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Hi there

We are SocRob@Home

Institute for Systems & Robotics

Team Description Paper

About the Team

The Intelligent Robots and Systems research group at the Intelligent for Systems and Robotics has led significant EU-funded projects focused on human-robot interactions and social behaviors. One notable initiative, the MOnarCH project, aimed to equip autonomous robots with capabilities to engage and entertain children facing health challenges, particularly those undergoing cancer treatment at the Instituto Português de Oncologia Francisco Gentil in Lisbon (IPO).

Following this, from 2013 to 2015, the RoCKIn project involved competitions designed to evaluate new benchmark methods in domestic and work environments, addressing complex challenges faced by state-of-the-art robots. Inspired by the success of these projects, we formed the SocRob@Home team, a dedicated group ready to tackle future challenges in robotics, including those presented in scientific competitions.

Our focus encompasses key areas such as perception and sensor fusion, decision-making under uncertainty, human-robot interaction, and manipulation and grasping. Together, we aim to advance the field of robotics and enhance the interactions between robots and their environments.

This is our newly launched website for 2025 and beyond. For additional details on our project history, you can look into our previous website here.

Competitions

RoboCup 2024

3rd Place
Jul 2024

Portugal Open 2024

2nd Place
May 2024

RoboCup 2023

2nd Place
Jul 2023

Portugal Open 2023

2nd Place
May 2023

SciRoc 2021

(Hybrid Event)
Sep 2021

RoboCup 2021

4th Place
Jun 2021

ERL Smart Cities

1st Tournament
Sep 2019

ERL Consumer

Local Tournament
Feb 2019

To mention other past competitions, SocRob@Home has consistently showcased its capabilities at international robotics events. In 2018, the team participated in the ERL Consumer Major Tournament in Madrid, and at RoboCup@Home, they earned a 4th place finish in the Open Platform SubLeague. SocRob@Home also competed at the Portuguese Robotics Open in Torre Vedras.

In 2017, they achieved standout results at the European Robotics League in Lisbon, ranking highly across categories including semantic mapping, navigation, and perception, and took 5th place in the RoboCup German Open. In 2016, they gained significant experience at the RoboCup in Leipzig.

Going back to 2015, SocRob@Home had a landmark performance at the RoCKIn Competition in Lisbon, winning two Task Benchmarks and tying for first in the RoCKIn@Home Challenge. They also made their debut at the RoboCup German Open that year, winning the "Most Appealing Robot" award.

Roster

Pedro Lima
Pedro Lima
Project Coordinator
Rodrigo Serra
Rodrigo Serra
Team Leader
Rui Bettencourt
Rui Bettencourt
PhD Student
Gabriel Nunes
Gabriel Nunes
Hardware Tech
Afonso Certo
Afonso Certo
MSc Student
Miguel Nabais
Miguel Nabais
MSc Student
Catarina Caramalho
Catarina Caramalho
MSc Student
Patrícia Torres
Patrícia Torres
MSc Student
António Morais
António Morais
MSc Student
Robin Steiger
Robin Steiger
MSc Student
Kevin Alcedo
Kevin Alcedo
PhD Student
Rodrigo Coimbra
Rodrigo Coimbra
MSc Student
Teresa Nogueira
Teresa Nogueira
MSc Student
André Silva
André Silva
Research Engineer
Matilde Vital
Matilde Vital
MSc Student

Are you looking for an amazing experience with real robots in a team environment, while contributing actively to state-of-the-art research and gaining personal experience that will prove fruitful for your academic and professional future?

If you are interested in joining SocRob@Home, please send an email to , or directly contact the responsible, stating who you are, your motivations, your academic background, and how you would contribute to this project.

Robots

Bob

Bob

Bob

2021 - Current

Description

The SocRob@Home TIAGo robot is a customized version of the TIAGo robot by PAL Robotics, designed for robotics competitions. It features a differential-drive base with a max speed of 1m/s, a torso with a 350mm stroke, a 7DoF arm with a 2.8kg payload, a parallel gripper, a 2DoF pan-tilt head, and a laptop tray with a 5kg payload.

Hardware

  • Azure Kinect Camera

  • Realsense Camera

  • Rode Mic

  • Ouster OS1

  • 2xHokuyo Laser

  • Jetson Xavier NX

  • TP-Link Switch

MBot

MBot

MBot

2016 - 2022

Description

The MBot is composed of two main parts: body and head. The head can pan and has LED backlight to express emotions through a drawn mouth, eyes, and cheeks. The body has all of the CPU devices (two motherboards with i7 processors), a touchscreen, and all of the navigation mechanics, based on a Four-Wheel Omnidirectional Mecanum drive.

Hardware

  • Cyton 1500 Robai Arm with 7 DoF

  • Rode Mic

  • Touchscreen

ISR-CoBot

ISR-CoBot

ISR-CoBot

2014

Description

ISR-CoBot was an experimental platform for research in Human-Robot Interaction (HRI). A service robot for office environments, it was designed to perform tasks for users. The research targeted a robust platform capable of navigating crowded environments and creating robots aware of their limitations and capable of autonomously asking humans for help.

Hardware

  • Touchscreen on a laptop for HRI

  • Hokuyo UTM-30LX

  • Kinect RGB-D

  • IP PTZ camera

  • Rode Mic

Publications

If you wish to have a full list of publications, please check this link.

Media

Watch SocRob performances and research on our YouTube Channel.