People’s view of robots is often black-and-white, according to leading roboticist Dana Kulić.
Either they think robots are going to ‘take over the world’ or ‘they’re going to solve all our problems’.
“I’d encourage people to think about robots in a much more middle-of-the-road kind of way. Like ‘robots are amazing tools, they aren’t perfect but they're also not as dangerous or scary as some people think’,” said Dana.
“We need to design systems that are in concert with us, as part of human-robot teams that support human thriving, communities, our Earth and make life and society better.”
The human versus machine battle has now been replaced by a future where robots and human intelligence work together.
Dana is leading this charge in her new role as Adjunct Science Fellow in Data61, while also serving as the Director of Monash Robotics at Monash University, where she has earned a stellar reputation in industry and academia.
She has been collaborating with CSIRO on robotics research since 2023 and has been developing autonomous robotic systems that work in concert with humans, combining human intelligence with robot autonomy to achieve effective human-robot teaming.
Dana developed one of the first systems in the world where robots learn by observing and imitating human actions. This system was a first step towards robots learning from non-experts, making it easier for everyday users to teach robots new tasks.
Her appointment to CSIRO is part of a five-year research partnership with Monash University, which started in 2024.
“The focus of my work is on human-centred robotics, or where humans and robots work as a team. Note that the ‘humans’ part is first,” Dana explained.
Human-centred robotics is a relatively new concept and field of research. It’s about designing robots and robotic systems that prioritise human needs, enhance human capabilities and seamlessly interact with humans.
Dana helped establish CSIRO’s new Human-Robot Interaction team earlier this year and was instrumental in creating the newly opened, cutting-edge robotics facility at the Clayton campus.
Her global experience in translating cutting-edge research into practical applications will help advance CSIRO’s Human-Robot Interaction capabilities.
“A key part of our team’s job is to help move CSIRO’s robotics research beyond lab experiments into the real-world,” Dana said.
“I'm looking forward to our latest addition to the facility - an outdoor robotic test environment. A playground for robots, if you will, so we can really see what they can do.”
Robots have been highly successful in industrial environments where they often perform a sequence of pre-programmed movements, quickly and repetitively, often modelled on the human arm.
“They have no intelligence and the only human ‘interaction’ is with the highly trained robotics or automation engineer who programs, supervises and maintains them,” Dana said.
Useful to everyday humans are robots that are simpler and do fewer things. Coupled with sensor technologies, they can adapt to their environment as they go.
“Your home vacuum cleaner that zooms around the house when you tell it to is a likely way robotics systems will boom, in the immediate future anyway,” Dana said.
One project the team is working on is ‘what did the robot do in my absence?’ which explores how artificial intelligence can be used to find out what robots have done when unsupervised.
There are also humanoid robots, a long-term career interest of Dana’s, and many research versions have been developed over the last 20 years. Recently there’s been a huge surge by startups and big tech companies. But they’re complex and expensive to develop and maintain, and their widescale deployment in factories, workplaces and homes is still in the realm of Hollywood.
Dana explained that another way we can utilise autonomous robots is in challenging environments, which CSIRO has been testing in the real world.
“Humans and robots working together in hard to reach, dark and dangerous places is where benefits can really lie,” said Dana.
“The DARPA Subterranean Challenge, for example, had autonomous robotics teams navigate and map complex underground and urban environments, simulating search and rescue operations.”
CSIRO’s world-leading Robotics and Autonomous Systems Group was one of 11 teams selected worldwide for the DARPA Challenge, and the only Australian team. They beat NASA JPL, MIT, California Institute of Technology, and Carnegie Mellon University to claim second place.
With recent advances in artificial intelligence, we’re on the cusp of achieving all sorts of new things in robotics. Now we have the opportunity for them to be able to interact beneficially with humans.
Dana explained that the key part of CSIRO’s work in human-robot interaction is making AI understandable and accessible to everyday users.
“We want to develop robots that form part of an integrated team with everyday humans, not just specialists,” said Dana.
It means developing trust to work together, in spite of flaws, mistakes and misunderstandings that both humans and robots can have.
“The dream is to develop collaborative human-robot teams that are better than the sum of the parts. Help us address challenges like climate change, environmental monitoring, bush fire management and agriculture, for example.
“They’re all places I think human-robot teams can really make a big difference.”