1.Tell us about your background, journey and story.
I am currently based in Japan, in Waseda University. I came here long ago, by chance, and also by chance I have become a robotics researcher.
I have also lived for some periods in many
other countries, such as Peru, Germany and the UK. Before robotics, I was very
active in the videogames modding community of Sid Meier’s Civilization series,
to which I have contributed also as part of the official developing team.
2.What is the role of a Robotics specialist?
Robotics is at the intersection of different fields. There’s mechanics, electronics, computer science, AI, psychology, and more.
For a specialist of
human-robot interaction, this field offers space for creativity.
3.What do you think is the future of the applications of this field?
I think that the future is already past. We have to admit that robotics didn’t deliver on time in our struggle with coronavirus, it simply wasn’t ready.
There is still time, however, to see finally robots have a positive
impact in this struggle. We have, somehow, to catch up with the immediate past
(2020) and its needs.
4.Why did you choose to work in academia over the corporate sector?
I believe that working in academia means to be at the frontier of human knowledge. The corporate sector later has the great merit of bringing the newfound knowledge to the markets, but for me it’s more exciting to be in the front line.
5.What are the opportunities that this field offers?
In academia, opportunities are very few, especially the more you climb
the career steps and try to reach the top of the pyramid. The only way to
survive is to be competitive and hungry for what comes next.
6.Which is your favourite book and why?
I consider myself a millennial. Typically, millennials don’t read much,
preferring other forms of entertainment. For me, video games are the best art.
7.What are your future plans?
I want to make new version of my robots, DarumaTO and SanTO, and find a way to bring them to the society, finding the people who may actually need them.
At the same time,
there is a lot more to dig about the intricate relationship between robotics
and religion. My plan is to experiment and create more, finding the way to
bring innovation.
Interviewed by - Sugandha Dhanawade
Bio -
Gabriele Trovato is currently Assistant Professor in Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan, and Principal Investigator in Waseda of the EU-Japan Horizon 2020 project e-ViTA.
He received his M.S. degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Pisa, Italy, and Ph.D. degree in Biorobotics in Waseda University. Within the relations between the two countries, Gabriele Trovato has been in the organising committee of Italy-Japan Workshops since 2011.
He has been Visiting Researcher in Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Germany), Carnegie Mellon University (USA), University of Sao Paulo (Brazil), PUCP (Peru) and Imperial College London (UK) among others.
Gabriele Trovato has worked in the video game industry, being involved in the development of the world-wide notorious game series "Sid Meier's Civilization" and having created popular innovative mods for the game.
His main research interests are interdisciplinary and include Human-Robot Interaction, with focus on culture and religion related aspects, artificial emotions in humanoids, robot aesthetics, and procedural content generation.
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