She is generally enthusiastic about research in outdoor robotics since factors like weather, terrain, or climatically challenging conditions always have to be taken into account. “There are endless areas where robots could make people's work easier – in construction, agriculture, waste collection …” Jana Jost is explicitly not concerned with taking away jobs but with relieving people in their work – such as by taking over long distances, heavy loads, or tasks under critical conditions. “The interaction between humans and robots should always feel good,” emphasizes the researcher, for whom human-robot interaction has been especially close to her heart from the start.
While the five robots in the ITL hall fall into the category of “mobile driving robots,” Jana Jost is particularly looking forward to a newcomer: ADA, the first humanoid robot at ITL, still safely packed in a transport box from China. Her passion lies with robots suitable for human-robot interaction, such as EMILI, a robot that accompanied her professional journey for years even beyond her doctorate. This robot could adjust to the respective human measurements and was controllable via different interactions. “We tested, for example, a brain-computer interface where signals are sent via sensors on the human scalp,” she reports. However, this is still quite error-prone. “Ideally, you would have robots that offer suitable interaction possibilities depending on the respective person.” Because then, all people – regardless of culture, language, disability, or ambient noise – could be relieved.
