Educational visit to the island of Lefkada

HERON Introduces High School Students to Core Concepts in Robotics and AI

Members of HERON, the Hellenic Robotics Centre of Excellence, completed a day visit to the island of Lefkada in the Ionian Sea, where they engaged with high school students by introducing them to key ideas and fundamental concepts in Robotics and AI. This educational visit took place in mid-May 2026 and featured four major talks.

The first one was delivered by Petros Maragos, Professor Emeritus at the National Technical University of Athens and Director & Scientific Coordinator at HERON, and was titled “Robotics in the Era of AI: Applications and and Perspectives.” Professor Maragos explained that robotics is an interdisciplinary scientific field whose aim is to develop intelligent machines that have the ability to perceive the environment they are operating in and adapt to it. The ultimate goal of robots is to serve, support, and help humans in conducting commercial and everyday tasks that can be considered dangerous, difficult, or tedious to humans. He briefly presented the mission and research areas of HERON and noted that human-robot interaction may prove particularly beneficial in  industry, healthcare, and education.

The second talk was given by Dr. Niki Efthymiou, Postdoctoral Researcher at the Institute of Robotics (IRO) of the Athena Research Center, Greece, and Senior Researcher at HERON. Niki presented core concepts in AI, machine learning, and LLMs and placed emphasis on how robots and automated systems acquire and process knowledge through a technique known as reinforcement learning. The third talk was presented by Ms. Eleni Mpei, an experienced Associate for Education & Events at HERON. Eleni spoke about the various HERON’s educational initiatives.

Finally, Sergios Theodoridis, Professor Emeritus at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and Head of Education at HERON, shared his thoughts with the general public in Lefkada on the philosophical question of whether AI may pose an existential threat to humanity. Professor Theodoridis provided an in-depth response to the above question and concluded that “every revolutionary technology that human civilization creates gives rise to hopes and promises of a better future, but at the same time raises fears of potential dangers and highlights new challenges for humanity.”