European Robotics Week 2020 (ERW2020) began on Thursday and hundreds of interactive robotics events for the public have been announced. These will take place in countries across Europe and beyond, to show how robots will impact the way we work, live, and learn.

In a year when humanity has faced a global pandemic crisis, robotics companies and researchers across Europe have been able to demonstrate how robotics help societies and economies to keep operating in a world affected by Covid-19.

With the opportunities arising from Europe’s digital transformation driven by new technologies like artificial intelligence, robotics, cloud computing and blockchain, the demand for ICT specialists continues to grow. In the future, 9 out of 10 jobs will require digital skills (source). Yet fewer women than men take up ICT-related jobs and education: for every 1000 women, only 24 graduate in digital fields (source). European Robotics Week (ERW) promotes digital skills for everyone to be used everywhere, be it in school, at university or on the job, putting the emphasis on inspiring girls to follow STEM-related careers.

What is happening in Europe?

Since 2011, European Robotics Week has been encouraging robotics researchers, universities and industry to open their doors to the public to raise awareness of the contribution that robots can make to our society. In 2020, despite the limitations imposed on physical events by restrictions to tackle the spread of Covid, organisers have been resourceful in arranging hundreds of activities throughout European and and beyond.

See the full list of activities: www.robotics-week.eu

ERW Central Event 23-25 November, Sarajevo, Bosnia (BiH) ONLINE

Every year the ERW chooses a location to host the Central Event, with an opening ceremony and an eco-system of various engaging activities. This year’s Central Opening event is hosted in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzigovina, during 23-25 November. The ERW2020 Central Event will be delivered entirely digitally, meaning that a great many people both within BiH and beyond, including children, will be able to interact with ERW2020’s online fair, workshops, webinars and lectures and competitions.

Under the theme Robotics for Humanity, the Central Event of ERW2020 in Bosnia and Herzegovina will focus on the positive effects of robotics and technology on everyday life, economy and health, especially taking into account challenges arising from global COVID-19 pandemic and technology’s potential to address them.

The event will also mark the 10th anniversary of European Robotics Week and it will coincide with the European Researchers’ Night celebrated on 27 November. It will be run by the Association for promotion of culture, science and cinematography BALKANFILM and the Info Centre of European Union to Bosnia and Herzigovina.

Background of European Robotics Week

ERW was conceived with the desire of the European Robotics community to bring robotics research and development closer to the public and to build the future Robotics Society. Many more than 550,000 people across Europe have been part of ERW since its first edition in 2011. The European Robotics Week is organised under SPARC, the public-private partnership for robotics between euRobotics and the European Commission.
European Robotics Week 2020 (ERW2020) takes place across Europe and beyond during 19-29 November 2020.

www.robotics-week.eu

Social media

• Hashtag #ERW2020
• Twitter: twitter.com/eu_Robotics twitter.com/SPARCrobotics
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/euRobotics www.facebook.com/SPARCrobotics
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/eurobotics-aisbl
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/user/euRobotics

Europe is focussed on making robots that work for the benefit of society. This requires empowering future roboticists and users of all ages and backgrounds. In its 9th edition, the European Robotics Week (#ERW2019) is expected to host more than 1000 events across Europe. Over the years, and over 5,000 events, the organisers have learned a thing or two about reaching the public, and ultimately making the robots people want.

Demystify robotics

For many, robots are only seen in the media or science fiction. The robotics community promises ubiquitous robots, yet most people don’t encounter robots in their work or daily lives. This matters. The Eurobarometer 2017 survey of attitudes towards the impact of digitisation found that the more familiar people are with robots, the more positive they are about the technology. A recent workshop for ERW organisers highlighted the “importance of being able to touch, feel, see and enjoy the presence of robots in order to remove the ‘fear factor’ and improve the image of robots.” People need to interact with real robots to understand their potential, and limitations.

Bring robots to public places

Most robotics events happen where roboticists and their robots already are, in universities and industry. This works well for those who show interest in the field, and have the means to attend. To reach a broader audience, robots need to be brought to public places, such as city centres, or shopping malls. ERW organisers said “don’t expect ordinary people to come to universities.” In Ghent Belgium for example, space was found in the city library to give visitors an opportunity to interact with robots. More recently, the Smart Cities Robotics (SciRoc) challenge held an international robot competition in a shopping mall in the UK.

Tackle global challenges

Robots have a role to play in tackling today’s most pressing challenges, whether it’s the environment, healthcare, assistive living, or education. Robots can also improve efficiencies in industry and avoid 4D (dangerous, dirty, difficult, drudgerous) jobs. This is not often explicitly highlighted, with robots presented for the sake of it as fun gadgets, instead of useful tools. By positioning robots as the helpers of tomorrow, we empower users to imagine their applications, and roboticists receive meaningful feedback on their use. Such applications may also be more exciting for a broader diversity of people.

The ‘Blue-Eyed Dragon’ Robot by Biljana Vicković (with the University of Belgrade, Mihajlo Institute, Robotics Laboratory Belgrade, Serbia) for example introduced an innovative and socially useful robotic artwork into a public space with a tin recycling function. It integrates robotics into an artwork with a demonstrable ecological, social and cultural impact. “The essence of this innovative work of art is that it enables the public to interact with it. As such people are direct participants and not merely an audience. In this way contemplation is replaced by action.” says its creator.

Tell stories about people who work with robots

Useful robots will ultimately be embedded in society, our work, our lives. Their role is often presented from the developers’s or industry’s perspective. This leaves the public with the sense that robots are being “done to them”, rather than with them. By bringing the users in the discussion, we hear stories of how they use the technology, what their hopes and concerns are, and ultimately design better robots and inspire future users to make use of robots themselves.

Bring a diversity of people together 

Making robots requires a large range of backgrounds, from social sciences, law, and business, to hardware and software engineering. Domain expertise, will also be key. Assistive robots will require input from nurse carers for example. Engaging with a diverse population of makers and users will help ensure the technology is developed for everyone. The ERW2019 central event in Poznan features a panel dedicated to women in digital and robotics.
Carmela Sánchez from Hisparob in Spain says “this year, our motto for ERW is Robotic Thinking and Inclusion. We focus on how robotics and computational thinking can help inclusion: inclusion of different abilities, social, and economic backgrounds, and genders.”

Avoid hype and exaggerations 

Inflated expectations about robotics may lead to disappointment when robots are deployed, or may lead to unfounded fears about their use. A recent ERW organiser commented “Robots are not prevalent or visible in society at large and so prevailing perceptions about robots are largely shaped by media presentation, which too often resort to negative stereotypes.” It’s worth noting robots are typically made for a single task, and many do not look like a humanoid robot. With this lens, robots no longer seem too difficult to engineer, and are far from science fiction depictions. This could be empowering for those who would like to become roboticist, and could help users imagine robots that would be helpful to them. The Smart CIties Robotics challenge for example showed the crowds how robots could help them take a lift, or deliver emergency medicine in a mall.

Teach teachers

By teaching teachers to teach robotics, we can reach many more students than what is possible through all the European Robotics Week combined. Lia Garcia, founder of Logix5 and a national coordinator of ERW in Spain underscored the need to engage the education sector: “We have to work with teachers. We need to get robotics onto the school curriculum, onto the teaching college curriculum and to get to teachers who teach teachers.” Workshops that teach educators, and help spread the word among local teachers are essential. As an added encouragement, they could receive CPD (continuing professional development) credits for taking part in robotics workshops. The ERW2019 central event in Poznan features a workshop dedicated to robotics education in Europe on 15 November.

Run competitions

Competitions are an important way of bringing students into robotics. It’s fun, and exciting, and shows they can build something that works in the real world. Europe now hosts several large robotics competitions including the European Robotics League (Emergency, Consumer, Professional, and Smart Cities). While these competitions are tailored to university students, others are run for kids. The ERW event page already has over 100 robot competitions and challenges listed for this year. Fiorella Operto from Scuola di Robotica has coordinated more than 100 teams from all over Italy committed to using a humanoid robot to promote the Italian Cultural Heritage. The 2020 edition of the NAO Challenge is devoted to “Arts&Cultures”, asking robotics to improve the knowledge of and to promote beautiful Italian art.

Keep it fun

More than ever, we have a broad range of tools to engage with the public. It could be as simple as drawing pictures of robots, to developing robot-themes escape rooms, or engaging on social media including youtube, twitter, instagram and tiktok. Robots are fun, which is why they are such good tools in education. Be creative with demos and activities. Make robots dance, allow people to decorate them, play games. University of Bristol for example will be running a swarm-themed escape room called Swarm Escape!.

Engage with stakeholders

Events with the public are a good opportunity to engage with stakeholders, including government, industry, and users. This is important as stakeholders will ultimately be the ones making robots a reality. Having them participate in such events helps them understand the potential, invest in technology and skills, and shape policy. It could also provide funding for some of the more ambitious events. “For the first time since 2012, Robotics Place, the cluster of Occitanie, organizes a one day meeting with its members on November 20th in Toulouse. Robotics Place members will meet with press, politics, students, partners and professional customers.” says Philippe Roussel, a local coordinator for France.

Act regionally, connect across Europe

Events are present across Europe, organised regionally for the local community. Connecting these events at a European scale increases impact, raise awareness, builds momentum, and allows for lessons to be shared across the content. euRobotics and Digital Innovation Hubs provide valuable resources for these purposes.

Yet there is a divide in access, with cities being better catered to than rural communities, or areas that are poorer. The challenge is to provide everyone with access and exposure to robotics and its opportunities. Extra effort should be made to reach out to underserved communities, for example using a “robot roadshow”. Organisers of ERW said “a further benefit of this cross-border approach would be to enhance the European dimension.” As an example, from May 2020, a 105m long floating Science Center called the MS Experimenta will be touring southern Germany, bringing science from port to port.

Get involved

Feeling inspired, ready to make a difference? Organise your own European Robotics Week event, big or small, and register it here along with the over 900 events already announced.

A recent report by the OECD showed that Europe is only capitalising on a fraction (12%) of its digital potential. Most companies limit their digital use to email and internet. Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) are particularly slow to integrate digital technologies. The recent Digital Economy and Society Index Report found that “Less than a fifth of companies in the EU-28 are highly digitised“ and that “Use of robots is low on an EU level, with 6.7% of all enterprises using industrial or service robots. The share of large enterprises that use robots is four times higher than the share of SMEs.” 

Yet advances in robotics, AI, cloud computing, and big data have the potential to boost productivity and change the industrial landscape.

Image 1: Use of robots in the EU in 2018. Source: Eurostat

Digital Innovation Hubs

In an effort to increase uptake of digital technologies in companies, the European Commission promised 500M € in 2016, over 5 years, to launch Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs). DIHs are regional one-stop-shops that help companies access the latest knowledge, expertise, and technology to prototype and test their own digital innovations, network, receive financing advice and market intelligence. 

Key to the success of DIHs is to build on core technology infrastructures, so-called Competence Centres (CC), and other existing structures, and link them on a regional level. The idea is that every company should be able to access at least one DIH within their region. This is especially important since most SMEs confess not knowing where to start when it comes to integrating digital technologies into their companies.

“The DIHs funded by the EU Commission can boost digitalisation in Europe in an effective way by supporting both the public sector and SMEs to become more competitive in a global market” says Francesco Ferro, CEO of the Spanish SME PAL Robotics.

The catalogue of Digital Innovation Hubs, hosted by the Joint Research Centre in Sevilla, currently includes over 290 operational hubs across Europe, with 200 more in preparation. The hubs span the full digital landscape, including robotics, artificial intelligence, big data, high-performance computing and cybersecurity, as well as its applications in healthcare, manufacturing, agriculture and food production, maintenance and inspection.

Image 2: Location of Digital Innovation Hubs. Source: Digital Innovation Hub Catalogue

Focus on Robotics

Robotics is central to Europe’s Digital Strategy and 196 of the registered DIHs have identified robotics as an area of expertise. In addition, the European Commission awarded 80M € since 2018 to 5 DIH networks with a robotics focus. Each of these brings together one or two dozen DIHs, with the aim of expanding to even more during the project. 

The Horizon 2020 projects Trinity and DIH² focus on Agile production, RIMA promotes the uptake of robotics for inspection and maintenance applications, DIH-HERO facilitates the healthcare robotics sector, and agROBOfood enables the adoption of robotics technologies in the agri-food sector. To coordinate these projects, the Coordination and Support Action (CSA) RODIN started last November with funding of 2M € over five years to cover the whole life-cycle of the network projects. The aim is to present a harmonised interface to the overall landscape of robotics DIHs, coordinate events and calls, share best practice, and connect with similar networks in other areas, such as DIHNET.EU (Next Generation European DIH Network).

Open calls for funding from robotics DIHs

Networks of Networks

DIHNET.EU, the 1M € three-year project launched in November, coordinates the whole network of DIHs in different domains such as robotics, cybersecurity, photonics, advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence, high-performance-computing, software, big data, agriculture, and more. Think of it as a pan-European network of networks. DIHNET.EU promotes collaboration between DIHs through workshops and events, provides tools and an on-line community platform for DIHs, and is the link to the JRC that maintains the DIH catalogue. The project provides an overview of DIHs to the outside world and helps the European Commission shape DIH-related workshops. To promote the sharing of best practice, DIHNET.EU just launched the Champions Challenge to identify, show and support success stories from mature DIHs that can inspire and guide other DIHs in their developments.

Image 3: Landscape of robotics DIH networks. Source: euRobotics

“The DIHNET.EU project is meant to link all relevant initiatives around DIHs together and to create sustainability. Sharing of best practice, creation of awareness and synergies across application sectors, technologies, and regions will help shape a pan-European business ecosystem” says Reinhard Lafrenz, Secretary General of euRobotics.

The effort is being led by two well-established associations representing over 400 European organisations from Industry and Research: the Big Data Value Association and euRobotics. A first step in this process saw the launch of a consultation document in Brussels last week entitled “Strategic Research, Innovation and Deployment Agenda for an AI PPP”.

The opportunity for Europe

The strategy document comes on the backdrop of international competition, with every country vying to take the lead in AI.

Roberto Viola, Director-General of the European Commission, DG CONNECT, linked it to the recently disputed European Champions League match between Tottenham and Liverpool, which saw an unexpected roster of teams make the final. “Are you sure that China and the US will lead AI? Watch our planes, watch our industrial robots, watch our cars – why are we so shy about our successes? I’ve been around the world, and I’m always asked how Europe can work with other countries in AI. I don’t think we’ve lost the race, in fact I don’t think it’s a race. If it’s a race, it’s about delivering good services in AI to Europeans. We can be in the final of the Champions league.”

Viola says harmonious cross-fertilisation across three dimensions is needed to make AI a success in Europe. First, the EU needs to mainstream AI in society and the economy. Companies have to find their place, and there is a big role for the public to support AI and its introduction in real scenarios. This is the part missing in the EU, compared to US and China. There is a need for more big public procurement. Second, there is a need to push for research and development in AI through European funding programmes, and third, policy is needed to accompany the development of AI in society.

Photo: Roberto Viola, Director-General of the European Commission, DG CONNECT; Credits: Octavian Carare

Trustworthy AI

Viola says “Europe was one of the first to develop ethical codes in AI, and now everyone is doing it. It shows that we know what is important and the impact and relevance of AI for society.”  Responsible AI was the leitmotif of the day, with everyone highlighting it as Europe’s unique selling point. The message was clear, Europe can do excellent AI, but is leading in terms of deploying it with society in mind. Juha Heikkilä, Head of the Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Unit at the European Commission says “Europe is doing things in a different way – that takes the citizen into account.”

AI Market Opportunity

The combination of big data, advances in algorithms, computing power, and advanced robotics is opening up new market opportunities for AI enabled systems.

Photo: David Bisset, Director – euRobotics, Sonja Zillner, Siemens AG; Credits: Octavian Carare

Sonja Zillner from Siemens, Co-Chief Editor for the strategy, says “the vision is to boost EU industrial competitiveness and lead the world in development and deployment value-driven trustworthy AI”. When asked for their preferred applications for the development of AI, the public requested improved healthcare services, energy efficiency, and availability of trains, as well as increased productivity in digital factories. This led to the realisation, Zillner adds, that “AI is across all sectors. All the sectors are investing. This is an important take-home – working across sectors is really central. We want to leverage AI driven market opportunity, across all sectors.”

A European AI Framework

David Bisset, Executive Director of euRobotics and Co-Chief Editor of the strategy presented an AI Framework that builds on the legal and societal fabric that underpins the impact of AI in Europe. Central to the success of this framework will be an ecosystem that brings together skills, data, and environments to experiment and deploy the technology.  Bisset says “we need data stores, regulatory sandboxes that allow us to test robots in cities without breaking the rules, we need EU regulation that creates a level playing field”. New technologies that work across sectors are needed for sensing, measurement and perception, continuous and integrated knowledge, trustworthy, hybrid decision making, physical and human action and interaction, systems, methodologies, and hardware.

Boosting the adoption of AI in Europe faces several challenges however, including the lack of skills, technology problems, lack of private investment, complexity of deploying products, and the policy and regulation landscape. Bisset says “We need a collective action from all stakeholders to address these challenges – we need an AI Innovation ecosystem”. Stakeholders include researchers, innovators, technology creators, regulators, users, citizens, investors, data suppliers, and application providers.

The implementation of the AI PPP will address the following Working Areas.

WA1: Mobilising the EU AI ecosystem

WA2: Skills and acceptance

WA3: Innovation and market enablers

WA4: Guiding standards and regulation

WA5: Promoting Research Excellence

Words of Wisdom

The event closed with a panel discussion, here are some nuggets of wisdom.

Photo: Panel; Credits: Octavian Carare

“We will not have enough people to treat patients. Without AI, without robotics, it will be a disaster for patients. Whatever the cost, patients will demand their treatments. Treatments will be better, more precise with AI.”  Rolf Roussaint, Director of Anaesthesiology at University Hospital Aachen.

“We need to measure that AI is bringing benefits – measurable AI is important, maybe more important than explainable AI” Henk-Jan Vink, TNO Managing Director Unit ICT.

“We should not be too shy about what the EU is doing in AI – we should be proud.”

“We need to be inclusive, it’s not robotics vs AI. We see robotics and AI as two sides of the same coin. One is a physical instantiation of AI. We need to join forces.” Juha Heikkilä, Head of Unit, Robotics and Artificial Intelligence, DG CONNECT, European Commission.

“Don’t fall in love with the technology – researchers are in love with the technology – and industry with profit. Instead we need use cases proving the new benefits for services and impacts on quality of life that AI can bring.” Gabriella Cattaneo, Associate Vice President of IDC4EU European Government Consulting Unit.

“There will be no progress for AI if we can’t find a way for researchers and startups to have access to data.” Hubert Tardieu, ATOS, Advisor to the CEO.

“In China and the US data is not an issue. The EU doesn’t have that data however – or it’s not shared due to concern. Focussing on the citizen is really important, but we also need to push for access to data.” Federico Milani, Deputy Head of Unit, Data Policies and Innovation, DG CONNECT, European Commission.

Call for collaboration

To conclude the event, Thomas Hahn, President of BDVA and Bernd Liepert, President of euRobotics, moderators of this event and the panel, launched a call for participation and collaboration to all European players active in this domain and committed to boost AI adoption in Europe!

Photo: Bernd Liepert, President of euRobotics, Thomas Hahn, President of BDVA, Credits: Octavian Carare

]]> https://robohub.org/bucharest-was-the-european-capital-of-robotics-for-erf2019/ Thu, 25 Apr 2019 12:53:42 +0000 https://robohub.org/bucharest-was-the-european-capital-of-robotics-for-erf2019/

European Robotics Forum, the most influential meeting of the robotics and AI community, held its 10th anniversary edition in Romania. The event was organized Under the High Patronage of the President of Romania and Under the Patronage of the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

The most advanced prototypes, high end technology projects, financed under Horizon 2020, were exhibited to be admired and analysed at JW Marriott between 20 and 22 March.

Among the robots that were displayed one could find: the famous REEM-C – the humanoid robot that speaks 9 languages and that costs 1 million euro, QT – the robot especially created to help children who suffer from autism, Trimbot – the gardening robot that will help cut the roses and the bushes, as well as other prototypes that take innovation to the next level. Among the exhibitors we could also find Romanian companies developing advanced software solutions for international robotics companies.

European Robotics Forum was also a great opportunity for a multidisciplinary approach of some essential topics related to the future developments of technology in Europe. 900 experts gathered in over 50 workshops to discuss the future of robotics and AI in a European landscape that is shaping its future more and more under the sign of technology and innovation.

”European Robotics Forum is THE annual event for robotics in Europe, gathering a vibrant community, with more than 900 participants from Robotics and neighbouring communities, such as big data or cybersecurity, offering a unique opportunity for academia and industry to discuss and boost together science and innovation. We count on the robotics community to drive the development of AI in Europe, being at the forefront of the digital transformation for the benefit of our economy and society”, said Lucilla Sioli Director “Artificial Intelligence and Digital Industry”, DG Connect, European Commission, during the Opening of the Forum.

”European integration flourishes when industry is strong. Automation through robots and artificial intelligence increases productivity and therefore brings jobs and prosperity to Europe”, thinks Peter Droel, Director, Industrial Technologies, DG Research & Innovation, European Commission.

“The European Robotics Forum 2019 put one more time Romania on the innovation map, highlighting the potential that we hold in the technology field, an extensive area that will dramatically influence the future of all”, said Ana-Maria Stancu, President E-Civis, local organizer of the event and member of the euRobotics Board.

The European Robotics Forum 2019 is organised by euRobotics under SPARC, the Public-Private partnership for Robotics in Europe and hosted by E-Civis Association. ERF2020 will take place in Malaga, Spain, on 3-5 March 2020.

euRobotics Awards 2019

The winners of these prestigious pan-European awards were:

For the Georges Giralt PhD Award 2019 – best European thesis in robotics: Tomic Teodor – Leibniz U Hannover for “Model-Based Control of Flying Robots for Robust Interaction under Wind Influence” and Grazioso Stanislao – Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II – for “Geometric soft robotics: a finite element approach”.

