Future domestic robotic assistants will be complex hybrid consumer products, integrated into human living spaces to perform daily tasks with us. While robotics technologies have seen a rapid advance in the last decade, state-of-the-art robotic systems are still challenged by frequent failures, especially for long-term autonomy. This is a potential barrier against acceptability and trustworthiness of these future systems.

FAILSAFE is funded by Horizon Digital Economy Research  and sits under their Consumer Products Campaign.  Research will investigate domestic appliance robots from the perspective of experts and end users and will involve exploring the potential of using a robotic arm to aid humans with the task of unloading a dishwasher in the home environment to facilitate the future uptake of the technology and aid inclusion/accessibility and independence of users in a range of settings.