During surgery, surgeons must identify vital anatomical structures (nerves and lymph nodes) to prevent damage. Correct identification remains enormously challenging and surgeons require high-tech intra-operative imaging. Our team worked on developing a demonstrator of H3D-VISIOnAiR that enables visualizing the invisible by combining a commercial spectral + RGB camera, advanced image analytics and near eye display. Tests were performed with a simulated surgical task consisting of positioning beads in a nailbed with very low contrast. The results show proof of concept by real-time 2D high-resolution image acquisition, processing of hyperspectral images and displaying augmented reality overlay of processed hyperspectral images.

This report documents the program and the outcomes of Dagstuhl Seminar 19411 “Social Agents for Teamwork and Group Interactions”. It summarises the three talks that were held during the seminar on three different perspectives: the impact of robots in human teamwork, mechanisms to support group interactions in virtual settings, and affect analysis in human-robot group settings. It also details the considerations of six working groups covering the following topics: datasets, design, team dynamics, social cognition, scenarios

Social robots are designed to coexist with people and learn through their interactions. We, in turn, are expected to develop ways of behaving, communicating, and organizing that support robots. Inspired by this co-evolving relationship, this talk will explore social robots as “companion artifacts”, focusing critical attention on how our concepts of self, cultural practices, social organizations, and sociotechnical infrastructures are co-constructed with existing and imagined social robots. I discuss how “Japanese culture” is repeatedly assembled in relation to social robots, what it means to “domesticate” robotic technologies, and how community-based methods can incorporate diverse sociocultural values into social robotics.