Sevensense Robotics AG received the Third Prize of the Technology Transfer Award 2019, which was handed by Victor Negrescu, Vice-rector SNSPA, former MEP, former Minister for EU Affairs, Romanian Robotics Ambassador.

The Entrepreneurship Award 2019 (First Prize) was given to IM Systems – Jack Schorsch.

ERF2019 was also the perfect opportunity to announce the European Robotics League awards.

See all Awards 2019 winners and finalists

For all the e​vent pictures, check here or below for a small selection.

The European Robotics Week (ERW) is achieving a major success with around 1200 interactive robotics related events across Europe, showing how robots will impact the way we work, live, and learn both now and in the future. Every year the ERW changes the central event and hosts an eco-system of various engaging activities in the chosen location. From 16 to 18 November, Augsburg has been in the spotlight, hosting the Central event of the European Robotics Week 2018 with 1,500 visitors coming to the exhibition over the three days.

On Friday, 16 November, ERW2018 started with an Opening, gathering high-level representatives from industry, research, policy and politics, at the Augsburg Town Hall.

Photo: Lucilla Sioli, Director for “Artificial Intelligence and Digital Industry” at DG Connect, European Commission

“The European Commission has been investing in robotics research for over a decade. SPARC, the public-private partnership between the EC and euRobotics, has been particularly successful in bringing together the European robotics community. Europe aims to become world leader in cutting-edge technology and human-centric artificial intelligence (AI). The EC will publish in December a “Coordinated plan on Artificial Intelligence”, developed with Member States so as to address together societal needs such as healthcare, transport or climate change. Additionally, Horizon Europe (the research and innovation program) and the newly-proposed “Digital Europe” programme will address AI. The latter plans to devote about one quarter of its € 9 billion to AI, especially to increase Europe’s capacity in testing facilities as well as in digital capabilities of SMEs through support to digital innovation hubs.

We are also aware of the challenges related to robotics and AI. First, there are the ethical issues, like privacy, accountability, transparency, bias, etc. The Commission tasked a High-Level expert Group to draft a set of ethical guidelines on AI by March next year. Stakeholders from all over Europe are invited to contribute through the “EU Alliance platform”, available online. Guidelines will also help address fears associated to robots, very common in the media. The European Robotics Week can also help and show what robots can really do.  With over 1000 events in more than 30 countries, we hope that the European Robotics Week will attract young people. It will be their opportunity to choose careers in this field.  We need more young people active in these areas. Shortages in skills in engineering, or in data science, risk to block developments and need to be addressed”, explained Lucilla Sioli, Director for “Artificial Intelligence and Digital Industry” at DG Connect, European Commission.

From Friday 16 to Sunday 18 November, a robots exhibition, several public talks and activities for adults and children were offered at the Zeughaus.

Photo: Vito di Bari, world’s premiere futurist, innovation strategist and inspirational keynote speaker

“Automation means more work in less time. Consequently, employment goes down, which means prices go down as well. In response to this, demand raises, and employment goes up again. There is one thing we cannot do: we cannot upload new software to people. We need new people with new skills. This has happened already with the automobile industry, the ATM and computers. This is the automation paradox. By 2030, 47% of jobs could be automated, however 565 million more jobs will be created. Not only are we not going to lose jobs because of robots, but jobs will double. Robots will be man’s best friends in the future”, said Vito di Bari, world’s premiere futurist, innovation strategist and inspirational keynote speaker during his presentation “Robots, AI and the Future – Technology vs. Humanity”, held on 17 November, at Zeughaus.

Photo: Group of children and teachers from Bosnia and Herzegovina

A group of 30 children and 10 teachers from Bosnia and Herzegovina, supported by euRobotics and the British Embassy in Sarajevo, visited Augsburg and the robots’ exhibition. “The Central event of ERW2018 in Augsburg was the very first opportunity for children from Bosnia and Herzegovina to see and interact with real industrial and humanoid robots. For some of them this was the very first visit to another country. The educational trip paves the way for the future organisation of even more robotics events in Bosnia and Herzegovina”, said Maja Hadziselimovic, National Coordinator of the European Robotics Week in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Pictures gallery (credits: Visual Outcasts): https://www.eu-robotics.net/sparc/newsroom/galleries/erw2018-pictures-gallery.html

What is happening in Europe?

Around 1200 events showing how robots will impact the way we work, live, and learn have been announced so far. Robotics researchers, Universities and Industry opened their doors Europe-wide, from the very West in Spain to Romania in the East, from far North in Finland, to the Southern reaches of Cyprus.

In Southern Europe, the Italian Scuola di Robotica is organising over 360 events, and in Spain, 300 events are planned, out of which 190 are in Catalonia. Cyprus is organising over 60 events.

In Western Europe, Germany is organising over 130 events, on various topics, with open doors by companies and research institutes alike. In Brussels, Belgium, La maison du livre is proposing some 20 creative events about robots and artificial intelligence, combining cultural, economic, environmental and artistic perspectives.

East Europe is focusing on extending access to new technologies for all. In Romania, e-Civis, the organiser of the European Robotics Forum 2019, is teaching the teachers how to integrate robotics in the curricula and has planned some 60 events. Bosnia Herzegovina and Hungary both organise kids’ workshops on programming and competitions.

See the full list of activities: www.robotics-week.eu

Background of the European Robotics Week

ERW was conceived with the desire of the European Robotics community to bring robotics research and development closer to the public and to build the future Robotics Society. Many more than 500,000 people across Europe have been part of ERW since its first edition in 2011. The European Robotics Week is organised under SPARC, the public-private partnership for robotics between euRobotics and the European Commission.

European Robotics Week 2018 (ERW2018) will take place around Europe on 16-25 November 2018.

www.robotics-week.eu

Will a robot take my job?
Media headlines often speculate about robots taking our jobs. We’re told robots will replace swaths of workers from taxi drivers to caregivers. While some believe this will lead to a utopian future where humans live a life of leisure provided for by robots, the dystopian view sees automation as a risk to the very fabric of society. Such hopes and fears have preceded the introduction of new technologies for centuries – the Luddites for example destroyed weaving machines in the 19th century to protest the automation of their sector. What we see, time and time again, is that technology drives productivity and wealth, which translates to more and better jobs down the line. But can we expect the same to happen with robots, or is this time different?

What do the numbers say?
Studies looking at the impact of robots on the job market have contradictory findings. A paper released by the National Bureau of Economic Research concludes that every robot introduced between 1990 and 2007 coincided with the elimination of 6.2 jobs within the commute area and a slight drop in wages. The International Federation of Robotics however found that from 2010 to 2015, the US industry installed around 135,000 new industrial robots, mainly in the car industry. During this same period, the number of employees in the automotive sector increased by 230,000, which suggests a positive impact on jobs.

Examples of this can also be seen in Amazon warehouses where the introduction of more than 100,000 warehouse robots did not lead to a dip in human labor. In fact, Amazon has added 113,500 people to its company worldwide in the past year.

Other studies have tried to estimate the number of jobs that could be automated in the future, and there again, the numbers vary widely. An Oxford report from 2013 estimated that 47% of U.S. jobs were at risk of automation. The OECD however has said that “14% of jobs in developed countries were highly automatable, with a further 32% likely to experience significant changes to the way they were carried out.”

So which is it, do robots create or destroy jobs? The answer may be “it’s complicated”. Certain professions may disappear in a local community, while the overall number of jobs may increase globally. In any case, the nature of work will most likely change.

Robots perform tasks, not jobs
Most jobs require workers to have more than one skill. Building a fully automated solution would therefore require a robot that masters many different tasks. Making robots is hard however, so they tend to be highly specialised. Imagine all the tasks a cleaner can do, yet it took Dyson 12 years of research just to make a vacuum cleaning robot. The reality is that robots perform tasks, not jobs. It therefore makes sense to think of robots as tools that can be used by people in their workplace, ideally helping with the dull, dirty, or dangerous tasks and boosting productivity. This has spurred a new area of collaborative robots, or cobots, that are easy to work with. ColRobot for example is a European project focussed on building an integrated system for collaborative robotics.

Skills for the new economy
The jobs of today are different from the ones of tomorrow. There is a pressing need to train a new generation of roboticists. This workforce will need to be diverse to ensure the best tools are being built for everyone. Inspiring the future generation is the goal of the European Robotics Week, which hosts more than 1000 events all over Europe. Training is further needed at all levels from school for young children to graduate education programs. But not everyone needs to be a roboticist, being technology literate is the first step towards building environments where humans and robots can work together. And while robots help us with the menial tasks, we have a chance to be “more human”. A carebot won’t replace a caregiver, it will give the caregiver time to have a coffee with their patient. Ultimately, we have the opportunity to focus on the jobs we enjoy most. Creative sectors, and those requiring emotional intelligence and empathy will also be in high demand in the future.

Technology that benefits all
One risk with automation is that wealth is concentrated in the hands of those that design or have access to the technology. Such a winner-takesall scenario would lead to growing inequality between large technology companies and workers. Wages have also stagnated, even though productivity has increased, which is another marker of inequality. At the same time these technologies are becoming increasingly accessible, meaning that non-experts should feel empowered to use them in their own industries and lives. The European Union and individual European governments are actively preparing for a change in labour markets with dedicated commissions and reports, as well as ground work to ensure the robot revolution benefits all. Solutions discussed include taxing automation, providing for a universal basic income, or boosting education, research, and entrepreneurship.

This article is part of a series of briefing documents published on www.eu-robotics.net/sparc. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Programme under grant agreement n° 688441

Under the theme “Robots and Us”, the over 50 workshops cover current societal and technical themes, including human-robot-collaboration and how robotics can improve industrial productivity and service sector operations.

Click on the list below to watch: Opening Ceremony (13 March), euRobotics Awards Ceremony (14 March), Opening reception (13 March), and the following workshops:

The new H2020 robotics projects in the SPARC strategy
EU Projects offering services
Innovation in H2020 projects – EC Innovation Radar Prize 2017
Success Stories – Step Change Results from FP7 Projects
Drafting a Robot Manifesto
Innovation with Robotics in Regional Clusters

Credits: Visual Outcasts, Tampere Talo, Olli Perttula

The aim of the euRobotics Technology Transfer Award (now in its 15th year) is to showcase the impact of robotics research and to raise the profile of technology transfer between science and industry. Outstanding innovations in robot technology and automation that result from cooperative efforts between research and industry are eligible for the prize.

The First prize went to Germany’s Roboception: rc_visard – 3D perception & manipulation for robots made easy team, composed of Michael Suppa, and Heiko Hirschmueller from Roboception GmbH, and Alin Albu-Schaeffer from the Institute of Robotics and German Aerospace Center (DLR).

“This award is a recognition of our institute’s continued efforts of supporting the go-to-market of technologies developed at our institute or – as in this case – derived thereof,” said Prof. Albu-Schaeffer. Dr. Suppa added that “since spinning Roboception off the DLR in 2015, a significant amount of thought, hard work and – first and foremost – unfailing commitment of our team have gone into bringing this technology from a research state to a market-ready product. And we are very proud to see these efforts recognized by the jury, and rewarded with this prestigious award.” The rc_visard is already in operational use in a number of customer projects across a variety of robotic domains. Prof. Albu-Schaeffer, an enthused rc_visard user at his DLR Institute himself, is convinced that “this product is one that will shape the future of robotics, thanks to its unique versatility.”

Watch the an interview with rc_visard filmed at Hannover Messe

The Second prize went to Germany, to the project Mobile Agricultural Robot Swarms (MARS), created by a team made up of Timo Blender and Christian Schlegel, from Hochschule Ulm, and Benno Pichlmaier from AGCO GmbH. The MARS experiment aims at the development of small and stream-lined mobile agricultural robot units to fuel a paradigm shift in farming practices. 

The Third prize went to Smart Robots from Italy, a team made up of Paolo Rocco and Andrea Maria Zanchettin, from Politecnico di Milano, and Roberto Rossi, from Smart Robots s.r.l., Italy. Smart robots provides advanced perception and intelligent capabilities to robots, enabling new disruptive forms of collaboration with human beings.

The Finalist was the In situ Fabricator (IF), an autonomous construction robot from Switzerland, with a team made up of Kathrin Dörfler from Gramazio Kohler Research, ETH Zurich, NCCR Digital Fabrication, Markus Giftthaler and Timothy Sandy from Agile & Dexterous Robotics Lab, ETH Zurich, NCCR Digital Fabrication.

Technology Transfer Award winners and coordinator Martin Haegele. Credits: Visual Outcasts

The members of jury of the TechTransfer Award were: Susanne Bieller (Eunited Robotics), Rainer Bischoff (KUKA), Georg von Wichert (Siemens), Herman Bruyninckx (KU Leuven), Martin Haegele (Fraunhofer IPA). The euRobotics TechTransfer Award 2018 is funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 Programme.

The Georges Giralt PhD Award showcased the best PhD theses defended during 2017 and 2018 in European universities from all areas of robotics

The 2017 edition saw 41 submissions from 11 countries. The jury composed of 26 academics from 16 European countries awarded:

Winner: Johannes Englsberger, Technical University of Munich, Germany – Combining reduced dynamics models and whole-body control for agile humanoid locomotion

Finalists:

• Christian Forster, University of Zurich, Switzerland – Visual Inertial Odometry and Active Dense Reconstruction for Mobile Robots
• Stefan Groothuis, University of Twente, the Netherlands – On the Modeling, Design, and Control of Compliant Robotic Manipulators
• Meng Guo, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden – Hybrid Control of Multi-robot Systems under Complex Temporal Tasks
• Nanda van der Stap, University of Twente, the Netherlands – Image-based endoscope navigation and clinical applications

Georges Giralt PhD Award 2017 winners and coordinator Gianluca Antonelli. Credits: Visual Outcasts

The 2018 edition saw 27 submissions from 11 countries. The jury composed of 26 academics from 16 European countries awarded:

Winners:

• Frank Bonnet, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland – Shoaling with fish: using miniature robotic agents to close the interaction loop with groups of zebrafish Danior rerio
• Daniel Leidner, University of Bremen, Germany – Cognitive Reasoning for Compliant Robot Manipulation

Finalists:

• Adrià Colomé Figueras, University Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain – Bimanual Robot Skills: MP Encoding and Dimensionality Reduction
• Đula Nađ, University of Zagreb, Croatia – Guidance and control of autonomous underwater agents with acoustically aided navigation
• Angel Santamaria-Navarro, University Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain – Visual Guidance of Unmanned Aerial Manipulators

Georges Giralt PhD Award 2018 winners and coordinator Gianluca Antonelli. Credits: Visual Outcasts

The Ceremony saw the handing of the European Robotics League (ERL) Awards: ERL Industrial Robots and ERL Service Robots, and ERL Emergency Robots. Points are awarded by attending local and major tournaments, not a central event, with three main objectives: strengthening the European robotics industry, pushing innovative autonomous systems for emergency response, and addressing societal challenges of aging populations in Europe. The European Robotics League is funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 Programme. 

Read the ERL Awards press release: European Robotics League winners revealed in Tampere, Finland (Season 2017/18)

Award winners in robot competitions held by the European Robotics League (ERL) were named on 14 March 2018, during this year’s European Robotics Forum (ERF), held in Tampere, Finland on 13–15 March.

Awards for the ERL’s 2017-18 season were presented at a Gala Dinner to winning teams that took part in all ERL competitions: Service Robots (ERL-SR), Industry Robots (ERL-IR) and Emergency Robots (ERL-ER).

ERL-SR is for robots that could provide assistance in homes, particularly for people with reduced mobility. ERL-ER is for robots in simulated emergency situations and ERL-IR tackles automation in industry.

Dozens of teams from around Europe took part in the 2017–18 ERL competitions, which stimulate innovation by and collaboration among robotics researchers by setting tasks in simulated real-life conditions, for completion against the clock.

The challenges include understanding natural speech, finding and retrieving objects, greeting visitors, supplying medical aid kits, and stopping simulated radioactive leaks. The teams’ technical approaches could find their way into future commercial robots and could be suitable for a wide range of non-robotics uses in all areas of life.

ERL teams are ranked on their end-of-year scores for various task and functionality challenges, using the best two participations in tournaments. The following teams were awarded on stage during the ERF2018 Awards Gala Dinner.

ERL Service Robots:

• homer@UniKoblenz, Germany, won the first prize for: Task Benchmark 1 “Getting to Know My Home”; Task Benchmark 2 “Welcoming Visitors”; Task Benchmark 3  “Catering for Granny Annie’s Comfort”; Task Benchmark 5 “General Purpose Service Robot (GPSR)”;
• HEARTS, Bristol, UK, won the first prize for: Task Benchmark 2 “Welcoming Visitors”; Functionality Benchmark 3 “Speech Recognition”;
• IRI@ERL, Barcelona, Spain, won the first prize for: Task Benchmark 2 “Welcoming Visitors”; Task Benchmark 3 “Catering for Granny Annie’s Comfort”;
• RoboticsLab UC3M, Madrid, Spain, won the first prize for Task Benchmark 4 “Visit My Home”;
• SocRob@Home, Lisbon, Portugal, won the first prize for: Task Benchmark 1 “Getting to Know My Home”.

European Robotics League Service Awardees 2017-2018 and Coordinators. Credits: Visual Outcasts

ERL Industry Robots:

• b-it-bots Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University, Bonn, Germany, won the first prize for: Functionality Benchmark 4 “Navigation Functionality”.

European Robotics League Industry Awardees 2017-2018 and Coordinators. Credits: Visual Outcasts

ERL Emergency Robots:

• IMM – Janusz Bedzowski won the first prize for: Task Benchmark 2 (Land + Air) “Survey the building and search for missing workers”; Functionality Benchmark 1 “2D Mapping Functionality” (Land + Air);

The Grand Challenge Task Benchmark 1 (land + sea + air) was won by:

• Universitat de Girona – Eric Pairet who won also the first prize for: Task Benchmark 4 (Land + Sea) “Stem the leak”; Functionality Benchmark 3 (Sea) “Object Detection”; Task Benchmark 3 (Sea + Air) “Pipe inspection & search for missing workers”;
• Telerob – Andreas Ciossek who won also the first prize for: Task Benchmark 4 (Land + Sea) “Stem the leak”; Functionality Benchmark 2 (Land + Air) “Object Recognition”;
• ISEP/INESC – Alfredo Martins who won also the first prize for: Task Benchmark 3 (Sea + Air) “Pipe inspection and search for missing workers”; Functionality Benchmark 2 “Object Recognition” (Land + Air).

European Robotics League Emergency Awardees 2017-2018 and Coordinators. Credits: Visual Outcasts

The ERL-ER prizes for task challenges were awarded during the Awards Ceremony for the emergency robots competition held at Piombino, Italy on 15-23 September 2017.

European Robotics League
The European Robotics League (ERL) is the successor to the RoCKIn, euRathlon and EuRoC robotics competitions, funded by the EU and designed to foster scientific progress and innovation in cognitive systems and robotics. The ERL is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and runs competitions for service (ERL-SR), industrial (ERL-IR) and emergency robots (ERL-ER). See:
The latest ERL-SR scores can be found here.

The latest ERL-IR scores can be found here

The latest ERL-ER scores can be found here.

The European Robotics Forum 2018 (ERF2018), the most influential meeting of the robotics community in Europe, takes place in Tampere on 13-15 March 2018. ERF brings together over 900 leading scientists, companies, and policymakers for the largest robotics networking event in Europe.

Under the theme “Robots and Us”, the over 50 workshops cover current societal and technical themes, including human-robot-collaboration and how robotics can improve industrial productivity and service sector operations.

During the opening the ERF2018, on 13 March, Juha Heikkilä, Head of unit, EC DG CNECT, explained that “the European Robotics Forum has been instrumental in breaking down silos and bringing together a strong, integrated robotics community in Europe. This year’s theme, “Robots and Us”, reflects the increasingly broad impact of robotics and allows discussing not just technology but also the all-important non-technological aspects of robotics.”

Anne Berner, Minister of Transport and Communications of Finland, emphasized in her keynote that “digitalization and robotics require changes in mindset from both the public and the private sector in Finland. We, as the public side, create a framework for change, but the responsibility for implementing lies with companies. Robotics and automation walk on the road paved with data. Data that is not shared is benefitting no one. Data needs to be combined with other data and then refined and enriched with knowledge to create value”.

Tomas Hedenborg, President of Orgalime and Group CEO of Fastems, added that “in the era of digitalization, automation and more specifically robotization, is in the core of the transformation. The huge innovation potential includes major societal challenges that need to be tackled in parallel.” 

The end of the Opening saw a panel discussion about “How should the society prepare for the rapid development of robotics” with the keynote speakers and representatives of the local organisers.

Photo, from left to right: Tomas Hedenborg, Orgalime/Fastems; Marketta Niemelä, VTT; Minna Lanz, Tampere University of Technology; Jyrki Kasvi, Finish MP; Bernd Liepert, euRobotics/KUKA; Thomas Pilz, Pilz; Juha Heikkilä, EC

The conference showcases the newest research in the field, and the projects funded under EU’s Horizon 2020 research programme. By bringing together over 50 sponsors and exhibitors, amongst them Fastems, KUKA and Sandvik (Platinum sponsors) and Schunk (Gold sponsor), the event offers a unique window to the European robotics, also putting the spotlight on the Nordic markets.

ERF2018 had the honour to welcome Markku Markkula, First Vice-President of the European Committee of the Regions, who visited the exhibition area and gave a speech at the reception hosted by the Tampere City Hall.

Photo from left to right: Anna-Kaisa Heinämäki, Deputy Mayor of City of Tampere; Bernd Liepert, President of euRobotics; Reinhard Lafrenz, euRobotics Secretary General; Jyrki Latokartano from The Robotics Society in Finland; Markku Markkula, First Vice-President of the European Committee of the Regions

The Awards Ceremony on 14 March will announce the winners of the Georges Giralt PhD Award 2017 and 2018, the TechTransfer Award 2018 and the European Robotics League Service and Emergency Robots Season 2017-2018.

