EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Future Autonomous Robotic Systems (FARSCOPE-TU: Towards Ubiquity)

FARSCOPE-TU(走向无处不在)将在机器人和自主系统(RAS)优先领域培养新一代“T型机器人专家”。T形意味着毕业生将把个人博士研究经验的深度与对优先领域的广泛认识结合起来，包括跨越多个学科的技术工具和主题。通过对未来RAS将在其中运作的行业和社会背景的深入了解，广度将得到加强。这些毕业生将满足RAS未来创新者的需求，行业合作伙伴的需求和不断增长的研究投资证明了这一点，以提供潜在的英国在RAS领域的全球领导地位。这种需求跨越了许多应用和技术，因此FARSCOPE-TU采用了广泛而雄心勃勃的RAS无处不在的愿景，激发了研究挑战，使RAS与其环境更具互动性。FARSCOPE-TU的培训经验经过精心设计，通过引入来自许多学科的学生，并通过个人研究和队列活动的综合计划来提高他们的技能，这些活动在四年的学习中混合在一起。FARSCOPE-TU的研究挑战需要多学科的思考，因为计算机科学和工程的使能技术与心理学、生物学、政策、伦理学、法律等问题相互作用。来自不同背景的学生将被招募，通过基础培训和同行学习在一开始就支持重新培训。第一年将作为一个正式的学习方案组织起来，相当于一个硕士学位。剩下的三年将专注于博士研究，其间穿插着强制性的基于队列的培训，以更新第一年的内容，所有这些都要接受年度进展监测。主题将包括负责任的创新、企业、公众参与和行业背景。FARSCOPE-TU已与19个组织建立了合作伙伴关系，这些组织与其愿景相同，帮助共同创建了培训计划，并涵盖了与CDT对RAS的广泛解释一致的技术和应用。合作伙伴参与度将是涵盖行业背景培训的核心。合作伙伴和FARSCOPE-TU小组还共同创建了一个灵活的接触机制方案，旨在支持不同的合作伙伴规模和兴趣，使协作得以发展，并对潜在的新合作伙伴作出反应。该计划包括指导、合作伙伴之间的相互培训、研究和行业项目的合作、赞助和杠杆融资机会。合作伙伴承诺以250万英镑的杠杆支持FARSCOPE-TU，其中包括来自东道主的15个学生名额和来自行业的12个赞助名额。FARSCOPE-TU将在内部以及由于其愿景包括机器人与社会互动的情况下，在其研究中促进平等、多样性和包容性。例如，FARSCOPE-TU可以考虑训练数据偏差将如何影响人类与家庭辅助机器人之间的平等互动。FARSCOPE-TU将发起一项备受瞩目的单一平等计划，名为“包容性机器人”，将包括明确目标在内的业务举措与活动和培训结合起来，与负责任的创新和人类互动联系在一起。FARSCOPE-TU将颁发由布里斯托尔大学和英格兰西部大学合作伙伴颁发的联合博士学位。CDT将通过他们建立的布里斯托尔机器人实验室合作伙伴关系来运行，提供超过4500平方米的专用RAS实验室空间和一个由50多名主管组成的社区。BRL现有的FARSCOPE CDT提供了强大的记录保障，迄今已在四个队列中招募了46名学生，并批准了一个联合计划。FARSCOPE-TU在这一经验的基础上进行了第一年的修订，以支持多样化的招生和早期合作伙伴参与、增强的情景培训、新的T形概念和更广泛的普及性愿景。

FARSCOPE-TU (Towards Ubiquity) will train a new generation of "T-shaped roboticists" in the priority area of Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS). T-shaping means graduates will combine the depth of individual PhD research experience with broad awareness of the priority area, including technical tools and topics spanning multiple disciplines. Breadth will be enhanced by strong understanding of the industrial and societal context in which future RAS will operate. These graduates will meet the need for future innovators in RAS, evidenced by industrial partner demand and growing research investment, to deliver potential UK global leadership in the RAS area. That need spans many applications and technologies, so FARSCOPE-TU adopts a broad and ambitious vision of RAS ubiquity, motivating the research challenge to make RAS that are significantly more interactive with their environments.The FARSCOPE-TU training experience has been carefully designed to support T-shaping by bringing in students from many disciplines and upskilling them through an integrated programme of individual research and cohort activities, which mix together throughout the four years of study. The FARSCOPE-TU research challenge necessitates multidisciplinary thinking, as the enabling technologies of computer science and engineering interface with questions of psychology, biology, policy, ethics, law and more. Students from this diverse range of backgrounds will be recruited, with reskilling supported through fundamental training and peer learning at the outset. The first year will be organized as a formal programme of study, equivalent to a Masters degree. The remaining three years will focus on PhD research, punctuated by mandatory cohort-based training to refresh first year content and all subject to annual progress monitoring. Topics will include responsible innovation, enterprise, public engagement, and industrial context.FARSCOPE-TU has formed partnerships with 19 organizations who share its vision, have helped co-create the training programme, and span technologies and applications that align with the CDT's broad interpretation of RAS. Partner engagement will be central to covering industrial context training. Partners and the FARSCOPE-TU team have also co-created a flexible programme of engagement mechanisms, designed to support a diverse set of partner sizes and interests, to allow collaborations to evolve, and to be responsive to potential new partners. The programme includes mentoring, mutual training by and for partners, collaboration on research and industry projects, sponsorship and leveraged funding opportunities. Partners have committed £2.5M in leverage to support FARSCOPE-TU including 15 studentships from the hosts and 12 sponsored places from industry.FARSCOPE-TU will promote equality, diversity and inclusion both internally and, since the vision includes robots interacting with society, in its research. For example, FARSCOPE-TU could consider how training data bias would affect equality of interaction between humans and home assistance robots. FARSCOPE-TU will instigate a high-profile Single Equality Scheme named "Inclusive Robotics" that combines operational initiatives, including explicit targets, with events and training, linked to responsible innovation and human interaction. FARSCOPE-TU will deliver a joint PhD award, badged by partners University of Bristol and University of the West of England. The CDT will be run through their established Bristol Robotics Lab partnership, providing over 4,500sqm dedicated RAS laboratory space and a community of over 50 supervisors. BRL's existing FARSCOPE CDT provides the security of a strong track record, with 46 students recruited in four cohorts so far and an approved joint programme. FARSCOPE-TU builds on that experience with a revised first year to support diverse intake and early partner engagement, enhanced contextual training, the new T-shape concept and the wider ubiquity vision.