Trust is quickly becoming one of the central questions in robotics. As robots move out of controlled industrial environments and into hospitals, logistics centres, public buildings and urban spaces, organisations increasingly need to answer a simple but difficult question: can these machines actually be trusted to operate safely and responsibly? At the Robodam robotics event in Rotterdam, Rocking Robots spoke with Frank van der Hulst, co-founder of Stormcatch, a company focused on software infrastructure designed to help organisations verify and manage robot behaviour.
In the interview, Van der Hulst explains that Stormcatch’s technology focuses on one key challenge: enabling robots to prove their identity, their permissions and their actions. According to Van der Hulst, many organisations experimenting with robots encounter a similar obstacle. While the technology itself may function well, questions quickly arise around compliance, accountability and security. Stormcatch addresses this by building software systems that allow robots to demonstrate who they are, what they are allowed to do and what actions they have previously performed.