After its start in San Sebastian in 2010, The European Robotics Forums has grown into a major annual event with hundreds of attendees every year. In 2017, the conference was held in Edinburgh.

The European Robotics Forum is organised by euRobotics under SPARC, the Public-Private partnership for Robotics in Europe.  ERF2018 is hosted by The Robotics Society in Finland in collaboration with Tampere University of Technology.

In 2016, the European Union co-funded 17 new robotics projects from the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for research and innovation. 16 of these resulted from the robotics work programme, and 1 project resulted from the Societal Challenges part of Horizon 2020. The robotics work programme implements the robotics strategy developed by SPARC, the Public-Private Partnership for Robotics in Europe (see the Strategic Research Agenda). 

EuRobotics regularly publishes video interviews with projects, so that you can find out more about their activities. You can also see many of these projects at the upcoming European Robotics Forum (ERF) in Tampere Finland March 13-15.

This week features ROSIN: ROS-Industrial quality-assured robot software.

Make ROS-Industrial the open-source industrial standard for intelligent industrial robots, and put Europe in a leading position within this global initiative.

Presently, potential users are waiting for improved quality and quantity of ROS-Industrial components, but both can improve only when more parties contribute and use ROS-Industrial. We will apply European funding to address both sides of this stalemate:

• improving the availability of high-quality components, through Focused Technical Projects and software quality assurance.
• increasing the community size, until ROS becomes self-sustaining as an industrial standard, through an education program and dissemination.

Expected Impact

ROSIN will propel the open-source robot software project ROS-Industrial beyond the critical mass required for further autonomous growth. As a result, it will become a widely adopted standard for industrial intelligent robot software components, e.g. for 3D perception and motion planning. System integrators, software companies, and robot producers will use the open-source framework and the rich choice in libraries to build their own closed-source derivatives which they will sell and for which they will provide support to industrial customers.

Partners

TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITEIT DELFT (TU Delft)
FRAUNHOFER GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FOERDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG E.V. (FHG)
IT-UNIVERSITETET I KOBENHAVN (ITU)
FACHHOCHSCHULE AACHEN (FHA)
FUNDACION TECNALIA RESEARCH & INNOVATION (TECNALIA)
ABB AB (ABB AB)

Coordinator:
Coordinator: Prof. Martijn Wisse
Contact: Dr. Carlos Hernandez
Delft University of Technology

Project website: www.rosin-project.eu

If you enjoyed reading this article, you may also want to read:

• New Horizon 2020 robotics projects: RobMoSys
• New Horizon 2020 robotics projects, 2016: REELER
• New Horizon 2020 robotics projects, 2016: HEPHAESTUS
• New Horizon 2020 robotics projects, 2016: Co4Robots
• New Horizon 2020 robotics projects, 2016: An.Dy
• New Horizon 2020 robotics projects, 2016: BADGER
• Two Horizon 2020 projects researching EU Digital Industrial Platform for Robotics
• EU’s Horizon 2020 has funded $179 million in robotics PPPs

See all the latest robotics news on Robohub, or sign up for our weekly newsletter.

In 2016, the European Union co-funded 17 new robotics projects from the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for research and innovation. 16 of these resulted from the robotics work programme, and 1 project resulted from the Societal Challenges part of Horizon 2020. The robotics work programme implements the robotics strategy developed by SPARC, the Public-Private Partnership for Robotics in Europe (see the Strategic Research Agenda). 

EuRobotics regularly publishes video interviews with projects, so that you can find out more about their activities. You can also see many of these projects at the upcoming European Robotics Forum (ERF) in Tampere Finland March 13-15.

This week features RobMoSys : Composable Models and Software for Robotic Systems.

Objectives

RobMoSys will coordinate the whole community’s best and consorted efforts to realize a step-change towards an industry-grade software development ecosystem.
RobMoSys envisions a model-driven integration approach built around the current code-centric robotic platforms.
RobMoSys intends to establish software quality enabling model and software composability and improved tool support.
RobMoSys will elaborate a common open methodology for software development based on broad involvement of the robotic and software community via Open Calls.

Expected Impact

The major expected impacts of the project are:

• the professionalization of software development in robotics, which in turn will improve product and service quality at reduced development costs;
• the further commoditization of the basic robotics software technologies, which in turn will help to grow the potential market of new-generation robotics systems.

Impacts are expected in both the global software and system modelling tool market and in robotic related market domains.

Partners

COMMISSARIAT A L’ENERGIE ATOMIQUE ET AUX ENERGIES ALTERNATIVES
FACHHOCHSCHULE ULM
KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN
TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET MUENCHEN
SIEMENS AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT
PAL ROBOTICS SL
COMAU SPA
ECLIPSE FOUNDATION EUROPE GMBH
EUNITED AISBL

Coordinator:

Coordinator: Sara Tucci
sara.tucci@cea.fr

Project website: robmosys.eu

Watch all EU-projects videos

If you enjoyed reading this article, you may also want to read:

• New Horizon 2020 robotics projects, 2016: REELER
• New Horizon 2020 robotics projects, 2016: HEPHAESTUS
• New Horizon 2020 robotics projects, 2016: Co4Robots
• New Horizon 2020 robotics projects, 2016: An.Dy
• New Horizon 2020 robotics projects, 2016: BADGER
• Two Horizon 2020 projects researching EU Digital Industrial Platform for Robotics
• EU’s Horizon 2020 has funded $179 million in robotics PPPs

See all the latest robotics news on Robohub, or sign up for our weekly newsletter.

In 2016, the European Union co-funded 17 new robotics projects from the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for research and innovation. 16 of these resulted from the robotics work programme, and 1 project resulted from the Societal Challenges part of Horizon 2020. The robotics work programme implements the robotics strategy developed by SPARC, the Public-Private Partnership for Robotics in Europe (see the Strategic Research Agenda). 

EuRobotics regularly publishes video interviews with projects, so that you can find out more about their activities. This week features REELER: Responsible Ethical Learning with Robotics.

Objectives

The project aims at aligning roboticists’ visions of a future with robots with empirically-based knowledge of human needs and societal concerns through a new proximity-based human-machine ethics that take into account how individuals and community connect with robot technologies.
The main outcome of REELER is a research-based roadmap presenting:

• ethical guidelines for Human Proximity Levels,
• prescriptions for how to include the voice of new types of users and affected stakeholders through Mini-Publics,
• assumptions in robotics through socio-drama
• agent-based simulations of the REELER research for policymaking.

At the core of these guidelines is the concept of collaborative learning, which permeates all aspects of REELER and will guide future SSH-ICT research.

Expected Impact

Integrating the recommendations of the REELER Roadmap for responsible and ethical learning in robotics in future robot design processes will enable the European robotics community to addresses human needs and societal concerns. Moreover, the project will give powerful instruments able to foster networking and exploit potentialities of future robotics projects.

Partners

AARHUS UNIVERSITY, DPU
AB.ACUS SRL
DE MONTFORT UNIVERSITY, CCSR
HOHENHEIM UNIVERSITY

Coordinator:

Stine Trentemøller

Project website:

http://www.reeler.eu/

Watch all EU-projects videos

If you enjoyed reading this article, you may also want to read:

• New Horizon 2020 robotics projects, 2016: ILIAD
• New Horizon 2020 robotics projects, 2016: HEPHAESTUS
• New Horizon 2020 robotics projects, 2016: Co4Robots
• New Horizon 2020 robotics projects, 2016: An.Dy
• New Horizon 2020 robotics projects, 2016: BADGER
• Two Horizon 2020 projects researching EU Digital Industrial Platform for Robotics
• EU’s Horizon 2020 has funded $179 million in robotics PPPs

See all the latest robotics news on Robohub, or sign up for our weekly newsletter.

The European Robotics Week 2017 (ERW2017) Central Event organised in Brussels saw the “Robots Discovery” exhibition hosted by the European Committee of the Regions on 20-23 November, where robotics experts from 30 European and regionally-funded projects outlined the impact of their work on society.

The exhibiting projects showed robots assisting during surgery or providing support for elderly care, how robots can help students develop digital skills, monitor the environment and apply agricultural chemicals with precision and less waste or how they can save lives after disasters. The #ERW2017 hashtag has reached over 1 million impressions on social media. Here’s a look at how the “Robots Discovery” central event was portrayed.

#ERW2017 starting today. People to work more & more with #robots & #AI across all sectors #health #transport. Essential to help young people & workers gain the right skills #digitalskills #SocialSummit17. My blog: https://t.co/ZbVQKw1jzZ#Ansipblogs pic.twitter.com/GPli3Lpu8y

— Andrus Ansip (@Ansip_EU) November 17, 2017

Day 1, 20 November – exhibition of robotics projects for healthcare

From healthcare & education to environment: meet some of the successful EU supported projects in #robotics https://t.co/McLuEZrMzp #ERW2017 #H2020 @EU_CoR pic.twitter.com/60viEqHZik

— DigitalSingleMarket (@DSMeu) November 20, 2017

The #ERW2017 #healthcare #robotics exhibition featured today at the @EU_CoR : @DeEnigma_EU #Softpro @brubotics #eureyecase @EndooEUproject @MURAB_Project #wonder @CLsPlusPlus #axiles & #robocure from @imec_int & #bierpauli from @KUKA_RoboticsDE & @PALRobotics #co4robots pic.twitter.com/OXuapZGHRx

— euRobotics (@eu_Robotics) November 20, 2017

Day 2, 21 November – exhibition of education robotics projects

Good morning, @EU_CoR ! We start the day at the #ERW2017 Central Event with a live broadcast for @SkyTG24 #Italy #Brussels @eu_Robotics @SPARCrobotics pic.twitter.com/s6ez6Cce1T

— PAL Robotics (@PALRobotics) November 21, 2017

The robot bus of the Sohjoa Baltic project has arrived to the European Committee of the Regions.

Research, innovation, #robotics and a driverless minibus were at the heart of yesterday's #SEDEC Commission at @EU_CoR #ERW2017
More about these fascinating #innovations???https://t.co/V8HDYpfuOm pic.twitter.com/p9YPasWaUr

— CoR (@EU_CoR) November 22, 2017

Great #education #robotics day at the @EU_CoR yesterday with @ER4STEM @DeEnigma_EU @LUVMI_rover @IDLabResearch @dwengo & the children from https://t.co/AQDQEOVISP pic.twitter.com/trNEUWDRt6

— euRobotics (@eu_Robotics) November 22, 2017

The day ended with a reception hosted by First Vice-President of the European Committee of the Regions, Markku Markkula, and a concert by the Logos Robots Orchestra.

Opening Reception #ERW @EUSciComm @eu_Robotics @SPARCrobotics @PALRobotics #TIAGoRobot pic.twitter.com/jEAciWxX87

— Francesco Ferro (@FerroFrancescoE) November 21, 2017

Day 3, 22 November – exhibition of robotics projects related to the environment

Thank you to the #ERW2017 exhibitors of day 3, robots for the #environment @EU_CoR: @DexROV @saga_exp @BADGER_project #CoCoRo #Bots2Rec pic.twitter.com/oJVq85tv0t

— euRobotics (@eu_Robotics) November 22, 2017

The Sohjoa Baltic robot bus met the public on the Esplanade of the European Parliament.

Finnish-led Sohjoa Baltic showcases #robotbus in front of @Europarl_EN -one of the first #automated vehicles operating in real life #traffic conditions @eu_Robotics week #ERW2017 #sohjoa #future @metropolia pic.twitter.com/PdFEt1vWQv

— SME & Traffic Tweets (@smetrabxl) November 22, 2017

The day ended with a high-level dinner hosted by MEP Martina Werner at the European Parliament.

Honoured to attend the euRobotics / SPARC high-level VIP dinner in the European Parliament during the European Robotics Week #ERW2017 pic.twitter.com/yqN3VeoUa7

— Arthur de Crook (@ArthurdeCrook) November 22, 2017

Day 4, 23 November – exhibition of robots for international cooperation

Last day at the exhibition & workshop #ERW2017 @EU_CoR: thank you to: VP @mmarkkula, @RoboticsEU #international cooperation projects (#tiramisu #icarus @SherpaProjectEU @HyqReal @SafeShore_EU) pic.twitter.com/DP5qRIitbQ

— euRobotics (@eu_Robotics) November 24, 2017

Day 5, 24 November – Robotics classes for children

Baudouin Hubert held robotics classes for children at the Euro Space Center:

Amazing #robotics classes by Baudouin Hubert @eurospacecenter cc @RoboticsEU @eu_Robotics #erw2017 pic.twitter.com/wCNmUPoHzZ

— SPARC robotics (@SPARCrobotics) November 24, 2017

During the #ERW2017 we also had plenty of fun with REEM C from PAL Robotics playing the piano.

REEM-C Humanoid robot is also celebrating the #MusicDay, playing the piano at the @EU_CoR ! #ERW2017 @eu_Robotics #DiaDeLaMusica pic.twitter.com/GkXmyNJd0l

— PAL Robotics (@PALRobotics) November 22, 2017

Besides some random stuff like assembling cars, the robot-arms from @KUKA_RoboticsEN can also do useful things! Like pouring a beer! Hooray for #Robotics! #ERW2017 pic.twitter.com/sgXyNgaREU

— Joost Geeroms (@JoostGeeroms) November 21, 2017

Thank you to all exhibitors, organisers and event partners!

Thank you to the partners involved in #ERW2017 "Robots Discovery": @EU_CoR & @mmarkkula for being amazing host, @RoboticsEU, @eurospacecenter #robotics classes, @SohjoaBalticBSR #robot bus, @LogosFoundation concert, @ABBRobotics @automaticafair @KUKA_RoboticsDE @PALRobotics

— SPARC robotics (@SPARCrobotics) November 27, 2017

See you at European Robotics Week 2018 #ERW2018!

Robotics is increasingly important in education. “Since 2011, we have been asking schools throughout all regions of Europe to demonstrate robotics education at all levels,” says Reinhard Lafrenz, the Secretary General of euRobotics, the association for robotics researchers and industry which organises ERW2017. “I am delighted that many skilled teachers and enthusiastic local organisers have taken up this challenge and we have seen huge success in participation, with over 1000 events expected to be organised in all regions of Europe this year.”

All over Europe, ERW2017 will show the public how robots can support our daily lives, for example, by helping during surgery and, in the future, by providing support and care for people with disabilities, or how robots can monitor the environment. Robotics is also an essential part of EU-funded digital innovation hubs and could, in the future, contribute to the creation of new jobs.

Some of the highlights of the ERW events announced so far are:

• in Italy, the School of Robotics will webstream an event at the KUKA robot company;
• in Bosnia-Herzegovina, there will be dozens of SPARKreactors League robotics competitions;
• in Latvia and Iceland, there will be ERW events for the first time;
• in Spain, over 200 events are being organised in schools, more than half of them in Catalonia;
• in Germany, nearly 40 events will include First Lego League competitions for young people, and an education day at the Fraunhofer IPA research organisation and a humanoid robot workshop at Hamburg University of Technology.

The ERW2017 Central Event organised in Brussels will see the “Robots Discovery” exhibition hosted by the European Committee of the Regions 20-23 November), where robotics experts from 30 European and regionally funded projects will outline how their work can impact our society. The exhibiting projects will show robots in healthcare helping during surgery or providing support for elder care, helping students develop digital skills, monitoring the environment and applying agricultural chemicals with precision and less waste, or helping save lives after disasters.

Other events organised in Belgium include the Eurospace Center which will run robotics classes for children (24 November), and the demonstration in Brussels of the self-driving bus of the Finnish Metropolia University of Applied Sciences (22-23 November). ERW2017 will overlap with the last week of the month-long InQbet hackathon on innovation in robotics and artificial intelligence.

euRobotics has recorded 400 000 visitors across Europe to events at the six previous ERWs.

Find your local ERW activities here and follow #ERW2017 on twitter.

The ERL Emergency Robots 2017 competition consisted of four scenarios, inspired by the nuclear accident of Fukushima (Japan, 2011) and designed specifically for multi-domain human-robot teams. The first scenario is The Grand Challenge made up of three domains – sea, air, land, and the other three scenarios are made of only two domains.

The Awards, given for each scenario to the best performing teams, were introduced by Alan Winfield from Bristol Robotics Laboratory and ERL Emergency Coordinator. “The energy, enthusiasm and spirit of cooperation among the teams competing in ERL Emergency was amazing. We witnessed not only great performances from the teams and their robots, but also the drama and excitement of last minute field repairs and workarounds to the robots”, said Alan Winfield.

The Grand Challenge (Scenario 1: land, sea, and air)

After a nuclear power plant has been struck by a potent earthquake and a tsunami, it’s time for the emergency response team to act. Due to high radiation levels, the cooperation of land, sea and air robots is essential. The robots have to find as soon as possible three missing workers and deploy an emergency kit next to them. Secondly, the robots check for any structural damage of the building and to the pipes connecting the reactor to the sea for cooling purposes. In case of damaged or leaking pipes, the corresponding valves are to be closed both in the machine room and underwater to avoid radioactive contamination. Closing the wrong valves may cause a reduction in the amount of seawater available for cooling down the reactor.

1st Prize: Telerob, Germany (land) + Universitat de Girona, Spain (sea) + INESTEC/ISEP Aerial Robotics, Portugal (air)

“Our underwater robot Sparus II AUV was used to create maps of the underwater environment and to autonomously detect some targets. The algorithms developed by master and PhD students and the robustness of the platform allowed us to obtain good results even in the challenging conditions of the competition. The multi-domain competition required the coordination with the other robots (land and air), which offered us a unique opportunity for testing our communication capabilities.”, said Marc Carreras from the University of Girona.

“Autonomy was showing its advantages as well as a good situational awareness. The advanced mission documentation, which was requested in the competition, enables the first responders to get a fast and reliable situational understanding to finally reach the necessary situational ownership. The ERL Emergency competition should further focus on improving the robot-human-teaming”, said Andreas Ciossek from Telerob.

“The INESC TEC participation in ERL Emergency 2017 allowed us to validate our robotics technology in a real-world scenario with a relevant social and economical impact. Furthermore, it helped raising public awareness of the role that advanced robots can play in disaster scenarios aiding human teams in critical operations, and it confirmed once again the leading role of European robotics research”, said Eduardo Silva from ISEP/INESC TEC.

Read more about their experience here.

2nd Prize: IIS Piombino CVP, Italy (air) + Robdos, Spain, + IMM, Poland (land and sea)

3rd Prize: Raptors, Poland (air & land) + Oubot, Hungary (sea)

Survey the building and search for missing workers (Scenario 2: land and sea)

The ground and aerial robots perform a reconnaissance mission of the area and create a map of the surrounding area in order to increase the awareness of the emergency response team. Additionally, the robots find two missing workers outdoors and deploy first-aid kits near them.

1st Prize: IMM, Poland + IIS Piombino CVP, Italy

2nd Prize: Raptors Team, Poland

3rd Prize: Telerob, Germany + INESTEC/ISEP Aerial Robotics, Portugal

Pipe inspection and search for missing workers (Scenario 3: sea and air)

After the earthquake and tsunami, the pipes connecting the reactor to the sea might be leaking radioactive substances, therefore the emergency team has to find the damaged ones on land or underwater. Robots must find two missing workers: one outside the building, to whom an emergency kit should be deployed, and another one dragged by the tsunami to the sea, expected to be a casualty.

1st Prize: Universitat de Girona, Spain + INESTEC/ISEP Aerial Robotics, Portugal

2nd Prize: Tuscany Robotics Team, Italy

3rd Prize: AUV Tomkyle, Germany + HSR Search and Rescue Team, Switzerland

“Aerial robots have shown great improvements with respect to euRathlon 2015, most of them being fully operational from the first day of the competition. They have been able to quickly provide information about inaccessible areas, structural damages or other possible threats. As it happened with robots from the other two domains, aerial teams also struggled with communication issues to properly command and control their platforms. This further confirms the need for autonomous capabilities onboard the aerial robots, to become even more powerful tools for emergency response teams”, said Francisco Javier Pérez Grau from the Advanced Center for Aerospace Technologies.

Stem the leak (Scenario 4: land and sea)

The land robots have to inspect the pipes in the building’s machine room and marine robots the underwater pipes in order to close the correct valves and prevent leakage. Land and marine robots must cooperate to identify the valves and synchronize the process of closing them, by communicating directly or via their operators.

1st Prize: Telerob, Germany + Universitat de Girona, Spain

2nd Prize: Raptors, Poland + Oubot, Hungary

3rd Prize: bebot, Switzerland + AUV Tomkyle Team, Germany

Winning teams were given a diploma, prize money and in-kind, sponsored by the Platinum Sponsor IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society, silver sponsors SBG systems and Texas Instruments.

In addition, Marta Palau Franco, Bristol Robotics Laboratory, ERL Emergency project manager introduced the referees’ special awards. Find out who the winners are here!

“This great event has been possible thanks to the work and effort of an amazing local organising team. Special thanks to Fausto Ferreira, the ERL Emergency 2017 Deputy Director, for his continuous support. I want to thank all the sponsors, especially our platinum sponsor IEEE OES, the project partners, referees, local associations and schools for their support. Huge thanks go to the participating teams, which were the heart of this great event. Their competitiveness pushed the robots to accomplish great results, nevertheless the competition has always been accompanied by fair play. I believe this is the perfect formula for team members to improve their professional and human skills”, said Gabriele Ferri, ERL Emergency 2017 Director.

 Watch the ERL Emergency 2017 Awards Ceremony video

More info

The European Robotics League is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement n° 688441.

The ERL Emergency Robots 2017 competition was organised locally by the NATO STO-Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE) of La Spezia, Italy.

The European Robotics League is part of the SPARC public-private partnership set up by the European Commission and euRobotics to extend Europe’s leadership in civilian robotics. SPARC’s €700 million of funding from the Commission in 2014̶20 is being combined with €1.4 billion of funding from European industry. www.eu-robotics.net/sparc

euRobotics is a European Commission-funded non-profit organisation which promotes robotics research and innovation for the benefit of Europe’s economy and society. It is based in Brussels and has more than 250-member organisations.

www.eu-robotics.net

In addition to the Competition Awards, Marta Palau Franco from Bristol Robotics Laboratory and ERL Emergency project manager introduced the referees’ special awards.

