[LUM#12] A whole program

[LUM Magazine] - Published on July 28, 2020 in Doctoral training and hdr, Science-Society

Anastasia Bolotnikova, a specialist in human-robot physical interaction, programs Pepper to help the frail and elderly with their daily tasks. This doctoral student from Montpellier's Computer Science, Robotics and Microelectronics Laboratory is already making a name for herself with her revolutionary work.

Hal-9000, Astro and C-3PO can go get dressed. Introducing Pepper ! More Wall-E than Terminator, this little humanoid robot's mission is to assist the frail and elderly with their daily movements. At the helm of this technological gem is Anastasia Bolotnikova, doctoral student at the Montpellier Laboratory of Computer Science, Robotics and Microelectronics(Lirmm).

An extraordinary experience

At just 26, this computer and mathematics geek wields algorithms like a wrench. A 3.0 puppeteer, Pepper didn't resist for long. " I program him, he moves and does what I tell him to, it's an extraordinary experience.

The days of Space Odyssey and " I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that " seem well and truly over for robots, and it's calibrated to the millimeter that Pepper will fulfill its delicate function: " Helping people by compensating for their weaknesses, supporting them when they make a gesture or move " explains Anastasia, who, as a specialist in physical human-robot interaction, operates at the frontier of these two worlds. " Programming a robot is complex, but understanding how people want to move is far more complicated still." 

From Airbus to SoftBank

It was in Estonia in 2014 that young Anastasia discovered robotics. Her university had a small NAO robot, made famous in 2005 by the French start-up Aldebaran, before it was acquired by the Japanese SoftBank Robotics. That was my first encounter with a robot, " she says, " so maybe that's where it all started. Two years later, as a Master's student in computer science, she decided to come to France and did her internship at Lirmm, where she worked " in collaboration with Airbus on the multitasking control of humanoid robots ".

This work has already won the best student paper award "awarded in China in 2017. She was then recruited by SoftBank to program Pepper as part of a thesis. One foot in the company, the other still at Lirmm. A situation that fully satisfies the doctoral student : " It's different from pure research, in a company there's a scenario to fit research into a business plan. With this experience, I'll be able to choose between the public and private sectors.

In the real world

A future in the image of her work...programmed! A 2019 winner of the prestigious Jeunes talents-France prize awarded by the L'Oréal-Unesco foundation, the researcher didn't hesitate when it came to using the €15,000 awarded. " It's a unique opportunity to develop my professional career by going to meet the world's best scientists in my field. " On the agenda: Japan, of course, but above all " Italy and Germany, who excel in robotics ".

In the meantime, her romance with Pepper continues, and before seeing his mistress off, he has a year to perfect his skills in real-life situations with volunteer residents of EHPAD. A great achievement for Anastasia Bolotnikova, who sees it as an opportunity to " show that [her] research works and is useful in the real world".

Key words : doctoral students, IT, LUM#12, LUM Magazine, Robotics