as (iii) cybersecurity and privacy. This focus on legal issues is complemented with research on legal technology to facilitate novel approaches such as legal risk management and visual representations of legal reasoning. He holds a PhD from the University of Oslo, an LLM degree in legal informatics from the University of Hannover, and a German law degree (first state exam). He has practised law in Norway as a corporate lawyer in the automotive industry, primarily working with international commercial contracts. Mahler has been a visiting fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and Criminal Law in Freiburg, Germany, and the Stanford Centre for Internet and Society. In 2020 he acted as an expert advisor to the European Commission on drafting the upcoming Digital Services Act. Further, Mahler is the legal research leader of the VIROS project (Vulnerability in the Robot Society). For publications, see here. Mahler is the Director of the Master of Laws Program in Information and Communication Technology Law at the University of Oslo. He teaches robot regulation, cybersecurity regulation, legal technology and artificial intelligence.
(Co-organizer) Dr. Eduard Fosch-Villaronga, Assistant Professor, eLaw- Center for Law and Digital Technologies, Leiden University, The Netherlands
Eduard Fosch-Villaronga is an Assistant Professor at the eLaw Center for Law and Digital Technologies at Leiden University (NL) where he investigates legal and regulatory aspects of robot and AI technologies, with a special focus on healthcare. Eduard recently published the book ‘Robots, Healthcare, and the Law. Regulating Automation in Personal Care’ with Routledge and is interested in human-robot interaction, responsible innovation, and the future of law. Eduard is the co-leader of the Ethical, Legal, and Societal Aspects Working Group at the H2020 Cost Action 16116 on Wearable Robots and participates actively at the Social Responsibility Working Group at the H2020 Cost Action 19121 GoodBrother. Eduard served the European Commission in the Sub-Group on Artificial Intelligence (AI), connected products and other new challenges in product safety to the Consumer Safety Network (CSN) to revise the General Product Safety directive. Previously, he worked as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Researcher under the LEaDing Fellows at eLaw. (Jan 2019-Dec 2020). He also was a postdoc at the Microsoft Cloud Computing Research Center at Queen Mary University of London (the UK, 2018) investigating the legal implications of cloud robotics; and at the University of Twente (NL, 2017) as a postdoc, exploring iterative regulatory modes for robot governance. Eduard Fosch-Villaronga holds an Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate (EMJD) in Law, Science, and Technology coordinated by the University of Bologna (IT, 2017), an LL.M. from University of Toulouse (FR, 2012), an M.A. from the Autonomous University of Madrid (ES), and an LL.B. from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (CAT, 2011). Eduard is also a qualified lawyer in Spain and his publications are available online. Eduard Fosch-Villaronga’s research addresses legal and regulatory aspects associated with the use and development of robot and AI technologies, focusing particularly on healthcare. The book “Robots, Healthcare, and the Law” partly compiles the research he conducted at the intersection of law, AI, and robotics. He has extensively worked with the legal and ethical implications of wearable robots, social robots for autism-related therapies, and sex robots for care purposes. Lately, Eduard is interested in topics concerning diversity and AI, focusing in particular on how algorithms may exacerbate existing biases against communities that have been traditionally marginalized.
(Invited speaker) Naomi Lintvedt, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Oslo, Norway
Naomi Lintvedt graduated with a law degree from the University of Oslo in 1999. She has extensive experience with digitalization in the public sector, and in particular legal aspects of technology and law. She specializes in privacy and data protection, cybersecurity, and digital government. Before starting her Ph.D., she was the Data Protection Officer in the Norwegian Tax Administration. She has also recently been listed as one amongst the 30 women in Norway changing the field of Artificial Intelligence. The nomination was made by the Norwegian Artificial Intelligence Consortium (NORA).
Naomi is currently taking her Ph.D. at UiO, with research on law, AI, and robotics. Her Ph.D. is part of the project Vulnerability in the Robot Society (VIROS). The VIROS project investigates the challenges and solutions in regulating robotics – legally and technically – particularly with respect to addressing the safety, security, and privacy concerns such systems raise. The impact of the project will be ensured by involving multiple relevant stakeholders in the Norwegian public sector, consumer advocates, three robotics companies (two Norwegian and one Japanese), and leading international roboticists.
She says: “Ever since I was a law student at the dawn of the internet era, I have worked interdisciplinary with tech and law. The very nature of law is that it’s dynamic and flexible, but it’s very often perceived as an obstacle for innovation and emerging technologies. Law and tech are not binaries but need to develop integratedly. For advances in AI and robotics, we not only need to work closely with tech, law, and other disciplines but regularly take a step back and identify the societal and ethical impacts of our work. My ambition for the Ph.D. project I to contribute to the legal advances in the field of AI and robotics, but also to shed light on how the law can be an enabler rather than a laggard.”
(Invited speaker) Dr. Rebecca Schmidt, Postdoctoral Researcher, VIROS Project, University of Oslo, Norway
Rebecca is a member of the VIROS project (Vulnerability in the Robot Society) at the University of Oslo. In her research she explores the interplay between public and private regulation in the fields of AI and robotics. Her main focus is on EU-level legislation as well as on international technical standards, industry codes and best practices. Rebecca obtained a PhD from the European University Institute and an LLM in International and Legal Studies from New York University. Before starting her current position, she was an assistant professor in law at the School of Law and Government at Dublin City University. She has published in international outlets such as the European Journal of International Law and the European Law Review. Her monograph 'Regulatory Integration across Borders' is published with Cambridge University Press.
(Invited speaker) Dr. Yueh-Hsuan Weng, Assistant Professor at Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences (FRIS), Tokohu University and a Visiting Scientist at RIKEN Center for Advanced Intelligence Project (AIP) in Tokyo, Japan.
He has been appointed as Visiting Scholar at WIAS, Waseda University (2021), TTLF Fellow at Stanford Law School (2018-2021), Visiting Assistant Professor at The University of Hong Kong (2018), Research Associate at Peking University (2010-2014), Visiting Researcher at HRI, Waseda University (2012-2013). He received his Ph.D. in Law from Peking University and his M.S. in Computer Science from National (Yang Ming) Chiao Tung University. He is strongly interested in interdisciplinary studies, especially in issues concerning the interface between Artificial Intelligence and Law, including Robot Law, Social Robotics, and Legal Informatics. During his Ph.D. studies, he has founded ROBOLAW.ASIA <http://www.robolaw.asia/> and CHINA-LII <http://www.chinalii.net/> , which are China’s first initiatives in AI Law and Free Access to Law. Currently he is also an Associate Editor of Delphi – Interdisciplinary Review of Emerging Technologies (Berlin: Lexxion Publisher).