“Behind a multi-domain competition there is always a large technical committee, I feel privileged to have worked with such an amazing team of volunteer referees, technical assistants and safety pilots and divers. We were delighted to give these awards to recognise teams’ effort, fair play and hard work. The experience of participating in this robotics competition will prove beneficial for team members to develop further their professional career”, said Marta Palau Franco.

Mapping Award, handed by Vladimir Djapic from AFAK, for good quality georeferenced undersea mapping.
Winner: AUV Team Tomkyle, Germany (sea)

Navigation Award, handed by Pino Casalino from the University of Genova, for the effort to change and adapt algorithms to navigate without a Doppler Velocity Log (DVL) sensor, important for the AUV (autonomous Undersea Vehicle) navigation.
Winner: Oubot Team, Hungary (sea)

Fair Play Award, handed by Marta Palau Franco from the University of the West of England, Bristol, for lending to the Tuscany Robotics Team a wheel platform for their new robot and for lending the batteries of their aerial robot to ISEP/INESC TEC aerial team.
Winners: ENSTA Team and ENSTA Bretagne, France (land, air, sea)

Creativity Award, handed by Bernd Bruggermann from Fraunhofer FKIE, for building a land robot from scratch in less than two days when their ground platform broke.
Winner: Tuscany Robotics, Italy (land, air, sea)

Multi-domain Cooperation Award, handed by Fausto Ferreira from CMRE, for cooperation between domains. The teams used a graphical interface in which each robot from sea and air domain reported its findings in the competition arena in real-time.
Winner: Universitat de Girona, Spain (sea) + ISEP/INESC TEC, Portugal (air)

Perseverance Award, handed by Francisco Javier Perez Grau from FADA-CATEC, for hard work on the development and integration of the aerial robot. The team competed in the Grand Challenge the day after their aerial platform suffered a severe crash, working overnight to fix it.
Winner: HSR Search and Rescue Team, Switzerland (air)

Piloting Award, handed by Stjepan Bogdan from University of Zagreb-FER , for outstanding UAV piloting skills. The team was able to recover the aerial robot after an unintentional landing without incurring manual intervention.
Winner: Raptors, Poland (land & air)

Autonomy Award, handed by Frank Schneider from Fraunhofer FKIE, for the best autonomy of land robots. Outstanding autonomous navigation and automatic object detection.
Winner: IMM, Poland (land)

SAUC-E Student Award – handed by Bill Kirkwood (IEEE OES), Kelly Cooper (ONR) and Hitesh Patel (AUVSI) to the best student marine team.
Winner: AUV Team Tomkyle, Germany (sea)

Teams were given a diploma and set of eZ430-Chronos development tool sponsored by Texas Instruments.

Watch the ERL Emergency 2017 Awards Ceremony video

More info

The European Robotics League is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement n° 688441.

The ERL Emergency Robots 2017 competition was organised locally by the NATO STO-Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE) of La Spezia, Italy.

Welcome to #ERLemergency village pic.twitter.com/wQlIHDfhJg

— Alexandre Chapoutot (@YATheChap) 15 September 2017

Robot da tutto il mondo si danno appuntamento all’#ERLemergency #Robots. A Piombino da oggi al 23/09 @ERLrobotleague https://t.co/4h1btIlln1 pic.twitter.com/7L0Lo4wTjz

— Enel Group (@EnelGroupIT) 15 September 2017

Teams worked very hard during the practice and competition days:

First tests completed by #ENSTATeam in the @ERLrobotleague pic.twitter.com/rcWQdRHAfw

— Servane Courtaux (@servane_crtx) 16 September 2017

Tuscany Robotics Team pic.twitter.com/BFo2mnb7B7

— Benedetto Allotta (@BenAllotta) 22 September 2017

Some field repairs for team Raptors @ERLrobotleague #ERLemergency while teams Oubot and Raptors continue air and sea operations. pic.twitter.com/LJ6Zphsu6Y

— Alan Winfield (@alan_winfield) 23 September 2017

Great to see many more women roboticists in #ERLemergency2017 teams than #eurathlon2015. See e.g. team #Piombino https://t.co/FsnC3e5ijN

— Alan Winfield (@alan_winfield) 25 September 2017

Land + Air day out here at #ERLemergency! @ERLrobotleague pic.twitter.com/DzZlcmnNWf

— AUVSI Foundation (@AUVSIFoundation) 20 September 2017

Robots could be found also in the exhibition area:

SWARMs at ERL 2017! #erlemergency #Piombino @SantAnnaPisahttps://t.co/ly8ciQQgh6 pic.twitter.com/anQ9Ck7knI

— SWARMs Project (@SWARMS_Project) 21 September 2017

Or enjoying the sea:

ETH Robot ANYmal likes the sea in Italy. pic.twitter.com/UsU3hUlKTD

— Roland Siegwart (@rsiegwart) 15 de septiembre de 2017

Robotics experts held presentations and demos for the general public during the Opening Ceremony in Piazza Bovio.

The Opening ceremony of #Erlemergency 2017 @ERLrobotleague has started in Piombino #robots pic.twitter.com/SGqVLGL2Xn

— euRobotics (@eu_Robotics) 17 September 2017

.@mady_delvaux: European #robotics research is performing well, robots will impact human life, #erlemergency2017 is a positive example pic.twitter.com/gciEjcS0XW

— SPARC robotics (@SPARCrobotics) 17 September 2017

The public got to know the teams,

Let’s support the #erlemergency2017 teams! pic.twitter.com/5XbsegCATB

— SPARC robotics (@SPARCrobotics) 17 September 2017

And to see some emergency robots in action with the demo of TRADR project:

Robots will complement people, not take their jobs, says TRADR project #erlemergency2017 https://t.co/K3KOP8umVN

— SPARC robotics (@SPARCrobotics) 17 September 2017

The competition site benefitted from the visit of some personalities:

Il sindaco di Piombino @massimogiu a #ERLemergency 2017 a Tor del Sale “Manifestazione positiva per la città che vuole guardare al futuro” pic.twitter.com/xMOW9zs1Hw

— Comune di Piombino (@ComunePiombino) 22 September 2017

We are delighted to have Bill Kirkwood from our Platinum Sponsor @ieeeoes at #ERLemergency2017. Many thanks for sponsoring us! pic.twitter.com/27zsP66Xsz

— ERL robotics league (@ERLrobotleague) 23 September 2017

Since they are the new generation of roboticists, children were not forgotten either: they enjoyed the free classes given by Scuola di Robotica.

Enjoy the #robotics class for children in #Piombino #ERLemergency2017 @EmanueleMicheli pic.twitter.com/1nEB4LDcEZ

— euRobotics (@eu_Robotics) 17 September 2017

At the Piombino Castle, the public attended more #robotics presentations.

Anne Bajart @RoboticsEU presented EU funded #robotics projects @CLsPlusPlus #erlemergency2017 #Piombino pic.twitter.com/RnTbCeIIl9

— ERL robotics league (@ERLrobotleague) 18 September 2017

After days of hard work, passion and enjoyment, the winners of the Grand challenge were announced:

The winners of #ERLemergency2017 Grand Challenge are Telerob+Universitat de Girona + ISEP/INESC TEC. Congratulations! pic.twitter.com/Y89BvQhJ5x

— ERL robotics league (@ERLrobotleague) 23 September 2017

In 2016, the European Union co-funded 17 new robotics projects from the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for research and innovation. 16 of these resulted from the robotics work programme, and 1 project resulted from the Societal Challenges part of Horizon 2020. The robotics work programme implements the robotics strategy developed by SPARC, the Public-Private Partnership for Robotics in Europe (see the Strategic Research Agenda). 

EuRobotics regularly publishes video interviews with projects, so that you can find out more about their activities. This week features ILIAD: ntra-Logistics with Integrated Automatic Deployment: Safe and Scalable Fleets in Shared Spaces

Objectives

ILIAD is driven by the industry needs for highly flexible robot fleets operating in spaces shared with humans. The main objectives are care-free, fast, and scalable deployment; long-term operation while learning from observed activities; on-line, self-optimising fleet management; human-aware fleets that can learn human behaviour models; compliant unpacking and palletising of goods; and a systematic study of human safety in shared environments, setting the stage for future safety certification.

Expected Impact

ILIAD’s focus is on the rapidly expanding intralogistics domain, where there is a strong market pull for flexible automated solutions, especially ones that can blend with current operations. The innovations developed in ILIAD target key hindrances identified in the logistics domain, and are essential for independent and reliable operation of collaborative AGV fleets. The expected impact extends to most multiple-actor systems where robots and humans operate together.

Partners

ÖREBRO UNIVERSITET
UNIVERSITY OF LINCOLN
UNIVERSITÀ DI PISA
LEIBNIZ UNIVERSITÄT HANNOVER
ROBERT BOSCH GMBH
KOLLMORGEN AUTOMATION AB
ACT OPERATIONS RESEARCH
ORKLA FOODS
LOGISTIC ENGINEERING SERVICES LTD

Coordinator:

Achim J. Lilienthal

Project website:

http://www.iliad-project.eu/

Watch all EU-projects videos

If you enjoyed reading this article, you may also want to read:

• New Horizon 2020 robotics projects, 2016: HEPHAESTUS
• New Horizon 2020 robotics projects, 2016: Co4Robots
• New Horizon 2020 robotics projects, 2016: An.Dy
• New Horizon 2020 robotics projects, 2016: BADGER
• Two Horizon 2020 projects researching EU Digital Industrial Platform for Robotics
• EU’s Horizon 2020 has funded $179 million in robotics PPPs

See all the latest robotics news on Robohub, or sign up for our weekly newsletter.

In 2016, the European Union co-funded 17 new robotics projects from the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for research and innovation. 16 of these resulted from the robotics work programme, and 1 project resulted from the Societal Challenges part of Horizon 2020. The robotics work programme implements the robotics strategy developed by SPARC, the Public-Private Partnership for Robotics in Europe (see the Strategic Research Agenda). 

Every week, euRobotics will publish a video interview with a project, so that you can find out more about their activities. This week features HEPHAESTUS: Highly automatEd PHysical Achievements and performancES using cable roboTs Unique SysHighly automatEd PHysical Achievements and performancES using cable roboTs Unique Systemstems.

Objectives

Hephaestus project addresses novel concepts to introduce Robotics and Autonomous Systems use in the Construction Sector where the presence of this type of products is minor or almost non-existent. It focuses to give novel solutions to one of the most important parts of the construction sector, the part related to the facades and the works that need to be done when this part of a building is built or need maintenance. It proposes a new automatized way to install these products providing a whole solution not only highly industrialized in production but also in installation and maintenance.

Expected impact

Hephaestus aims at automating the On-site Execution or Installation process for empowering and strengthening the Construction Sector in Europe and for positioning the European Robotic Industry as leader and reference in the huge and new growing market for the robotics. Hephaestus solution will allow reducing up to 90% the number of work accidents during façade installation process, reducing around 20% of installation cost and around 44% of the annual maintenance and cleaning costs. Curtain wall construction currently accounts for an annual market of €30,000 million in Europe.

Partners

FUNDACIÓN TECNALIA R&I 
TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITÄT MÜNCHEN
FRAUNHOFER- IPA
CNRS-LIRMM 
CEMVISA VICINAY
NLINK AS 

Coordinator:

Coordinator: Julen Astudillo Larraz, TECNALIA
Julen.astudillo@tecnalia.com

Project website: www.hephaestus-project.eu

Watch all EU-projects videos

If you enjoyed reading this article, you may also want to read:

• New Horizon 2020 robotics projects, 2016: Co4Robots
• New Horizon 2020 robotics projects, 2016: An.Dy
• New Horizon 2020 robotics projects, 2016: BADGER
• Two Horizon 2020 projects researching EU Digital Industrial Platform for Robotics
• EU’s Horizon 2020 has funded $179 million in robotics PPPs

See all the latest robotics news on Robohub, or sign up for our weekly newsletter.

In 2016, the European Union co-funded 17 new robotics projects from the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for research and innovation. 16 of these resulted from the robotics work programme, and 1 project resulted from the Societal Challenges part of Horizon 2020. The robotics work programme implements the robotics strategy developed by SPARC, the Public-Private Partnership for Robotics in Europe (see the Strategic Research Agenda). 

Every week, euRobotics will publish a video interview with a project, so that you can find out more about their activities. This week features CYBERLEGs++: The CYBERnetic LowEr-Limb CoGnitive Ortho-prosthesis Plus Plus.

Objectives

The goal of CYBERLEGs++ is to validate the technical and economic viability of the powered robotic ortho-prosthesis developed within the FP7-ICT-CYBERLEGs project. The aim is to enhance/restore the mobility of transfemoral amputees and to enable them to perform locomotion tasks such as ground-level walking, walking up and down slopes, climbing/descending stairs, standing up, sitting down and turning in scenarios of real life. Restored mobility will allow amputees to perform physical activity thus counteracting physical decline and improving the overall health status and quality of life.

By demonstrating in an operational environment (TRL=7) – from both the technical and economic viability view point – a modular robotics technology for healthcare, with the ultimate goal of fostering its market exploitation CYBERLEGs Plus Pus will have an impact on:

Society: CLs++ technology will contribute to increase the mobility of dysvascular amputees, and, more generally, of disabled persons with mild lower-limb impairments;
Science and technology: CLs++ will further advance the hardware and software modules of the ortho-prosthesis developed within the FP7 CYBERLEGs project and validate its efficacy through a multi-centre clinical study;
Market: CLs++ will foster the market exploitation of high-tech robotic systems and thus will promote the growth of both a robotics SME and a large healthcare company.

Partners
SCUOLA SUPERIORE SANT’ANNA (SSSA)
UNIVERSITÉ CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN (UCL)
VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT BRUSSEL (VUB)
UNIVERZA V LJUBLJANI (UL)
FONDAZIONE DON CARLO GNOCCHI (FDG)
ÖSSUR (OSS)
IUVO S.R.L. (IUVO)

Coordinator
Prof. Nicola Vitiello, The BioRobotics Institute
Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, Italy
nicola.vitiello@santannapisa.it

Project website
www.cyberlegs.org

Watch all EU-projects videos

If you enjoyed reading this article, you may also want to read:

• New Horizon 2020 robotics projects, 2016: Co4Robots
• New Horizon 2020 robotics projects, 2016: An.Dy
• New Horizon 2020 robotics projects, 2016: BADGER
• Two Horizon 2020 projects researching EU Digital Industrial Platform for Robotics
• EU’s Horizon 2020 has funded $179 million in robotics PPPs

See all the latest robotics news on Robohub, or sign up for our weekly newsletter.

The Bristol Robotics Laboratory (BRL) will host the first European- Commission funded European Robotics League (ERL) tournament for service robots to be held in the UK.

Two teams from the BRL and Birmingham will pitch their robots against each other in a series of events from 26 and 30 June.

Robots designed to support people with care-related tasks in the home will be put to the test in a simulated home test bed.

The assisted living robots of the two teams will face various challenges, including understanding natural speech and finding and retrieving objects for the user.

The robots will also have to greet visitors at the door appropriately, such as welcoming a doctor on their visit, or turning away unwanted visitors.

Associate Professor Praminda Caleb-Solly, Theme Leader for Assistive Robotics at the BRL said, “The lessons learned during the competition will contribute to how robots in the future help people, such as those with ageing-related impairments and those with other disabilities, live independently in their own homes for as long as possible.

“This is particularly significant with the growing shortage of carers available to provide support for an ageing populations.”

The BRL, the host of the UK’s first ERL Service Robots tournament, is a joint initiative of the University of the West of England and the University of Bristol. The many research areas include swarm robotics, unmanned aerial vehicles, driverless cars, medical robotics and robotic sensing for touch and vision. BRL’s assisted living research group is developing interactive assistive robots as part of an ambient smart home ecosystem to support independent living.

The ERL Service Robots tournament will be held in the BRL’s Anchor Robotics Personalised Assisted Living Studio, which was set up to develop, test and evaluate assistive robotic and other technologies in a realistic home environment.

The studio was recently certified as a test bed by the ERL, which runs alongside similar competitions for industrial robots and for emergency robots, which includes vehicles that can search for and rescue people in disaster-response scenarios.

The two teams in the Bristol event will be Birmingham Autonomous Robotics Club (BARC) led by Sean Bastable from the School of Computer Science at the University of Birmingham, and the Healthcare Engineering and Assistive Robotics Technology and Services (HEARTS) team from the BRL led by PhD Student Zeke Steer.

BARC has developed its own robotics platform, Dora, and HEARTS will use a TIAGo Steel robot from PAL Robotics with a mix of bespoke and proprietary software.

The Bristol event will be open for public viewing in the BRL on the afternoon of the 29th of June 2017 (Bookable via EventBrite), and include short tours of the assisted living studio for the attendees. It will be held during UK Robotics Week, on 24-30 June 2017, when there will be a nationwide programme of robotics and automation events.

The BRL will also be organising focus groups on 28 and 29 June 2017 (Bookable via EventBrite and here) as part of the UK Robotics Week, to demonstrate assistive robots and their functionality, and seek the views of carers and older adults on these assistive technologies, exploring further applications and integration of such robots into care scenarios.

The European Commission-funded European Robotics League (ERL) is the successor to the RoCKIn, euRathlon and EuRoC robotics competitions, all funded by the EU and designed to foster scientific progress and innovation in cognitive systems and robotics. The ERL is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. See: https://www.eu-robotics.net/robotics_league/

The ERL is part of the SPARC public-private partnership set up by the European Commission and the euRobotics association to extend Europe’s leadership in civilian robotics. SPARC’s €700 million of funding from the Commission in 2014̶20 is being combined with €1.4 billion of funding from European industry. See: http://www.eu-robotics.net/sparc

euRobotics is a European Commission-funded non-profit organisation which promotes robotics research and innovation for the benefit of Europe’s economy and society. It is based in Brussels and has more than 250 member organisations. See: www.eu-robotics.net

In 2016, the European Union co-funded 17 new robotics projects from the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for research and innovation. 16 of these resulted from the robotics work programme, and 1 project resulted from the Societal Challenges part of Horizon 2020. The robotics work programme implements the robotics strategy developed by SPARC, the Public-Private Partnership for Robotics in Europe (see the Strategic Research Agenda). 

Every week, euRobotics will publish a video interview with a project, so that you can find out more about their activities. This week features Co4Robots: Achieving Complex Collaborative Missions via Decentralized Control and Coordination of Interacting Robots.

Objectives

Recent applications necessitate coordination of different robots. Current practice is mainly based on offline, centralized planning and tasks are fulfilled in a predefined manner. Co4Robots’ goal is to build a systematic methodology to:

• accomplish complex task specifications given to a team of potentially heterogeneous robots;
• develop control schemes appropriate for mobility and manipulation capabilities of the robots;
• achieve perceptual capabilities that enable robots to localize themselves and estimate the dynamic environment state;
• integrate all in a decentralized framework.

Expected impact

1. The envisioned scenarios involve multi-robot services in e.g. office environments. Although public facilities are in some degree pre-structured, the need for the Co4Robots’ framework is evident since:
2. it will lead to an improved use of resources and a faster accomplishment of tasks inside workspaces with high social activity;
3. it will contribute towards the vision of more flexible multi-robot applications in both professional and domestic environments, also in view of the “Industry 4.0” vision and the general need to deploy such systems in everyday life scenarios.

Partners

KTH ROYAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
BOSCH
NATIONAL TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS
PAL ROBOTICS
FOUNDATION FOR RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY HELLAS
UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG

Coordinator:Prof. Dimos Dimarogonas
dimos@kth.se
www.facebook.com/co4robots

Project website: www.co4robots.eu

Watch all EU-projects videos

If you enjoyed reading this article, you may also want to read:

• New Horizon 2020 robotics projects, 2016: An.Dy
• New Horizon 2020 robotics projects, 2016: BADGER
• Two Horizon 2020 projects researching EU Digital Industrial Platform for Robotics
• EU’s Horizon 2020 has funded $179 million in robotics PPPs

See all the latest robotics news on Robohub, or sign up for our weekly newsletter.

In 2016, the European Union co-funded 17 new robotics projects from the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for research and innovation. 16 of these resulted from the robotics work programme, and 1 project resulted from the Societal Challenges part of Horizon 2020. The robotics work programme implements the robotics strategy developed by SPARC, the Public-Private Partnership for Robotics in Europe (see the Strategic Research Agenda). 

Every week, euRobotics will publish a video interview with a project, so that you can find out more about their activities. This week features BADGER, a Robot for Autonomous Underground Trenchless Operations, Mapping and Navigation.

Objectives

The goal of the proposed project is the design and development of an integrated underground robotic system capable for autonomous construction of subterranean small-diameter, highly curved tunnel networks and for localization, mapping and autonomous navigation during its operation. The proposed robotic system will enable the execution of tasks in different application domains of high societal and economic impact including trenchless constructions (cabling and piping) installations, etc., search and rescue operations, remote science and exploration applications.

Expected impact

The expected strategic impact of BADGER project focuses in:

1. Introduce advanced robotics technologies, including intelligent control and cognition capabilities, to significantly increase the European competitiveness,
2. Drastically reduce the traffic congestion and pollution in the European urban environments increasing, in this way, the quality of life of people,

Enabling technologies for new potential applications: search and rescue, mining and quarrying, civil applications, mapping, etc.

Partners

UNIVERSITY CARLOS III OF MADRID (ES) 
UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW (UK)
CENTRE FOR RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY HELLAS (GR) 
IDS GEORADAR (I)
SINGULARLOGIC (GR)
TRACTO-TECHNIK (D)
ROBOTNIK (ES) 
UNIVERSITY CARLOS III OF MADRID (ES)

Coordinator: Prof. Carlos Balaguer
balaguer@ing.uc3m.es
Twitter: @badger_project

Project website: www.badger-robotics.eu

If you enjoyed reading this article, you may also want to read:

• New Horizon 2020 robotics projects, 2016: An.Dy
• New Horizon 2020 robotics projects – 2016 presented at #ERF2017
• Two Horizon 2020 projects researching EU Digital Industrial Platform for Robotics
• EU’s Horizon 2020 has funded $179 million in robotics PPPs

See all the latest robotics news on Robohub, or sign up for our weekly newsletter.

