2024 Colibri Focus Workshop

Biohybrids through Organism-Technology-Interactions
- Models, Methods, Potentials, Epistemology & Ethics -

The rise of autonomous robotics, machine learning and A.I., and automated model building technology become game-changer technologies in ethology, behavioral psychology and sociology, especially if these techniques are combined. The fact that there are more and more cheap, electrically efficient and miniaturized electronics on the market allows to scale such systems enormously, allowing on the one hand applications of bio-hybrid systems “in the wild” and on the other hand setups based on 24/7 long-term monitoring and behavioral modulation of organisms in the lab. These changes have the potential to be the onset of a new area in ethology, where a paradigm shift from hypothesis-driven experimental setups is seemingly made towards rather data-driven scientific approaches, as they are already the state of the art in other fields of biology, like molecular biology, systems biology and the *-omics (transcriptomics, proteomics, connectomics, ...). Here we want to bring together the leading researchers in this novel emerging field of science, who conduct cutting-edge research in the field of organism-technology interaction, thus who successfully intersect humans, animals, plants, fungi or bacteria with autonomous digital technologies, ranging from sensor/actuator networks to swarms of autonomous, often bio-inspired and/or bio-mimetic, robots. The goal is to reflect on how these new technologies can shape research in the life sciences, combining scientific and technological contributions with the perspective of contemporary philosophy of science and epistemology.

Specific goals/subjects:

How can technology interact effectively, efficiently, ethically and ecologically with living organisms?
How do bio-mimetic, bio-inspired, bio-hybrid and artificial life approaches differ from one another?
What roles can artificial intelligence and machine learning play in organism-technology-interaction?
How can the use of biohybrids in ethological research be epistemologically justified?
What are the potentials, challenges and dangers of technologically augmented organ(ism)ic systems?
What kind of paradigm shift, if any, is organism-robot interaction technology introducing in ethology?
What are critical relationships among the robotic features, organismic traits and tested hypotheses?
Can organism-robot interaction experiments lead to genuine explanations of organism behavior?
Can biohybrids automate important steps of scientific research and discovery?
What should be ethical guidelines for robots-and-animals-in-the-loop experiments?
What is the epistemological status of organism-robot interaction experiments in life science research?

Contact:

thomas.schmickl@uni-graz.at

Community:

We welcome all leading scientists in the field of organism-technology-interaction systems.

Confirmed speakers:

Biology:

Prof. Thomas Schmickl (Swarm systems and biohybrid Systems, Institute of Biology, University of Graz, Austria)
Prof. Jean-Louis Deneubourg (Centre for Nonlinear Phenomena and Complex Systems, Department of Animal Biology, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium)
Prof. Thorsten Schwerte (Biocybernetics and Bionics, Institute of Zoology, University of Innsbruck, Austria)
Prof. Manfred Hartbauer (Institute of Biology, Bionics and Neurobiology group, University of Graz, Austria)
Dr. Ronald Thenius (Biohybrid Environmental Monitoring, Institute of Biology, University of Graz, Austria)

Engineering:

Prof. Donato Romano (Bio-Robotic Ecosystems Lab, Sant'Anna Scuola Universitaria Superiore, Pisa, Italy)
Prof. Ritu Raman (Mechanical Engineering at MIT, Cambridge, MS, USA)
Prof. Farshad Arvin (Swarm & Computational Intelligence Lab, University of Durham, United Kingdom)
Prof. Tomas Krajnik (Artificial Intelligence Center, Prague, Czech Technical University)
Prof. Emanuela del Dottore (Bioinspired and Soft Robotics group, University of Pisa, Italy)
Prof. Erol Sahin (Center for Robotics and AI, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey)
Prof. Reinhold Scherer (Computer Science and Electronic Engineering, University of Essex, UK)
Dr. Wen-Chi Yang (Chief Data Scientist at Bocom Holding Group, Shanghai, China)

Psychology:

Prof. Sivia Kober (Neuropsychology group, Institute of Psychology, University of Graz, Austria)
Prof. Sonja Kleih-Dahms (Neural and Behavioral Sciences, International Max Planck Research School, University of Tübingen, Germany)
Prof. Guilherme Wood ( Neuropsychology group, Institute of Psychology, University of Graz, Austria)

Philosophy & Ethics:

Prof. Edoardo Datteri (Laboratory of Robotics for the Cognitive and Social Sciences, University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy)
Prof. Marco Tamborini (Institute of Philosophy, Technical University Darmstadt)

Keynotes:

The 4 main keynote talks will be given by the 4 organizers: Donato Romano (Biomimetic Robotics), Thomas Schmickl (Cyborg Beehives & Swarm Intelligence), Silvia Kober (Neurointerfaces & -feedback), Edoardo Datteri (Philosophy of Science).

The program will consist of 12-14 invited talks, poster session, panel discussion & social events.

Poster session:

We welcome further audience and poster contributions, especially from PhD students of the COLIBRI initiative or from the contributing EU project consortia.

Date & Venue:

18th-19th of February 2024, University of Graz, Austria (www.uni-graz.at).

The main reception desk will be in front of: Graz, Austria, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 2, 1st floor, Lecture room 02.11 (pointers to other rooms will be given there)

Travel costs:

This is a COLIBRI Focus Workshop (https://colibri.uni-graz.at/en/research/ ), thus COLIBRI will cover travel costs & accommodation of all invited speakers with several hundred Euro, details on the exact amount will follow later.