In 2016, the European Union co-funded 17 new robotics projects from the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for research and innovation. 16 of these resulted from the robotics work programme, and 1 project resulted from the Societal Challenges part of Horizon 2020. The robotics work programme implements the robotics strategy developed by SPARC, the Public-Private Partnership for Robotics in Europe (see the Strategic Research Agenda). Every week, euRobotics will publish a video interview with a project, so that you can find out more about their activities.

A wide variety of research and innovation themes are represented in the new projects: from healthcare via transportation, industrial- and logistics robotics to events media production using drones. Some deal with complex safety matters on the frontier where robots meet people, to ensure that no one comes to harm. Others will create a sustainable ecosystem in the robotics community, setting up common platforms supporting robotics development. One project deals exclusively with the potentially radical changes facing society with the rise of new autonomous technologies. The projects are either helping humans in their daily lives at home or at work, collaborating with humans to help them with difficult, strenuous tasks, or taking care of dangerous tasks, reducing the risk to humans.

The research and innovation projects focus on a wide variety of Robotics and Autonomous Systems and capabilities, such as navigation, human-robot interaction, recognition, cognition and handling. Many of these abilities can be transferable to other fields as well.

Advancing Anticipatory Behaviors in Dyadic Human-Robot Collaboration: An.Dy

Objective

Obj1. ANDY will develop the ANDYSUIT, a wearable technology for monitoring humans involved in whole-body physical interaction tasks.  Obj2. Based on the ANDYSUIT, ANDY will generate ANDYDATASET, a collection of motion and force captures of humans involved in and collaboration tasks. Obj3. From ANDYDATASET, ANDY will develop ANDYMODEL, a set of models to describe human and robot behaviour when engaged in collaborative tasks. Obj4. With ANDYSUIT and ANDYMODEL, ANDY will develop ANDYCONTROL, a reactive and predictive control strategy for human-robot physical collaboration.

Expected impact

Impact on manufacturing domain: ANDY technologies support this objective in two ways: (1) by increasing productivity through more effective production and service processes in which the strength of humans and robots are optimally combined, and (2) by maintaining workers health until the age of retirement including reduced costs for health care and compensation. Impact on healthcare: the ANDYSUIT will open a completely new field for methodological analysis with the possibility of monitoring patients also outside the clinics.

Partners

FONDAZIONE ISTITUTO ITALIANO DI TECNOLOGIA
INSTITUT NATIONAL DE RECHERCHE EN INFORMATIQUE ET EN AUTOMATIQUE
INŠTITUT JOŽEF ŠTEFAN
DEUTSCHES ZENTRUM FÜR LUFT- UND RAUMFAHRT
XSENS TECHNOLOGIES BV
IMK AUTOMOTIVE GMBH
OTTO BOCK HEALTHCARE GMBH
ANYBODY TECHNOLOGY A/S

Coordinator: Francesco Nori
francesco.nori@iit.it
http://iron76.github.io
Instituto Italiano di Tecnologia – iCub Facility
Via Morego, 30
16163 Genova, Italy
Phone: (+39) 010 71 781 420
Fax: +39 010 71 70 817
Twitter: @AnDy_H2020

Project website: www.andy-project.eu

In 2016, the European Union co-funded 17 new robotics projects from the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for research and innovation. 16 of these resulted from the robotics work programme, and one project resulted from the Societal Challenges part of Horizon 2020. The robotics work programme implements the robotics strategy developed by SPARC, the Public-Private Partnership for Robotics in Europe (see the Strategic Research Agenda).

A wide variety of research and innovation themes are represented in the new projects: from healthcare via transportation, industrial- and logistics robotics to events media production using drones. Some deal with complex safety matters on the frontier where robots meet people, to ensure that no one comes to harm. Others will create a sustainable ecosystem in the robotics community, setting up common platforms supporting robotics development. One project deals exclusively with the potentially radical changes facing society with the rise of new autonomous technologies. The projects are either helping humans in their daily lives at home or at work, collaborating with humans to help them with difficult, strenuous tasks, or taking care of dangerous tasks, reducing the risk to humans.

The research and innovation projects focus on a wide variety of Robotics and Autonomous Systems and capabilities, such as navigation, human-robot interaction, recognition, cognition and handling. Many of these abilities can be transferable to other fields as well.

At the European Robotics Forum 2017, on 22-24 March 2017, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, all projects presented themselves during a dedicated workshop.

Watch the video with all Horizon2020 projects presentations:

Watch the video with FP7 projects results:

Every week, euRobotics will publish a video interview with each project, so that you can find out more about their activities.

We are looking forward to following these new projects and accompanying them to bring benefits to Europe’s citizens and economy.

Bernd Liepert, President of @eu_Robotics, to officially open #ERF2017 #robotics pic.twitter.com/zovHHxCDrY

— SPARC robotics (@SPARCrobotics) March 22, 2017

‘The European Robotics Forum is unique in the World!’ Juha Heikkilä #ERF2017 @eu_Robotics @KUKA_RoboticsEN @EU_Commission #FutureOfRobotics pic.twitter.com/kx32or1IuO

— Dominik Boesl (@NickBoesl) March 22, 2017

The public-private partnership #SPARC is highly important for keeping the EU at the cutting edge of #robotics #ERF2017

— SPARC robotics (@SPARCrobotics) March 22, 2017

The 3-day event packed it’s lot of talks, workshops, and panel discussions.

So much to see, meet and listen at #ERF2017 @eu_Robotics pic.twitter.com/b640q25IIK #robotics #AI and much more

— MONTAUD Andre pro (@MontaudPro) March 23, 2017

The event kicked off with a dive into deep learning and its applications in robotics with keynotes by Senior Research Scientist at DeepMind Raia Hadsell, CEO of FiveAI Stan Boland, and Member of the Scottish Parliament Keith Brown.

Keith Brown, MSP to present the Scottish perspective of #digital and #robotics #ERF2017 pic.twitter.com/HDhQNmjIbC

— euRobotics (@eu_Robotics) March 22, 2017

Great opening to #ERF2017 @eu_Robotics – interesting talks from @DeepMindAI and @_FiveAI on the future of machine learning

— Vik Khurana (@vik_khurana) March 22, 2017

#deeplearning might lead to superhuman performance by agents #erf2017 pic.twitter.com/UzMOqEzGxc

— Andrea Bertolini (@AnB_Law) March 22, 2017

#ERF2017 #superhumanAI to deliver #transportation services. The future of #mobility is a #service not a product @adiminin @RiccaboniM pic.twitter.com/EcZ7Kz4WYF

— Andrea Bertolini (@AnB_Law) March 22, 2017

The theme of the forum this year was “living and working with robots”. A theme that was tackled in nearly every session, and through dedicated events solely focussed on the legal, ethical, and societal opportunities and challenges surrounding the deployment of robots in our everyday lives.

Inspiring time at #ERF2017. Good to see growing recognition of importance of societal, ethical and legal issues in robotics

— Tony Prescott (@tonyjprescott) March 24, 2017

#ERF2017 3 Workshops on “Ethical, Legal and Socio-economic Issues in Robotics”
at the European Robotics Forum 2017 https://t.co/mMPbpQRpVR pic.twitter.com/rbhsJLySyO

— Vincent C. Müller (@VincentCMueller) March 22, 2017

#ERF2017 @alan_winfield presenting #ethicallyalligneddesign and ethical #standards for #robotics pic.twitter.com/BToyK4dYTs

— EURegulatesRobotics (@EURegRobotics) March 22, 2017

‘Legislation can enable #innovation to get things done. We need to have a legal #framework that is fit for purpose’ Juha Heikkilä #ERF2017

— Robohub (@Robohub) March 23, 2017

#ERF2017 @sanjadogramadzi workshop on legal issues in healthcare robotics – complex liability, human dignity quagmire pic.twitter.com/NkhNFsrwU1

— Praminda Caleb-Solly (@praminda) March 24, 2017

The forum is also the main showcase for success stories from European Projects funded under FP7 and H2020. We’ll be featuring the projects in video pitches captured at forum in an upcoming post, but in the meantime, you can read about the seven success stories here.

Cècile Huet @EU_Commission presenting new #H2020 #robotics projects in the @SPARCrobotics strategy #healthcare #ERF2017 pic.twitter.com/xwan3bd9Op

— Stefano Mazzoleni (@s_mazzoleni) March 22, 2017

In fact, the robot LINDA designed as part of the STRANDS project was roaming the exhibit floor, taking pictures of attendees.

I took a picture of this human at #ERF2017 pic.twitter.com/3xqv6KAWTj

— Linda Strands (@LindaStrands) March 24, 2017

The exhibit floor was also the main venue for networking, and featured dozens of robots from KUKA, Shadow Robotics, Softbank, Pal Robotics, Clearpath Robotics, Schunk, Tharsus, and many more.

Made some new friends at #ERF2017 this week! pic.twitter.com/x08rG6oobD

— EdinburghAmbassadors (@EdinAmbassador) March 24, 2017

Beyond the exhibit floor, networking extended to the conference dinner. True to tradition, the event featured a Bag Pipe concert at the National Museum of Scotland. In fact, the organisers of #ERF2017 opted to wear the kilt, along with the robot TIAGo from Pal Robotics.

What an evening! #ERF2017 pic.twitter.com/5PQepXumJX

— Sabine Hauert (@sabinehauert) March 23, 2017

#ERF2017 Awards Dinner. Even the robots wear kilts #tartanrobots @Lanespace pic.twitter.com/YCLGy5FI8Z

— Edinburgh Robotics (@EDINrobotics) March 23, 2017

The evening was the opportunity to hand out awards for Tech Transfer, Entrepreneurship, and for the European Robotics League.

Congrats to the Entrepreneurship Award 2017: ReHand Technologies (3rd), Haxtron (2nd), Walk to Beat (1st) #ERF2017

— euRobotics (@eu_Robotics) March 23, 2017

The winners of the TechTransfer Award 2017: ANYdrive (3rd), Hunova (2nd), Fotokite (1st) #ERF2017

— euRobotics (@eu_Robotics) March 23, 2017

Winners of #ERL Awards 2016/2017! Congratulations! #ERF2017 pic.twitter.com/s2aKu5GilV

— euRobotics (@eu_Robotics) March 23, 2017

The European Robotics Forum is organised by euRobotics under SPARC, the Public-Private partnership for Robotics in Europe. This year’s conference was hosted by the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics. And you know it was a success when Rory Cellan-Jones from BBC orders a Pint from a robot in your exhibit hall.

Robotic barman pours Rory a pint – a big cheers! From us to all who supported #ERF2017 #edinburgh @EDINrobotics https://t.co/W4HH5s5wdL

— HWUInnovation (@HWUInnovation) March 24, 2017

You can see all the pictures from the conference here.

Teams participating in the ERL Service Robots local tournament at certified Leon@Home Test bed. Copyright: Universidad de León.

The European Robotics League has closed a successful first season. Funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Programme for research, the ERL brings a common framework for two indoor robotics competitions, ERL Industrial Robots and ERL Service Robots and one outdoor robotics competition, ERL Emergency Robots.  The three competitions are designed to target three clear objectives: the European societal challenge of an aging population, the strengthening of the European robotics industry and the use of autonomous systems for emergency response.

The last tournament of the ERL season 2016/17 took place at the Leon@Home Test bed located at the Módulo de Investigación en Cibernética of the Universidad de León, Spain. The ERL Service Robots local competition organised by Dr Vicente Matellan and the Leon Robotics Group was held from the 13-17 March and consisted of several trials, which mainly took place on the last day.

Caption: (Left) Leon@Home Test bed. (Right) Módulo de Investigación en Cibernética (MIC). Copyright: Universidad de León

The teams competed in different Task Benchmarks (TBM) and Functionality Benchmarks (FBM), comprising “TBM1: Getting to know my home”, “TBM4: Visit My Home”, “FBM2: Navigation Functionality” and “FBM3: Speech Recognition”. Robots were required to generate a map of their environment, detect random changes in the location of furniture and other items, interact effectively with humans and demonstrate different behaviors when dealing with known and unknown people, and help them with general tasks throughout the day.

The three teams that participated in the local tournament were SPQReL, University of Rome (Italy) and University of Lincoln (UK), Outsider Bots, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (Spain) and University of Luxemburg (Luxembourg), and Leonbot, Universidad de León (Spain).

Caption: (Left) Example of a  semantic Map of the environment. (Right) Objects used in TBM1. Copyright: Universidad de León

The final score for each team was calculated as the MEDIAN of the best performance in each TBM and FBM trials. The teams’ scoring and standings for the season 2016/2017 are available on the ERL Service Robots and ERL Industrial Robots web page.

The ERL Service and ERL Industrial Awards (Season 2016/17), sponsored by Texas Instruments University Program, were handed to the winning teams during the euRobotics Awards Ceremony held on 23 March, at the National Museum of Scotland, in Edinburgh.

ERL Tournaments dates (Season 2017/18)

The European Robotics League has announced the tournament dates for the new season. The local and major tournaments are based in Europe and are open to international participation from Universities, Research labs, Industry and/or end-users. The events are open to the public and anyone interested is welcome to contact the local organisers and attend as a spectator.

There are eight tournaments already confirmed for this season 2017-2018 and new ones are expected to be confirmed in the next months.

ERL Service Robots

Major Tournament

• 28-31 August 2017: as part of the IEEE RO-MAN 2017 event held in Lisbon, Portugal

Local Tournament

• 26-30 June 2017: BRL Anchor Personalised Assisted Living Studio, Bristol Robotics Laboratory, Bristol, UK
• 11-15 September 2017: Leon@Home test bed, Universidad de Leon, Leon, Spain
• ERW 2017, 20-26 November 2017: PAL Robotics, Barcelona, Spain.
• 4-7 December 2017: ECHORD++ RIF Peccioli test bed, Peccioli, Italy.

ERL Industrial Robots

Local Tournament

• 11-15 September 2017: b-it-bots@Work Test Bed, Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Science, Sankt Augustin, Germany
• ERW 2017, 21-25 November 2017: Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy

ERL Emergency Robots

Major Tournament

• 15-23 September 2017: Piombino, Italy. (Download ERL Emergency 2017 brochure)

ERL Emergency 2017 promo video:

This season 2017/18, Worthington Sharpe Ltd., silver sponsor of ERL Emergency Robots 2017,  will provide one Wing Ground Control Station (GCS) for loan to a selected applicant team. Teams wishing to borrow the Wing GCS must apply to the ERL consortium, following the application procedure set on ERL Emergency web page. Applications received will be evaluated by the consortium and Worthington Sharpe Ltd. to select the team who will be granted the loan equipment.

PAL Robotics, a platinum sponsor of ERL Service Robots, announced at the ERL Awards ceremony that the company will offer on a very affordable rental scheme limited units of TIAGo robots for different teams to use in the competition.

Companies and academic institutions interested in sponsoring ERL events can contact Dr Fausto Ferreira for information on the sponsorship and exhibitor packages.

To find out more about the European Robotics League, please visit www.robotics-league.eu.

 ERL History

The ERL is the natural evolution of a series of highly successful previous competitions that were established via FP7 funded projects: RoCKIn, euRathlon and EuRoC.  All three projects aimed to foster scientific progress and innovation in cognitive systems and robotics through the design and implementation of new competitions.

The European Robotics League is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement n° 688441

Watch the European Robotics League promo video:

www.robotics-league.eu

About euRobotics and SPARC

euRobotics is a non-profit organisation based in Brussels with the objective to make robotics beneficial for Europe’s economy and society.  With more than 250 member organisations, euRobotics also provides the European Robotics Community with a legal entity to engage in a public/private partnership with the European Commission, named SPARC.

SPARC, the public-private partnership (PPP) between the European Commission and euRobotics, is a European initiative to maintain and extend Europe’s leadership in civilian robotics. Its aim is to strategically position European robotics in the world thereby securing major benefits for the European economy and the society at large.

SPARC is the largest research and innovation programme in civilian robotics in the world, with 700 million euro in funding from the European Commission between 2014 to 2020, which is tripled by European industry to yield a total investment of 2.1 billion euro. SPARC will stimulate an ever more vibrant and effective robotics community that collaborates in the successful development of technical transfer and commercial exploitation.

www.eu-robotics.net

www.eu-robotics.net/sparc

Credit: euRobotics

The 2017 European Robotics Forum in Edinburgh brought together over 800 people from robotics academia and industry. In an effort to bridge the two, euRobotics hosted an Entrepreneurship and TechTransfer award. Startups from around Europe competed for top prizes in front of a panel of experts.

The euRobotics Technology Transfer Award, now in its fourteenth year, showcases the impact of robotics research and puts the spotlight on successful technology transfer between science and industry. Innovations in robot tech and automation — through the result of research and industry working together —  are eligible for the prize.

The euRobotics Technology Transfer Awards were handed by MEP Victor Negrescu (Romania), winner of last year’s MEP Award on Digital Agenda. As a former digital entrepreneur himself, Victor Negrescu is a promoter of a stronger voice for European entrepreneurs and researchers.

Technology Transfer Award winners and coordinators together with MEP Victor Negrescu. Credits: Visual Outcasts

Fotokite, a tethered drone, won first place. The company is designed to make aerial photography accessible for everyone. Similar to a kite, the drone is tethered and foldable making it easy for anyone who wants to take photos from a bird’s-eye view. The company raised over 400K USD in crowdfunding in 2015 and have since started shipping their product.

Christopher McCall, who pitched for Fotokite, said: “We make a new type of tethered drone which is 100% autonomous, flies for several hours, and can be used by broadcast journalists, or for inspection.” Adding that, “It’s incredible to win the Tech Transfer Award at ERF.” Watch the Fotokite in action:

https://youtu.be/FX1BpdAmRss

The Entrepreneurship award helps small innovative companies pitch their ideas for the next big thing in robotics to a panel of technology investment experts. It’s all about learning skills, gaining visibility, and bringing in the cash prize.

Entrepreneurship Award winners, coordinators and juries. Credits: Visual Outcasts

The third prize was awarded to ReHand Technologies, maker of prosthetic, orthotic and rehabilitation devices. The second prize went to Haxtron for their robot Pr0be, a spherical autonomous aerial robotic platform. The winner this year was Neha Chaudhry from the company Walk to Beat. Inspired by her late grandad who suffered from Parkinson’s for 8 years, her product is a robotic walking stick with an innovative technology that gives out pulses in the handle  – it’s discreet and looks good, so people feel empowered instead of disabled.

Commenting on winning first prize, Neha Chaudhry said, “This was totally unexpected! I’m producing and designing for assisted living using smart technology products. Our product is simple: to help improve people’s lives. And with this [Walk to Beat] it’s for people who are struggling with Parkinson’s. Winning this award is great exposure for our company and we’re delighted.”

The euRobotics TechTransfer and Entrepreneurship Awards 2017 are funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 Programme.

European Robotics League finalists

The European Robotics League (ERL) consists of two indoor robotics competitions, ERL Industrial and ERL Service, and one outdoor robotics competition, ERL Emergency. Points are awarded by attending local and major tournaments, not a central event, with three main objectives: strengthening the European robotics industry, push innovative autonomous systems for emergency response, and addressing societal challenges of ageing populations in Europe. The European Robotics League is funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 Programme.

Current finalists for ERL Industrial Robots are autonOHM for the best-in-class task: “Fill a box with parts for manual assembly, and b-it-bots for the best-in-class functionality “navigation functionality.” Finalists for ERL Service Robots include homer@UniKoblenz and SPQReL.

Read the ERL Awards press release: Top service and industrial robots to win the European Robotics League Awards (Season 2016/17)

ERL Service and Industrial Robots Awards. Credits: Visual Outcasts

“Challenges such as these are the pivot from research to industrial applications. Trialling in real-world environments is key to this kind of innovation.” said Reinhard Lafrenz, Secretary General euRobotics.

“Through competitions, we can attract top talent in robotics to exchange knowledge while solving real-world challenges. We gave two ERL awards, in the service and industrial leagues at ERF. We’re also looking forward to the upcoming 2017 ERL Emergency Competition in Piombino, Italy,” said Prof. David Lane, ERF2017 General Chair and Director of the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics.

Organisers:

The European Robotics Forum is organised by euRobotics under SPARC, the Public-Private partnership for Robotics in Europe. This year’s conference is hosted by the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics.

About euRobotics and SPARC

euRobotics is a non-profit organisation based in Brussels with the objective to make robotics beneficial for Europe’s economy and society.  With more than 250 member organisations, euRobotics also provides the European Robotics Community with a legal entity to engage in a public/private partnership with the European Commission, named SPARC.

SPARC, the public-private partnership (PPP) between the European Commission and euRobotics, is a European initiative to maintain and extend Europe’s leadership in civilian robotics. Its aim is to strategically position European robotics in the world thereby securing major benefits for the European economy and the society at large.

SPARC is the largest research and innovation programme in civilian robotics in the world, with 700 million euro in funding from the European Commission between 2014 to 2020, which is tripled by European industry to yield a total investment of 2.1 billion euro. SPARC will stimulate an ever more vibrant and effective robotics community that collaborates in the successful development of technical transfer and commercial exploitation.

www.eu-robotics.net

www.eu-robotics.net/sparc

At the pinnacle event, panellists from Robotics for Elderly Care engaged with audience members in a lively discussion about topics ranging from how quickly technology is developing to how perceptions shape how users may interact with new technology. Knowledge exchange, especially with the end user, is crucial to develop better ideas and tech advancements in elderly care. There was also debate on how robotics could help care givers free up time (by doing dull or repetitive tasks) so they could focus on human relationships.

The panel included: Nuray Gokalp (as moderator), Information Technology Manager for City of Amsterdam; Heleen Riper, Professor of eMental-Health at the Department of Clinical Psychology VU University Amsterdam; Marcel Heerink, Associate professor at Windesheim and LaSalle University; Sophia de Rooij, Professor in Internal Medicine, specialized in Geriatric Medicine; Marieke Van Der Waal, Director of Leyden Academy on Vitality and Ageing; and Andreas Argubi-Wollesen, Research Assistance, SmartASSIST.

“How do we address challenges like loneliness with the elderly, can loneliness be viewed as a human care problem?” said Nuray. “Are we losing something essential as humans if robots help with elderly care?”

“Therein lies a bit of a conundrum,” says Marcel. “Do we have robots that only do practical repetitive tasks, and that’s it? Do we leave emotional, attentive care to humans?”

“Technology is a means, not an end,” said Heleen. “Will we use robots to help with emotional needs in the future? Perhaps. Maybe it is better to look at it as a personal choice of social preference, depending on the individual.”

“Robots can be helpful in the future, but personal human interaction are still very important,” said Marieke, noting that tablets and cell phones have provided new ways to communicate with family at long distances.

“Yes, said Andreas. “No one thought we would interact with cellphones or smartphones like we do now. I think it would be a failure to develop something, and for there only to be one perception of how to use it. We need to give people the tools and see how they would interact with them. It’s important from a design aspect.”

After some initial dialogue, an older audience member remarked that she created a network of unemployed young people and the older generation called “generations in touch” but was looking into scoping funding for projects like this in the community. She enquired about funding and asked if the panel knew of any other avenues that can be used to engage older generations.

“Devices need to be adaptive to different individuals and reactive, as each day can be different,” said Heleen. “Your calendar age doesn’t say much, there’s a big difference person to person. For example, your biological age may be 80, but you could feel very active and healthy.”

“Education on both parts (researcher and user) is a critical piece to create better technology,” said Andreas. “We need to put artefacts into the hands of the users. We found that many people thought what we were providing them was like something featured in science fiction and that’s often not the case. That’s why it is so important to put robots into users’ hands and see how they want to use it and create the idea. As researchers, we need to analyse these interactions and how the robot changes user behaviour.”

“Robots could one day help organize your day, guide you to a shop, help with cooking, taking medicine, possibly,” continued Andreas. “Essentially help guide you through your day. Look at it as added value. We need to think of having robots as our assistant, but that is not to say they couldn’t possibly also develop as social companions.”

“In 10-20 years, digital will become physical in robotics”, said Sophia. “Physical items will become autonomous, flexible, and able to understand us. This may scare people as machines learn. That’s why it’s important to have robots that enable human contact, so it’s not viewed as a threat, but as support to bring us together.”

All images credit: Visual Outcasts

European Robotics Week is organised by euRobotics and brought together by SPARC, a partnership for robotics in Europe to help maintain and extend Europe’s leadership in robotics. ERW has attracted more than 200,000 people since 2011 to take part in robotics related activities. During the week, research institutes, universities, industry, and activities are open to the public to engage and learn more about robotics.

If you enjoyed this article, you can read more about European Robotics Week below:

• Considering robot care, ethics & future tech at #ERW2016 European Robotics Week
• Robots at your service: Empowering healthy aging at European Robotics Week, 2016
• European Robotics Week #ERW2015 recap and videos
• Major debate on robots & society sets scene for #ERW2015 European Robotics Week

Roboethics panel in Amsterdam.

What ethical issues do we face in providing robot care for the elderly? Is there better acceptance with the public? What should we be mindful of when designing human-robot interactions?

At the #ERW2016 central event, held in Amsterdam 18-22 November, these questions (and more) were discussed, debated, and encouraged by expert panellists hailing from research, industry, academia, and government as well as insightful members in the community. All were welcome to ‘Robots at Your Service’, a multi-track event featuring panel deliberations in robotics regulation, assistive living technologies, and aimed at attracting more youth, and especially girls, into science, technology, engineering, arts and maths (STEAM). The event hosted workshops and featured a 48-hour hackathon for designers, makers, coders, engineers, and anyone else who believed healthy ageing should be a societal challenge.

The first panel ‘Roboethics’ focussed on the role robots may have in elderly care and ethical implications. Should robots be regarded as tools, helping with administrative and manual tasks, and also as emotional support? The panel featured Sabine Hauert, (as moderator) President of Robohub and Lecturer at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory; Vincent Muller, Professor of Philosophy and University Academic Fellow at the University of Leeds; Andy Bleaden, Funding and Programmes Manager at Stockport Council with a background in social care; Aimee van Wynsberghe, Assistant Professor of Ethics and Technology at the University of Twente and co-founder of the Foundation for Responsible Robotics; and Bennie Mols, science and technology journalist with a special interest in artificial intelligence and robots.

Ethical issues in robot care – There was some initial discussion about ethical considerations in the area of robocare. Ethical in terms of the social-emotional impact of what and whether or not real “care” should come only from human-to-human contact. Some wondered if robots could provide real care, others thought they should continue filling tasks in the 3Ds (dirty, dull, and dangerous) and free up the human carer’s time to be physically/emotionally supportive with patients. Snippets from the panel discussion are below:

“It’s good to have robots specifically tasked on things we don’t want to be doing,” said Benny. “People want human attention. The human brain is really the social brain, we like to connect to other people. Care of people is the most difficult aspect.”

“We are testing robots for use with people who are living well with dementia,” said Andy. “People feel isolated. Dementia could have meant a form of “social leprosy” at one time, and this is now changing across Europe. I’m aware that we have nursing homes that fail regularly because of the standard of care [in the UK]. We are dealing with a lot of people who are feeling that they are isolated. Maybe we need to have that conversation about companionship with robots.”

“What should we be mindful of when designing human-robot interactions?” asked Sabine.

“There always needs to be a human in the loop making sure the human aspects are there,” said Aimee. “The robot is there to help fulfill their role as a caregiver.”

“Engaging people with activities is a really useful way to manage their thoughts and their day,” said Andy. “And it’s also fun. Maybe having an AI programme to engage people.”

“It’s important to consider how can we incorporate ethics into the design process of robots, that way we can have a more proactive approach,” said Aimee. “In a hospital, for example, someone is designated for that person’s care. How will this change when a robot is introduced into that chain?”

“One gentleman told me he’s much more inclined to have a robot nurse help him with showering and dressing, as opposed to a care worker,” said Andy.

“What does the public think about robots for eldercare?” said Sabine.

“One side thinks its creepy, one side thinks they will be great for everything,” said Bennie. “I think we’ll need to find something in the middle.”

“How do we decide these kinds of things?” said Aimee. “Is it by choice? How are we suppose to make a choice? Is it the majority, or by individual personal preferences? Or is it by the government?”

“The best way could be designating enough money to the local governments and letting them decide,” said Andy. “That way they can explore how to care for their citizens.”

An audience question enquired about whether an ‘ethical brochure’ or manual will be created. “We keep contemplating examples, but we need something,” he said. “You also discuss the elderly, but we can also talk about children. Is it ethically correct if a child forms a bond with a robot? What is the borderline between good/bad?”

“People attach value to things,” said Vincent. There are a few considerations: ethics doesn’t quite work like that. You do have to enable people to tackle ethical issues by themselves (empowering the individual). We are developing a position statement from this group.”

“Do we need an ethical framework to drive decisions?” asked Sabine.

“We need guidance to gauge what is it that we want to achieve,” said Vincent. “Some people may say ‘Okay, let’s economise this’. However, we need to ask ourselves: What are the best case consequences and how do we want to achieve this? What aims are we trying to achieve? How high is the percentage of people who need our support? If a robot can be programmed to be ethical, who decides that (roboticist or person). No one really knows the answer just yet. Machine ethics makes us question what ethics is. Do we give the robot life goals and preferences, so it understands consequences? Or, should the robot have decision-making skills so it’s safe and reliable? Lots of questions to consider.”

The second panel focussed on robotics in OUR future. How do we see robotics shaping in the next 10-20 years? The panel featured participants Uwe Haass, (as moderator) Senior Consultant with RoboConsult; Maarten Goos, Professor of Economics and Institutions at the Utrecht University School of Economics (U.S.E.); Francesco Ferro, CEO at Pal Robotics, Sabine Hauert, President of Robohub and Lecturer at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory; Vincent Muller, Professor of Philosophy and University Academic Fellow at the University of Leeds; and Anne Bajart, Programme Officer for the European Commission. Snippets from the panel discussion are below:

What can we expect with robotics in Our immediate future – “Robotics has been announced for many years as the ‘future’ technology. But the question is ‘OUR’ robotics future. Where do you see the future of robotics in general? In the next 10-20 years, or even in our lifetimes?” asked Uwe. “Are there new applications popping up?”

“Only a few years ago, people thought robots were too expensive and didn’t want to invest. Now it’s 3x different,” says Anne. “One thing is for sure. Robotics in our future need to be intelligent, otherwise, they won’t be very useful,” she said.

“In the next 10-20 years, I hope to see more robots in our homes,” said Sabine. “Making robots is hard, 10 years is not all that long — Dyson took 10 years of development to make their eye 360. My hope is that we do see several robots who are able to perform simple tasks, I don’t think we’re going to see Rosie the Robot [from the Jetsons], but I’m hoping in our lifetime these things will become a reality. ”

“A few years ago, people were saying robotics was too expensive or people didn’t want to invest in robotics. Now, the situation is completely different. Why is this development now accelerating? Is it for profit, or is it altruism?” asked Uwe.

“Well, the difference is now that you have industrial robotics on the one hand and service robotics on the other,” said Martin. The price in industrial robotics has fallen and it’s adding more robots to the manufacturing processes. So now there’s both low-end services and high-end services.”

“Is there more acceptance with the general public because of service robots?” asked Uwe.

“The public is more inclined to accept robots,” said Vincent. “People are really curious to adopt these things. Children are even more willing to interact with robots. One type of robot that will enter into our lives fairly soon will be autonomous cars. I don’t expect it to be much of an issue. We won’t have terminator robots. I think the public is quite ready for it; it’s the ethical issues that pose an issue.”

“As soon as people see the need and the use of robots, people are less fearful,” said Anne. The never ending question is “will a robot take our job.” We shouldn’t be afraid of the change and should welcome it. Just like every other industrial change so long as we prepare for it and people are trained in the right skills.”

There was also discussion of the many advantages of conducting robotics within Europe. In part because of unique partnerships, like SPARC, but also the collaborative community working together. Indeed, the robotics community is starting to embrace a very global mindset and perhaps could do a bit more risk taking.

“Europe is getting more entrepreneurial. Will this be a barrier for further development?” asked Uwe.

“We definitely need more and more collaborations in the community of robotics manufacturers,” said Francesco. “We have excellent research in Europe. There’s a bit of fear with people losing ideas or competing for money. But there can absolutely be a sustainable business model for robotics which involves sharing.”

“Europe has a lot of advantages with lots of great companies,” said Anne. “Not everything that is the “best” comes out of the US. SPARC is a unique partnership with industry and academia working together. I don’t see why this isn’t just as a good as many companies in the States. I don’t believe in science in isolation. We have to accept that public funding is limited to a certain amount of people. We need to ensure that we are funding not just research, but also innovation.”

“I see a lot of vibrant startups in Bristol, for example, Open Bionics,” said Sabine. “There’s not a European or a US feel. Robotics has a very global mindset. I’m encouraged to see this in Europe. What is tricky is the investment side, there needs to be more risk-taking in Europe so startups feel they can stay in Europe.”

The panel closed with discussions that robotics should be for everyone, and that, not everybody involved in robotics has to be an engineer. No country should be left behind due to lack of technology. In the future, and in terms of how robotics will be, we will need to rethink what we place value on (for example education or health care) and help provide opportunities to everybody.

All images credit: Visual Outcasts

European Robotics Week is organised by euRobotics and brought together by SPARC, a partnership for robotics in Europe to help maintain and extend Europe’s leadership in robotics. ERW has attracted more than 200,000 people since 2011 to take part in robotics related activities. During the week, research institutes, universities, industry, and activities are open to the public to engage and learn more about robotics.

In our final interview in The Robot Economy series, we speak with Mady Delvaux, Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and Chair of the Working Group on robotics. Mady has written an extensive draft report “Civil Law Rules on Robotics,” and proposes the creation of a legal framework for automation and ways to promote European industry.

How do you think robots will impact the economy?

I believe that robots will impact the economy positively because it will allow us to be more competitive. I would like European industry to be strong, and to continue to produce in Europe rather than delocalise. I believe robots could be instrumental in bringing industry back to Europe. You always need innovation, innovation is positive for Europe, and there are so many synergies between different sectors of European industry.

It’s my first mandate as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP). The European Parliament can propose laws through reports provided to the European Commission, which is then able to legislate.

I’m a member of the committee on Legal Affairs, and decided to lobby colleagues to set up a working group on robotics. I chaired the committee, which brought together members from every political party, and members from other committees on employment, civil liberties, and industry. We also invited experts, that’s one of the nice things about being an MEP, you identify people you would like to talk to, and they are happy to join! We had monthly working group meetings which resulted in a report.

The report looks at how we can promote European industry, while emphasizing robots that are friendly to humans. We need a high standard for robots in terms of safety and security. There are also many issues around liability and legislation which are not yet urgent, but may be in 10-15 years. And then there is the “jobs discussion” we read about in the media. The reality is that no one really knows what the impact will be. We’ve asked the European Commission to closely monitor the employment market, so that we can know what jobs are taken over, and which jobs aren’t. If robots do destroy jobs, then we need to think about how to finance the social systems. This could be through a tax on robots, perhaps to insure a Basic Universal Income. Industry is alarmed, but we should at least think about this. The goal is really to be prepared in case this displacement does happen. Another issue is privacy, robots typically only work if they are connected, and then the question is who owns the data, and who has access to it.

What are some of the recommendations from the report?

We asked the European Commission to put up a register that defines categories for robots and keeps track of them, what they do, and where they are. We already do this with cars for example.

On ethics, we suggested the creation of Research Ethics Committees (REC) in universities to think of the ethical aspects of the work they are doing. In the health sector, prosthetics and implants, raise questions around the enhancement of human capabilities. There is also a question about equality, who has access to robot technology, who will pay for it, and how can knowledge be evenly distributed?

What are some of the positive aspects highlighted?

Robots can facilitate the life of people. Technology is usually developed to make life easier, but there is always a bright side, and a dark side. We need a responsible way to interact with robots. Interactions will be more complex in all sectors, for example in agriculture, health, elder care, or education. Robots could be an excellent tool for teachers, but there are other domains where robots shouldn’t be used. Many worry about the human aspect. But there may also be a danger with the development of android robots, that could be confused with humans. Robots shouldn’t be confusing. I personally believe in having a human in the loop.

Has your view about robotics changed since you’ve started working on the report?

I didn’t know anything about robots, and I don’t like science fiction. I’ve learned a lot through the making of this report, and it has completely changed my view. At the start I was a bit sceptical, I am now more friendly to the technology.

How should we communicate about robotics?

We should use all channels, and simple messages. Robots have strongly reduced the number of accidents in the oil and gas industry, why don’t we say it! These should be the headlines.

What can we expect next with the report?

Committees are working on the draft report to provide their opinion, the deadline for feedback is end of October. I hope that we will then have a procedure committee, followed by a plenary two months later. Overall, I hope we will have a vote in the European Parliament in January. The European Commission would then receive the report, and decide to accept the recommendations.

This is the final article in a series of three interviews about the robot economy. Read part one here and part two here.

Read the previous articles in the European Robotics series here.

This series is published on the SPARC website and Robohub. Funding for the series was provided by RockEU – a Coordination and Support Action funded under FP7 by the European Commission, Grant Agreement Number 611247.

In today’s interview, we sat down with Alan Manning, Professor of Labour Economics at the London School of Economics. He is a leading author in his field, particularly in understanding the imperfections of labour markets.

How do you think robots will impact the economy?

Like any new technology, there will be winners and losers. On the whole, however, I believe there will be more winners.

Who will the winners be?

The winners will mostly be two groups: First robots will be used by firms to make production cheaper, which will in turn lower prices, and benefit the consumer. Second, because consumers are getting products cheaper, they will have more money to spend, which will boost the economy as a whole.

There have been discussions about robotics increasing inequality, and a tax on automation as a way to counter this. What do you think?

Don’t tax automation, let automation happen and then correct its effects. Redistribution of wealth should be done amongst the workers by taxing high wage workers more, and redistributing these earnings to low-wage workers. Overall, I don’t think robots will necessarily raise inequality but if it does, we have well-established ways to respond to that.

Are there differences in the way Europe, the US, Japan or China perceive the robot economy?

There has been a very long history of people worrying about new technology lowering wages and bringing upon the end of work. I think those fears are exaggerated.

Perception is broadly similar across the different regions – but problems in the labour market are slightly different from one country to the other. In the US they worry about stagnation and a jobless recovery. In the UK, we haven’t had stagnation, but we worry about the quality of jobs and the lowering of living standards. In Europe, the worry is about joblessness. Right now there is a tendency to blame robots for all of these problems, and it plays into the general lack of optimism.

Could robots be a solution to the perceived slouch in the economy?

More investment in modern technology, including robotics, would help increase productivity. Historically, rising productivity has improved everyone’s living standards. If optimism about the opportunities that new technology offers could suffuse the economy that would do something to off-set the pessimism that has taken hold.

Yet the media are constantly reporting on the high percentage of jobs that may be “replaced” by robots. Do you have a number to give us?

If I had to give a number, I would say that the impact of new technology on jobs is zero. Meaning that the net percentage of people employed will stay the same overall.

Numbers reported on in mainstream media are often misinterpreted as being predictions, the simplistic conclusion is read as “40 % of jobs will disappear”. I don’t think that’s the right interpretation even if 40% of occupations are affected by robots. The main problem is that this approach looks directly at specific jobs that are affected instead of looking at jobs overall. It is clear that there will be occupations where opportunities will fall because of robots. Other opportunities will also be created due to an increase in spending power. These will not necessarily be new jobs, just more old jobs as consumers spend the extra spending money that comes from the falling prices caused by new technology.

What should we be thinking about regarding regulation to make the most of the robot economy?

One issue is whether people will feel comfortable having a job a done by a robot, that was previously done by a human. Will they be happy with autonomous cars, or autonomous doctors? Regulation can ensure that technology is really better at these tasks before they are deployed, and can help reassure those who show resistance to the technology.

Another issue is intellectual property (IP). Robotics is the source of new knowledge, knowledge can be spread freely across everyone. However, if we are aggressive with IP, we will limit the extent of use of this technology, which would reduce competition in the market. It would help to think a bit more about the consequences of our IP laws and how they are going to help.

Ideally, we would want to have as many people as possible who can understand, have access to, and use this technology. Obviously, you have to strike a balance by providing incentives to motivate people to improve knowledge, but without allowing them to entirely keep that knowledge for themselves.

This is the second in a series of three interviews about the robot economy. Read part one, here.

Read the previous articles in the European Robotics series here.

This series is published on the SPARC website and Robohub. Funding for the series was provided by RockEU – a Coordination and Support Action funded under FP7 by the European Commission, Grant Agreement Number 611247.

How do you think robots will impact the economy?

Positively for sure. But the debate around robots and jobs is too polarized. People seem to pick sides, either believing “robots are going to take all our jobs”, or “it’s all going to be fine – far more new jobs will be created than old ones lost”. My view is that there is no single answer. The extent to which robots replace jobs depends on the specific robot and the job. You need to unpick the context on a case-by-case basis. It’s quite a nuanced question. As a result, it’s very hard to figure out how this will average out in terms of net number of jobs gained or lost.

Do you have concrete examples of where robots might impact the job market?

My bigger worry is AI, rather than physical robots. Knowledge workers (lawyers, call centre workers, translators, data analysts, etc) are more at risk from AI than physical workers are from robots. A robot is a much more difficult technology to mature and deploy. And in almost every situation where we think robots might be useful, we find that what we really need are collaborative robots that work alongside humans. That’s because most physical jobs that we do cannot be fully automated. The jobs that can be fully automated, for example assembly line manufacturing, have been already.

We should also be thinking about which areas are right for automation. Warehouses and logistics are one area where robots are already making big inroads. We’re seeing examples with Kiva and Amazon, but there is still a long way to go. Of course, these are often low-wage jobs with zero hours contracts and are physically demanding. I can also see robotics having a huge impact in the area of precision-agriculture, crop picking and harvesting. At the same time, we do not want people to be left out of work.

How can we help people through the transition should they lose their job?

I think there may be a case for an automation or redeployment tax. Companies who automate and hence lay off large numbers of low-paid workers have a duty to those workers. If companies don’t voluntarily – and generously – help those individuals through redeployment or training, then the government should step in. The last resort could be a special tax.

There has been a lot of discussion about driverless cars and their impact on the economy, what do you think?

It is going to take a lot of time before we see driverless cars and trucks on the roads, the technology is not ready. It comes back to this essential problem of whether the car requires human assistance or is fully autonomous. The recent fatal accident with a Tesla car tragically showed that it’s a very bad idea to require a human in the loop. If you have nothing to do then it’s very difficult to maintain full attention on the road, so the idea that the driver can immediately snap back and resume control is crazy; this is an unsolved problem. The Tesla accident also illustrated that robot perception is not good enough, there are lots of situations on streets and highways where the robot will be blind to what’s going on because of weaknesses in sensing and cognition.

What positive impact will robots have on the economy?

In the near term, robots will create opportunities for new types of jobs. The lesson of the last 20 years of the digital society is that it’s very hard to anticipate what these jobs will be. If we had sat down and had this conversation about the Internet in 1996, I doubt we would have predicted 10% of the IT related jobs that exist today. The point is that new technology generates new ways of being creative. We will obviously need more people to maintain robots, but there will also be a new range of businesses and entrepreneurial activities. We’re already seeing this in our incubator. Think about Open Bionics who 3D print prosthetics. Who would have thought robotics could be used in this way! As the technology improves, there is a wonderful scope for wearable robotics. And it’s not just people who’ve lost limbs, wearables could benefit the elderly, and disabled too. I really hope wheelchairs will be a thing of the past.

In the long term, it’s important that wealth creation brought about through robotics is shared by all. A Universal Basic Income is the only logical solution. Ultimately, and I’m talking a hundred or so years into the future, wouldn’t it be great to live in a post-scarcity society where essentially all of the work that most humans don’t want to do is done by robots. We should look forward to a future where there are no demeaning, physically or mentally debilitating jobs. This would leave time to do sports, arts, write books, do science. My “robotopia” is a kind of Star Trek society where work is essentially a voluntary activity. Robotics could enable that, but only if wealth creation is shared with all in society. We desperately need to ensure that the wealth is not captured exclusively by the companies who own the robots, and the 0.1% who own those companies. If we fail to do this, we risk increasing poverty and inequality. What’s the point of robots making things if people can’t afford to buy them?

There is a lot of misinformation about the robot economy, how can we improve the public discourse?

We need to make the point that there is a difference between AI (the software kind) and physical robots. Both are often confused in the public discourse.

Furthermore, it’s all about nuance. We’re not talking about robots replacing jobs, but about robots performing tasks. A lot of jobs have components that a robot can’t do, the classical example is the elder care worker. If you ask people, “would you like to see robots in care homes?”, they tend to say no. But if you ask a different question, for example, if they would like a robot to support someone with personal hygiene, then you get a different answer. People think it would be wonderful as it restores dignity. In my mind, the benefit of robots in a care home is that they free up human workers to provide the human touch, spend time in a conversation, for example. When I talk to care workers, they love the human contact and hate the routine tasks of managing people’s physical needs, which take time away from sitting down and having a chat. It’s a wonderful example where the right kind of division of labour can be actually very positive, both for the service users, and caregivers.

Who should decide what applications of robotics are beneficial for the economy?

The whole of society needs to have a say in this – there needs to be a conversation. This is already happening through the Eurobarometer survey and the many public engagement events around Europe. In addition, I think there needs to be some kind of body whose job it is to worry about this. It could be a Royal Commission, or an EU body, which seeks advice from society at large to build an understanding of how ordinary people respond to these questions – when presented with the nuanced story, not the black and white one presented by the media. Companies have a stake in this. At the end of the day, what they do needs to be accepted by society at large and should be reflected in standards and regulation. In fact, a new set of ethical guidelines were recently published by the British Standards Institute: “BS8611: Robots and robotic devices. Guide to the ethical design and application of robots and robotic systems“.

If a company wants to be successful, they should aim to get the “stamp” saying that their robot conforms with the relevant standards. Regulation is a shorthand way for the government to reassure us. Public trust in robots will come about through both regulation and public engagement. Why do we trust commercial airliners? It’s a highly regulated industry with very tough standards and robust protocols for investigating accidents. The lessons from commercial aircraft should be transferred to robotics. Tesla is an example of the need for regulation. As far as we know there are no published standards against which their Autopilot has been formally validated – and until there are – it cannot be trusted.

This is the first in a series of three interviews about the robot economy.

Read the previous articles in the European Robotics series here.

This series is published on the SPARC website and Robohub. Funding for the series was provided by RockEU – a Coordination and Support Action funded under FP7 by the European Commission, Grant Agreement Number 611247.

Credit: Cybatholon

44 million people aged between 15 and 64 report a basic activity difficulty, with the most prominent disabilities centered around lifting and carrying, walking, bending, sitting or standing. Strokes alone touch 1.1 million Europeans each year, often resulting in a loss of upper- or lower-limb mobility. Helping the young and old regain mobility is therefore a top priority with important social and economic impact.

Exoskeletons, as the name indicates, are external support systems for the body. As a first step, they provide assistance for professionals in rehabilitation centres by physically supporting patients and guiding them through exercise sessions. Their use helps avoid challenging ergonomics for the therapists, and provides valuable data and control of motion for the patients. Swiss-based company Hocoma is a leader in a field, having deployed its Lokomat robotic treadmill in 2001 after years of research at Balgrist University Hospital in Zurich. The robot is used to train patients with movement disorders caused by stroke, spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, multiple sclerosis, or Parkinson’s disease. The system consists of a body-weight support system which helps patients support their full weight, a treadmill, braces around the legs for guidance and actuation of movement, and a virtual reality system to provide feedback. The company has since branched out to tackle low-back pain therapy, as well as arm and hand therapy.

A new spin-off of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Aura Innovative Robotics, instead aims to provide assistance in the rehabilitation of patients suffering shoulder injury. Their exoskeleton Orte, will help assess the extent of the injury and perform rehabilitation exercises through an array of motion and strength sensors.

Co-founder Cecilia Carcia Cena tells us “thanks to a sophisticated musculoskeletal model of the arm, the practitioner can evaluate the condition of the patient, gaining valuable insight for the diagnosis process, and then create a customized rehabilitation routine for each patient that will be guided by the robot, monitoring progress during execution.”

Beyond specialized centers, the dream is to see exoskeletons available for daily use in the home. As outlined in the MIRAD project, this causes challenges related to safety, wearability, energy autonomy, intelligent dynamic interaction with the human, and psychological aspects. The project aims to design a bilateral active lower-limb exoskeleton to assist people with functional weakness. Their exoskeleton designed to help people get up from a sitting position was recently tested in research trials at KU Leuven with healthy participants aged 65 and above.

Walking is the next frontier in the SYMBITRON project, which stands for “Symbiotic man-machine interactions in wearable exoskeletons to enhance mobility for paraplegics”. The goal is to develop a safe, bio-inspired, personalized wearable exoskeleton that enables spinal cord injury patients to walk without additional assistance, by complementing their remaining motor function. Their Mindwalker exoskeleton was demonstrated in the laboratory on 6 volunteers with spinal cord injury. One goal of the project was to explore the use of a dry, lightweight, wearable EEG cap to read brainwaves that control the motion of the exoskeleton. A virtual reality training environment was used to help the patients generate the correct brain signals.

“New exoskeleton functions are continuously being explored and added, such as autonomous operation, balance support capacities, and collaborative controlled operation. Such research is receiving important funding from the European Commission, through projects such as BALANCE or SYMBITRON”, says Dr. Jan Veneman, Tecnalia Research and Innovation, and project coordinator of the BALANCE research project. “After the FDA approval of some autonomous exoskeletons for home use in 2016, the market is starting to see exoskeletons as a reality instead of as science fiction. This has greatly boosted the interest from different market segments for exoskeleton technology and other wearable robots”.

And these exoskeletons come in many shapes and materials. Cybatholon, the first championship for athletes with disabilities on 8 October 2016 at ETH Zurich Olympics will see at least 11 teams battle it out in a powered exoskeleton race. In fact, a current trend has been to move away from bulky structures to make soft exoskeletons that feel more like a pair of trousers than a machine made of bolts and metal. Although this doesn’t allow for full powering of walking, it may help give an extra boost to those with weaknesses. In particular, it’s being seen as a way to help the silver generation remain independent through increased mobility. Bionic power trousers are being developed as part of a major collaboration in the UK between the Universities of Bristol, Leeds, Nottingham, Southampton, Strathclyde, Loughborough, and the West of England. The University of Salford has a soft exoskeleton for the hand, which looks like a smart glove driven by pneumatics muscles.

The WALL-X exoskeleton developed by Ghent University shows what a minimal exoskeleton might look like with a simple pneumatically powered system that assists ankle push-off, thus making walking easier. Whatever the solution adopted, it’s important to understand the interactions between the human body and the exoskeleton. Danish company AnyBody is helping with their sophisticated simulations of the human body.

Exoskeletons are also seen as a way to improve working conditions for jobs that are ergonomically challenging. “Low-back pain is the leading cause of worker absenteeism after the common cold, accounting for 15% of sick leaves and hundreds of millions of lost work days annually”. The Spexor Spinal exoskeleton aims to prevent low-back pain and improve job reintegration for those suffering from injuries. Unlike most exoskeletons that focus on upper- and lower-limb mobility, this robot focusses on the spinal cord. The project started in January of 2016, so it’s still in the early days of development.

Seeing this opportunity, Swiss startup Noonee is in the business of improving working conditions with their “Chairolution”. “The Chairless Chair is a wearable sitting exoskeleton for people working on construction lines that is designed to allow movement while still providing enough support to prevent the repetitive stress and health problems that are so common in this kind of work.” The exoskeleton was tested with German car manufacturer Audi last year.

Another exoskeleton being tested in the automotive industry is the ABLE upper-limb exoskeleton used at the PSA Peugeot Citroen factories and now commercialised by Haption. The robot was developed by the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) to compensate arm and tools loads. The team behind ABLE also demonstrated a lower-limb exoskeleton at Innorobo this year commercialised by the company RB3D.

Finally, exoskeletons are being used to intuitively guide remotely operated robotic arms in extreme environments. The X-Arm-2 Exoskeleton master device was design by the European Space agency to control an ergonomic, fully-actuated haptic robot. Force feedback from the robot is then provided to the operator to improve control. Such setups are being considered for robotic surgery, or nuclear applications where fine precise motor control is required.

Overall, the aim is not to develop super-human capabilities, but to provide mobility for those who need it, improve challenging working conditions, and empower new applications in teleoperation. There are still many challenges ahead as we improve our understanding of basic biomechanics, human-robot interfaces, and the control of such complex systems.

Read the previous articles in the series here.

The ten-part series on European Robotics is published regularly on the SPARC website and Robohub. Funding for the series was provided by RockEU – a Coordination and Support Action funded under FP7 by the European Commission, Grant Agreement Number 611247.

See all the latest robotics news on Robohub, or sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Image: Messe München International

Industry 4.0 – the fourth industrial revolution – was the main theme at the largest robot and automation fair in the world, Germany’s AUTOMATICA, which took place in Munich throughout the last week of June. But what exactly is Industry 4.0 and how do developers and manufacturers big and small believe it will revolutionise production?

The signs and banners were everywhere throughout the gigantic conference arena: “The heart of Industry 4.0”, “Welcome to the 4th industrial revolution” and “Hello Industry 4.0, we go digital!”, trumpeted by leading German robotics supplier, KUKA. SMErobotics, the European Robotics initiative for strengthening the competitiveness of SMEs in manufacturing was also showcasing results from their 4.5-year project.

Industry 4.0, the next phase in the digitisation of the manufacturing sector, is predicted to drive up manufacturing’s share of GDP in Europe by 20 percent over the next five years. Consultants McKinsey say it is “driven by four disruptions: the astonishing rise in data volumes, computational power and connectivity, especially new low-power wide-area networks; the emergence of analytics and business-intelligence capabilities; new forms of human-machine interaction such as touch interfaces and augmented-reality systems; and improvements in transferring digital instructions to the physical world, such as advanced robotics and 3D printing.”

The coming changes are set to result in a host of new opportunities, say Industry 4.0  enthusiasts such as KUKA, which enticed the public onto its exhibition space with the showstopping Paulii Brothers – a pair of LBR robots perfecting, jointly, the fine art of pouring a German wheat beer. But the company’s massive orange-hued demonstration area also featured a smaller exhibit, a screen showing every one of the dozens of networked KUKA robots at AUTOMATICA, with the possibility of pulling down data on rate of operation, speed and more.

“KUKA is not just about robots,” Wolfgang Meisen, the company’s Head of Communications, pointed out. “It’s also an application provider and systems provider, with full automation assistance. The robot is one of the key elements.

Industry 4.0 is about more flexible production, processes and interconnection – machines, systems, software and devices working together. The robot is the junction between the digitalisation of the software and the mechanics.”

Experts believe that within two years the first wave of factories using smart technology will be fully operational, with widespread adoption throughout the world in the next decade. So the big manufacturers were out in force at AUTOMATICA, gearing up for what they see as the a major push for their products.

With an appearance by German goalie Jens Lehmann on its stand, clamping and gripping systems manufacturer Schunk, was clearly hoping for an additional push. But when in comes to Industry 4.0, the company believes the goal is “connectivity.” General Manager, Tomas Berg demonstrated this by comparing parallel exhibits. On the left, a scissor equipped pneumatic gripper and, on the right, a sensor studded version with all the corresponding connectivity on offer, such as putting output data on screen to inspect rate and speed and to highlight any broken links in the production line.

The key attraction, said Mr Berg, is the ability to deliver more productivity through the flexibility of being easily able to change production lines. Thus removing the need for multiple lines of production.

Industry 5.0 already?

Flexibility is also at the core of the approach taken by leading collaborative robot (cobot) manufacturer Universal Robots. Not satisfied with the promise of Industry 4.0, it wants to take things further, according to Regional Sales Director Per Kloster Pollster:

“We see a big future when we can start analysing all that information and that will increase the development of products and optimisation of production. We are talking the fifth industrial revolution already. When that happens, the automation business will change a lot because the next big thing will be flexibility.”

Collaborative robots, he maintains, make it so much easier to quickly and simply push though the development of products and deliver that flexibility. Universal’s strategy continues to rest on the enabling power of collaborative robotics which, they stress, offer the lowest return on investment, with no need for extra software or safety glass; the robot is used with ultimate simplicity, as a tool.

Image: Messe München International

Some were disappointed that Universal, arguably the stars of Automatica two years ago, were not launching any new products. Their range still consists of the UR robot in three different sizes, with a focus on selling out of the box. Instead, the Danish company is expanding the service it offers customers and developers with the free-to-use Universal Robots Academy, an e-learning facility, as well as Universal Robots Plus. Mr. Pollster described this as a robotics version of the App store, opening up the company’s products to developers.

Universal’s success is indicative of a trend toward smaller and lighter robots for pick-and-place applications, small-part assembly, machine tending, material handling and logistics.

And where two years ago the Messe Munchen arena was packed with caged robots, their liberated successors were out in force in 2016, inspecting parts and lifting cars but also making coffee and pouring beer.

In fact, the biggest launch at the fair was by Italian manufacturer Comau, which was showcasing the world’s first high payload collaborative robot, capable of lifting 110 kilograms.

The success of the collaborative formula is demonstrated by figures from the German automotive industry, unveiled at AUTOMATICA: the number of robots rose by 17% between 2010 and 2015, while the number of employees increased by 13%. Evidence that man can co-exist very effectively with machine, providing employment for both.

The belief at AUTOMATICA is that the potential of collaborative robots is so huge that we’re now just scratching the surface. Key to enabling the delivery of real time contextual knowledge to the enterprise, they pave the way toward hybrid factories with humans, robots and cobots – the future of manufacturing and Industry 4.0.

Acceptability and standardisation

British startup the Shadow Robot Company is also gearing up for Industry 4.0. “As the flexibility of manufacturing processes increases, the need for more general purpose automation also increases,” said the company CEO Rich Walker. “At present, humans step in to provide this flexibility. But highly flexible grippers derived from dexterous hands will allow Industry 4.0 systems to handle far broader ranges of parts and components than more traditional fixed automation.”

But if people think robots will replace them, persuading them to accept robotic solutions is one of the challenges for Industry 4.0, believes Maxime Banon, Business Analyst with Spanish startup PAL Robotics.

Several of the company’s award winning robots were in attendance at AUTOMATICA, including TIAGo, a flexible, configurable robot to assist people in repetitive, dangerous or annoying tasks, including light industry.

But just as challenging to achieve as acceptability is standardisation, says KUKA’s Wolfgang Meison. “If we want interconnection, that means solving the challenge of connecting systems that may be programmed in different languages, with different software platforms and communication standards. We need interface solutions and that means a broad alliance to establish new standards for real-time communications. We’re still not there yet and it’s why Industry 4.0 can’t be solved by a single provider. We need a model that we can push forward together.”

Altogether, German manufacturers have pledged €40bn a year to help support new smart factory initiatives, and €200m of state funds has been earmarked for specific areas like human-to-machine interaction and cyber physical production systems within Industry 4.0.

With manufacturing contributing 22 percent to Germany economy, their interest in Industry 4.0 is understandable. But worldwide, the phrase is a relatively unfamiliar one. Six in 10 UK manufacturing managers have never even heard of Industry 4.0 according to a recent poll.

Mike Fair, Application Sales Manager at Rethink Robotics, says that in the US, more commonly used buzzwords include agile, efficient systems and the Industrial Internet of Things. The company was one of the first to market collaborative technology and their current model, Sawyer, is still the only widely available robot that makes use of an expressive interface. The robot has eyes which look to where it is working and which frown to indicate that parts can’t be found. In his presentation at AUTOMATICA’s Forum, the company’s  Director of Sales for Manufacturing Solutions, Chris Harbert, said that research had shown that this was significant for people. “It gave comfort,” he said. “Emotion is important.”

Nestled in among the believers in Industry 4.0, there is also a caveat, that a slogan such as Industry 4.0 is not enough. In the words of Comau CEO Mauro Fenzi: “It’s a good framework for the industry to use in automating factories, but now we need to fill the empty box with good ideas to benefit customers.”

A step change is needed before robotics reaches its full potential, says Andrew Graham Technical Director of British startup OC Robotics. He issued a warning call to anyone believing that Industry 4.0 would herald the turning point in the robotics and automation marketplace: “The huge market is the consumer one. Perception and cognition are particular challenges, together with the interpretation of all that data. We need to get to the point where we don’t need technologists to work with the robots; the point where my Mum can get more out of it.”

Additional videos and materials are available on the AUTOMATICA website.

Read the previous article in the series here.

The ten-part series on European Robotics will be published every two weeks on the SPARC website and Robohub. Funding for the series was provided by RockEU – a Coordination and Support Action funded under FP7 by the European Commission, Grant Agreement Number 611247.

See all the latest robotics news on Robohub, or sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Cross section of underground tunnel showing miners at work with mining equipment.

Workers have long confronted dangerous and dirty jobs. They’ve had to dig to the bottom of mines, or put themselves in harm’s way to decommission ageing nuclear sites. It’s time to make these jobs safer and more efficient, robots are just starting to provide the necessary tools.

Mining

Mining has become much safer, yet workers continue to die every year in accidents across Europe, highlighting the perils of this genuinely needed industry. Everyday products use minerals extracted from mining, and 30 million jobs in the EU depend on their supply. Robots are a way to modernise an industry that is constantly under pressure with the fall in prices of commodities and the lack of safe access to hard-to-reach resources. Making mining greener is also a key concern.

The vision is for people to move away from the rock face, and onto the surface. In an ideal world where mining 4.0 is the norm, a central control room will run all operations in the mine, which will become a zero-entry zone for workers. Robots will take care of safety critical tasks such as drilling, extracting, crushing and transport of excavated material. The mine could operate continuously while experts on the surface are in charge of managing, monitoring, optimising and maintenance of the systems – essentially making mining a high-tech job.

Smart Mine of the Future report.

A recent report from the IDC echoes this vision saying, “The future of mining is to create the capability to manage the mine as a system – through an integrated web of technologies such as virtualization, robotics, Internet of Things (IoT), sensors, connectivity, and mobility – to command, control, and respond.”

And companies are betting their money on it, “69% of mining companies globally are looking for remote operation and monitoring centres, 56% at new mine methods, 29% at robotics and 27% at unmanned drones.”

Europe is also heavily investing, with several large projects over the past 15 years. The European project I2Mine, which finished last year, focussed on technologies suitable for underground mining activities (at depths greater than 1500m). With 23M Euros invested, it was the biggest EU RTD project funded in the mining sector.

Project Manager, Dr Horst Hejny, said: “The overall objective of the project was the development of innovative technologies and methods for sustainable mining at greater depths.”

One result of the project was a set of sensors for material recognition and boundary layer detection and sorting, as well as a new cutting head which allows for continuous operation.

Full, and even remote, automation, however, is still a long way ahead. Like any robotic system, automated mining will have to deal with a plethora of real-world challenges. And navigating underground mines, or manipulating rock, are very far from ideal laboratory settings. As an intermediate step, researchers are looking to set up test sites where they can experiment with the technology outside of the lab and before deployment in safety critical areas. Juha Röning from the University of Oulu in Finland uses Oulu Zone, a race track that could prove helpful to test automated driving for the mining industry. His laboratory has previous experience in this area, having tested an automated dumper robot for excavated material. It’s an obvious application for a country that Juha says “invented mining”. There is more to it than autonomous driving, however, and his laboratory has been thinking about ways to improve the infrastructure around the deployment of mobile robots, including using advanced positioning systems to increase the precision of robot tracking and control.

Another test site, RACE, which stands for Remote Applications in Challenging Environments, was recently opened by the UK Atomic Energy Authority. The facility conducts R&D and commercial activities focused on developing robots and autonomous systems for challenging environments.

On their website, they claim to be challenging ‘challenging environments’ saying: “Challenging Environments exist in numerous sectors, nuclear, petrochemical, space exploration, construction and mining are examples. The technical hurdle is different for different physical environments and includes radiation, extreme temperature, limited access, vacuum and magnetic fields, but solutions will have common features. The commercial imperative is to enable safe and cost efficient operations.”

Rather than develop full turn-key solutions for mines, many European companies have been providing automation solutions for very specific tasks. Swedish company Sandvik, for example, demonstrated a fully automated LHD (Load, Haul, Dump machine) vehicle.

Also based in Sweden, Atlas Copco has an autonomous LHD system of their own called Scooptram.

https://youtu.be/SvhaDN_sE6Q

Polish company KGHM, a leader in copper and silver production, has been deeply involved in many R&D projects across Europe. Their mines in Lubin and Polkowice Sieroszowice have served as test sites for recent developments. KGHM, and mining companies Boliden and LKAB in Sweden joined forces with several major global suppliers and the academia to develop a common vision for future mining for 2011 to 2020.

The report discusses how to make deep mining of the future “safer, leaner and greener.” The short answer: “we need an innovative organisation that attracts talented young men and women to meet the grand challenges and opportunities of future mineral supply.” They add however that “by 2030 we will not yet have achieved invisible mining, zero waste, or the fully intelligent, automated mine without any human presence”. More time is needed.

Robotics technology also opens a new frontier in areas that can be mined beyond what is currently human-reachable. The new push is towards mining the deep sea, or space in a responsible manner. UK-based company Soil Machine Dynamics Ltd recently developed three vehicles that operate at depths of up to 2,500m on seafloor massive sulphide (SMS) deposits for the company Nautilus Minerals. The subsea mining machines weigh up to 310t and have vessel-based power and control systems, pilot consoles, umbilical systems and launch and recovery systems.

As for the space race, asteroids provide an untapped resource for metallic elements such as iron, nickel, and cobalt. Although space robots have been shown to navigate and drill in space, scaling up to meaningful extraction quantities will be a challenge. And it’s still unclear if the cost and complexity of space mining justify the means.

Nuclear Decommissioning

Like mining, nuclear decommissioning requires zero-entry operations. Across Europe, there are plans to close up to 80 civilian nuclear power reactors in the next ten years.

“The total cost of nuclear decommissioning in the UK alone is currently estimated at £60 billion. Analysis by the National Nuclear Laboratory indicates that 20% of the cost of complex decommissioning will be spent on RAS (Robotics and Autonomous Systems) technology.” – RAS UK Strategy.

Designing robots for the nuclear environment is especially challenging because the robots need to be robust, reliable, safe, and also need to withstand a highly radioactive environment.

In 2012, one of the high hazard plants at Sellafield UK used a custom-made remotely operated robot arm to isolate the risk caused by a 60-year-old First Generations Magnox Storage Pond. The arm had to separate and remove redundant pipework in a high radiation area, and then clean and seal a contaminated pond wall. The redundant pipework was then isolated with special sealants, before its remote removal. The robotic arm then scabbled the pond wall and applied a specialist coating to seal the concrete.

Over 80,000 hours of testing in a separate test facility were needed before the team had confidence the robots would perform flawlessly on such a high-risk task.

The Sellafield site has since added a “Riser” (Remote Intelligence Survey Equipment for Radiation) quadcopter developed by Blue Bear Systems Research Ltd and Createc Ltd. It is equipped with a system that allows it to map the inside of a building and radiation levels.

Little underwater vehicles were deployed in the nuclear storage pools. The robots build on existing technology developed for inspection of offshore oil and gas industries prepared by company James Fisher Nuclear. They were initially sent to image the environment but are now used for basic manipulation tasks.

In Marcoule France, Maestro, a tele-operated robot arm, is also being using to decommission a site. The robot can laser-cut 4mx2m metal structures into smaller pieces. Humans could do this faster, but 30 minutes on the site would be lethal.

And with so many robot arms entering the field, KUKA has also developed a suite of robots specifically for nuclear decommissioning.

Given the high-risk nature of nuclear decommissioning, traditional robotic solutions seem to be favoured for now, as they are tested and understood. However, a new wave of innovative solutions is also making its way to the market.

Swiss startup Rovenso, for example, developed ROVéo, a robot whose unique four-wheel design allows it to climb over obstacles up to two-thirds its height. They aim to produce a larger-scale model equipped with a robotic arm for use in dismantling nuclear plants.

OCRobotics in the UK is also working closely with the nuclear industry to build robots that have a better reach than modern industrial robot arms. Their snake arms can be fit with lasers or other tools, and can slither through nearly any structure.

Andy Graham, Technical Director at OC Robotics, said “Robots have the potential to improve everyone’s quality of life. Reducing the need for people to enter hazardous workplaces and confined spaces is central to what we do at OC Robotics, whether the application is in manufacturing industries, inspection and maintenance in the oil and gas sector, or decommissioning nuclear power stations. Users are becoming more and more aware of the potential for robots to enable their workers to work more comfortably and safely from outside these spaces”.

“The Lasersnake 2 project, led by OC Robotics and part-funded by the UK government, has developed and is currently testing a snake-arm robot equipped with a powerful laser capable of cutting effortlessly through 60mm thick steel. The same snake-arm robot can be equipped with a gripper enabling it to lift 25kg at a reach of about 5m, and has also been demonstrated underwater in an environment similar to a nuclear storage pond. With this cutting capability and the ability to snake through small holes and around obstacles, this enables “keyhole surgery” for nuclear decommissioning, leaving containment structures, shielding and cells intact while dismantling the processing equipment inside them”.

Beyond decommissioning, robots are also being used for new energy infrastructure including at ITER, the next generation fusion research device being built in the south of France that will achieve ‘burning plasma’, one of the required steps for fusion power. Remote handling is critical to ITER, says project partner RACE.

“Cutting and welding large diameter stainless steel pipes is a fundamental process for remote maintenance of ITER.” RACE has been developing concepts to replace remotely the beam sources of the neutral beam heating system, high energy ion beams that are used to heat the plasmas to 200M °C.

From their website, “A monorail crane was designed with high lift in a compact space, with an innovative control system for high radiation environments. The beam line transporter operates along the full length of the beam line, like an industrial production line. It has a load capacity of many tonnes, haptic feedback and is fully remotely operated and remotely recoverable.”

“ITER provides some seriously challenging environments for robotics: high radiation dose; elevated temperatures; limited access; large, compact equipment and some very challenging inspection and maintenance procedures to implement fast and reliably, without failure.”

A cross-sectional view of the ITER tokamak.

These projects are just part of a worldwide effort to advance the safety of nuclear applications. Japan has also been working on its robot fleet, in response to the Fukushima disaster and the cleanup efforts still ahead. Their robots take different shapes and forms depending on their task, and can blast dry ice, inspect vents, cut pipes, and remove debris.

Competitions like the recent Darpa Robotics Challenge, or the European Robotics League (ERL) Emergency Challenge, have been driving the state of the art forward. ERL Emergency is an outdoor multi-domain robotic competition inspired by the 2011 Fukushima accident. The challenge requires teams of land, underwater and flying robots to work together to survey the scene, collect environmental data, and identify critical hazards.

“Robotics competitions are not just for testing a robot outside a laboratory, or engaging with an audience; they are events that get people together, inspire younger generations and facilitate cooperation and exchange of knowledge between multiple research groups. Robotics competitions provide a perfect platform for challenging, developing and showcasing robotics technologies.” said Marta Palau, ERL Emergency Project Manager

Similar scenarios are also being explored by Juha Röning from the University of Oulu in Finland. He aims to use flying robots to map radiation levels after a nuclear accident thanks to support from the Nordic Nuclear Safety Research Agency. He says “in the future, flying robots could be used to map radiation levels, and then a second team of ground robots could be sent in for the cleanup”.

Overall, robots are helping workers avoid dirty and dangerous areas, while making the job more efficient, and potentially fulfilling. We are only at the initial stages, however, as many of these high-risk tasks require years of testing before new technologies are implemented.

Founded in 2005 by three researchers at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense, Universal Robots quickly grew to become one of the top producers of collaborative robots. The company was acquired by Teradyne last year for more than €300M. This is just one example in a string of European robotics companies acquired in the past year. Medical device company TransEnterix Surgical acquired Italian Telelap ALF-X robot for €85M. UK-based Soil Machine Dynamics Ltd, maker of remote intervention equipment operating in hazardous environments, was acquired for €165M. Also in the hazardous business, Oxford Technologies was acquired by Kurion for an undisclosed amount. And German maker of flying robots Ascending Technologies, was acquired by Intel.

Universal Robots

VC funding worldwide hit a record high, estimated at €825M last year. At least five European startups benefited from the investment frenzy. French company BALYO announced raising €10 million for their robotic material handling solutions. Sky Futures, experts in drone inspections in oil and gas raised €3M. French agribot company Naïo Technologies raised €3M. Rapyuta Robotics raised €2.65M to build robots for physical security purposes, and Flyability raised more than €2M to produce its inspection drone.

Flyability Gimball Drone. Photo credit: Pierre-Yves Guernier

And this doesn’t even look at crowdfunding. French startup Blue Frog Robotics raised €565,000 on Indiegogo for their social robot Buddy. Swiss robot Fotokite, a tethered drone for aerial imaging, received €366,000 on Indiegogo. Robo WunderKind from Austria raised €218,000 on Kickstarter for their educational robot blocks.

Buddy from Blue Frog Robotics

Looking at these numbers, it’s no surprise that there is a lot of excitement about startups. Beyond the startups mentioned here, there are dozens more currently building up. So, how do we make sure there is a clear pipeline from ideation to market? The key is to provide visibility, mentoring, and funding.

Visibility

Robot startup competitions provide excellent visibility to teams, access to investment, and inspire the next generation of students to start a company.

“Startup competitions are a good source for contacts, press, and sometimes money”, says Ricardo Téllez, CTO and Co-Founder of The Construct Sim, and winner of this year’s Entrepreneurship Award at the European Robotics Forum.

“Startup competitions are excellent practice grounds for startups. They push startups to be fact-based about their viability, express with clarity the ideas behind the business, and defend the startup position in front of a panel of experts. This provides excellent feedback for the startups that they can learn from. It’s not about winning, but really about gaining the experience that will be necessary when the time comes to present your startup to investors or sell your product to the world.”

The Construct also won an award at the International Robot Launch competition in 2015, as did ArtiMinds, German maker of semi-automatic control interfaces for complex industrial tasks. Another winner at the European Robotics Forum was Robird, a startup working on bird control, from the Netherlands.

Robird from Clear Flight Solutions

At Innorobo 2015, the winning robot-makers were Reach Robotics, UK-based creators of wireless battling robots for edutainment.

Reach Robotics

And in the UK, OpenBionics, maker of a 3D prosthetic hand, has won a myriad of prizes, including a recent Dyson award.

Open Bionics

Mentoring

Being part of a nurturing environment is key to succeeding. Fortunately, a growing number of startup incubators and accelerators are popping up across Europe.

“Business incubators in Europe are helping robotic startup companies get the required funding and professional support. The number of European incubators have therefore significantly increased with a jump of 360% from 2007 to 2014. In the UK and France, most incubators are concentrated around the national capital, and in countries such as Spain and Sweden, these are spread throughout the territory. These incubators provide innovation support to disseminate the technology and competence to robotic ventures across Europe,” said Bharath Kanniappan, Technavio’s lead analysts for robotics research as part of a report released last week.

Incubators include:

• Robotdalen – Swedish robotics incubator funded by the Swedish Innovation Agency VINNOVA, The European Regional Development Fund as well as industry, academia and public sector in Central Sweden.
• RoboCluster – Danish innovation network that brings together expertise in the field of robotics research, development at design.
• Blue Ocean Robotics – Danish-based robotics initiative enabling commercial success of new ideas and research within robotics and automation.
• Kickstart – Swiss Accelerator providing a fast-track gateway for entrepreneurs from near and far to access the Swiss innovation ecosystem in robotics.
• ROBOTT-NET – Driven by four Research Technology Organisations in Denmark, Germany, Spain and UK, this European initiative is looking to accelerate business ideas on robotics for manufacturing and/or professional services.
• Odense Robotics – Danish city, Odense, has a cluster of companies and research institutes specializing in robotics and automation.

There are also a number of industry-based incubators, including the Siemens Frontier Program, and the Robert Bosch Start-up GmbH.

And finally, many universities are running their own startup spaces. The Bristol Robotics Laboratory for example hosts over 10 startups directly within their research laboratories.

Funding
The European Commission and many national funding agencies provide grants specifically to translate research results to market, these are excellent ways to fund a runway that startups can use to increase the technology readiness level of their products. The European Commission funded 11 Innovation Actions under the Horizon2020 Robotics call dedicated to end-user research and improving translation to market. A large number of research projects also include industrial partners.

Judith Viladomat from Spanish company PAL Robotics said “We’ve been involved in 4 European projects, this has allowed us to test our robots in different scenarios, and has sometimes inspired entirely new robotic platforms.”

Venture capital funding is also increasing, with firms such as PRIMNEXT, and Robolution Capital focussing specifically on robotics.

Although the startup ecosystem is growing strong, there are also challenges ahead. European perception of failure needs to change so young entrepreneurs are empowered by failure, rather than held back by the fear of it, or perception from peers. We also need to find a way to encourage European startups to stay in Europe. This will require large European companies to become active players in robotics investment, and a long-term vision for startups to see beyond the quick sell. Finally, there is little diversity in the robotics startup scene with the percentage of women and minorities in the single digits.

Read the previous article in the series here.

The ten-part series on European Robotics will be published every two weeks on the SPARC website and Robohub. Funding for the series was provided by RockEU – a Coordination and Support Action funded under FP7 by the European Commission, Grant Agreement Number 611247.

See all the latest robotics news on Robohub, or sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Source: Deepfield Robotics

Farmers are increasingly under pressure to feed more people. The UN predicts that the world population will rise from 7.3 billion today to 9.7 billion in 2050. This growing population has become pickier about the food they eat. In the EU alone, the organic market grew by 7.4% in 2014 with sales valued at €24 billion. Beyond organic food, there is an overall push to make farming greener by using less water and pesticides.

“Agriculture is most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, but it’s also one of its causes”, says Birgit Schulz from Deepfield Robotics. “Making cultivation sustainable is essential”.

These factors mean farmers need to produce more, at a higher quality, and in a sustainable manner. With youth turning away from the profession, there is also less labour available to drive the vision forward.

Enter the robots — set to improve production yield, while reducing resources required, and making farming an exciting high-tech profession.

“Few people want to get up at 5am, farming is a heavy and dirty job.”, says Eldert van Henten, head of the the Farm Technology Group at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. He adds that, “the high-tech nature of future farming might attract new people into the profession, but also bring back those who left”.

Robots are just part of an overall push towards precision agriculture. Given the potential, Europe has funded at least 6 projects around robotic farming. And there is plenty to do given the large number of tasks on a farm that are ripe for automation.

For crop farming, robots need to autonomously navigate their environment and perform actions at set locations, for example, picking a fruit, spraying a pesticide, planting a seed, imaging a plant, or making a measurement. Glasshouses are slightly simpler to move around since the environment is more carefully engineered, and is often fit with tracks which robots follow to reach desired locations. In the case of outdoor farming, the robots work by receiving a plan with a set of locations to visit on the field. When the robot trajectories are known, the robot can use GPS positioning and a closed-loop control to make sure it remains on track. When the task is to follow an unknown trajectory, for example a crop row, vision is often used to allow the robot to find its way. Robots are wirelessly connected to a central operator to both receive updated instructions regarding the mission, and report status and data. Put together, making an autonomous farm robot requires clever controllers, localisation and communication systems. To a certain extent, the technology is similar to that of autonomous cars applied to agtech. Where it differs is that farming robots often need to manipulate their environment, picking vegetables or fruits, applying pesticides in a localised manner, or planting seeds. All these tasks require sensing, manipulation, and processing of their own.

The recently finished project RHEA developed a fleet of tractors and aerial robots with sensor systems to discriminate weeds from crops and apply herbicides where needed. Pablo Gonzalez de Santos, the lead on the project, explains what is achievable today:

“Autonomous robots have already been demonstrated in many agricultural activities. Conventional tasks such as tilling, sowing, harvesting of grains, can be performed using autonomous robots with the accuracy provided by the vehicle itself (currently about ±2 cm when using GNSS technology). For other tasks that demand the use of vision to follow trajectories, the current accuracy is approximately ±7 cm.”

When it comes to using robots with intelligent tools, the achievements are promising.

“Autonomous tractors carrying herbicide sprayers coordinating with drones equipped with weed-detection systems have proven to save up to 75% of the herbicide. Autonomous tractors equipped with on-board weed detection systems are able to kill 90% of weeds on a field.”

Bosch startup ‘Deepfield Robotics’ also develops technologies for sustainable farming. “Our products are sensor networks and robots”, says Birgit Schulz.

Their robots navigate plant rows, sense the plants, and send the data to the farmers to help optimise seed breeding. If equipped with a “weed puncher”, the robot can literally drive weeds into the ground. Deepfield Robotics also provides smart sensors that can be positioned in the fields. Resulting networks are already deployed in farms to monitor soil conditions for asparagus.

Source: Deepfield Robotics

There are however many challenges ahead. Pablo Gonzalez de Santos says “Technical developments are required to identify fruits and analyse their degree of ripeness in harsh conditions (changing light conditions, presence of dust, extreme temperatures, wind variations), as well as to detect weeds. Robot position accuracy also has to be enhanced to help optimise pesticide applications and the precision of manipulation. Although industrial manipulators exhibit very good accuracy and speed in factories, their application in farming is more difficult due to the objects moving, being soft and delicate, and obstacle-rich environments.” Just imagine what it takes to pick a sweet pepper from a plant, compared to grabbing a bolt on an assembly line. As it turns out, sweet pepper harvesting is the subject of the recent Horizon2020 Sweeper project, which follows a previous EU project called Crops.

Eldert van Henten says, “It’s not just vision, tactile sensing would also be helpful to pick peppers out of a busy scene. Farmers definitely use touch. ”

Source: Sweeper project

And as is often the case in robotics, the lack of clear regulation is causing a headache for companies entering the field.

“Safety is an issue – robots have to be capable of detecting what is going on in their surroundings and act accordingly to protect humans, wildlife, and themselves from crashes and accidents”, says Pablo Gonzalez de Santos. He adds that, “it is completely unclear who carries responsibilities for injuries caused by autonomous ground robots. The legislation for drones is also restrictive, requiring special authorisations, even for research purposes. “

Birgit Schulz agrees that safety and regulation considerations are paramount and raises questions regarding how to “define and implement the right degree of autonomy for the robot” as well as a number of logistical considerations including “How does the robot get to the field? How can we make it easy to use the robot? What happens if a robot gets stuck?”

The good news is that farms are already open to new technologies being deployed and the investments that are required. You just need to look at some of their equipment to see the high-tech machinery in place. A little known fact: farms are already amongst the most prominent adopters of robotic technology.

Lely, which is based in the Netherlands, has a fleet of over 20,000 milking robots installed throughout the world. The Lely Astronaut A4 box allows cows to be milked when they choose so, instead of when the farmer needs it to be done. The robot attaches incoming cows to the teat cups, reattaches them if required, and detaches them after milking. As an added bonus, data about the cows is collected, which can help the farmer monitor the herd and take action should a problem arrive, or simply to improve yield.

The company also makes autonomous mobile robots that clean the barn, and automatically feed the cows with Juno and Vector.

And the farm of tomorrow will include many robots working together. The MARS project, which stands for Mobile Agricultural Robot Swarms, demonstrated a cloud-based approach to farming at Hannover Messe last week. By deploying many simpler and smaller robots, they hope to make their farm-solutions safer, more reliable, and productive, while avoiding soil compaction that comes with larger robots navigating the fields. A swarm could also provide continuous operation, by having robots take turns charging or undergoing maintenance.

Source: MARS project

It’s an all around exciting time to deploy robots on farms, and there is a clear need to do so given the drive for increased food production, and sustainability. Steps are currently being made to develop the technology that will enable the automation of individual tasks before integration in a “digital farm” that will empower farmers to run operations in a fulfilling and efficient way. But there is still a lot of work to do. Eldert van Henten says robots will need to be “quick, precise, 100% successful, and cost-effective” before we can hope to see them on our farms. But, he adds, there is a “trend towards human-robot co-working. With one or more robots doing (part of) the job while being supervised, instructed by a human, or jointly working with a human. This might improve acceptance and feasibility of robotics technology for the more challenging tasks in agriculture”.

Read the previous article in the series here.

The ten-part series on European Robotics will be published every two weeks on the SPARC website and Robohub. Funding for the series was provided by RockEU – a Coordination and Support Action funded under FP7 by the European Commission, Grant Agreement Number 611247.

Autonomous cars promise to make roads safer, while giving us extra time for work or leisure. This could result in billions of Euros for the economy thanks to increased productivity, and a projected €40.3 billion in end-customer spending this year. Autonomous cars will also have a social impact, as those who have lost the ability to drive regain independence. And the hope is that it will lead to a greener world thanks to transport sharing and more efficient traffic management.

So what can we expect to see on the roads in the future, and what are the challenges ahead?

Autonomous cars typically work by rapidly integrating readouts from sophisticated sensors (cameras, radars, lasers) to extract key information about the car’s environment including roads, signs, other cars, obstacles, or pedestrians. Machine learning is often used to automatically generate the car’s understanding of the world, and integrate it with prior information provided by maps, or aerial views. This information is then used to guide the behaviour of the car in terms of steering, accelerating, and breaking. The car may also be connected to a network (think of an internet for cars) to provide additional information and feedback.

Example of a Google car’s internal representation of the world at an intersection.

The first thing to realise is that making an autonomous car is difficult. Raul Rojas, Professor at the Free University of Berlin, has been developing autopilots for the past 10 years. His cars are already licensed to drive in Germany given two requirements; that they have a safety driver, and a very expensive insurance.

In his words, “The best description of an autonomous car is to call it a taxi: any person inside the car is a passenger and the driver is a computer. Simulating a driver’s behaviour with the computer is more difficult than playing chess, because in the second case we know the rules exactly. Instead, for a taxi driver, we do not really know how they recognise objects in a split second, how they recognise intentions and gestures, and how they elegantly avoid them. Anything a person can do subconsciously is very hard for the computer to imitate. The late Herbert Simon used to say: it is easier to simulate a professor than a taxi driver”.

Given the challenge to design fully autonomous cars, companies are expected to roll out autopilots incrementally, starting with more structured environments such as the highway.

Rojas says “you should expect companies such as Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Volkswagen, and Tesla to introduce an autopilot for the highway. They not only have working prototypes, but also pre-series designs. This means they are already looking at the production and marketing of these cars, which I would expect commercially in 2020.”

Mercedes-Benz F 015 Concept Vehicle, Geneva Motor Show on March 1, 2016

Fully autonomous cars however will happen much later, potentially in 20 to 30 years. To operate in a city, cars will need to properly deal with pedestrians and complex environments.

“How do we make sense of the behaviour of other drivers or pedestrians, and can we predict their behaviour within the next few seconds? It’s very easy for humans to do this. By looking at pedestrians, and their body position, you can tell if they will cross the road or stand still. You can also detect if a driver in front looks reliable, or not, and that influences how carefully you drive. Prediction and analysis of behaviour is still difficult for computer, but it’s something we need to do if we want autonomous cars on the street” – Raul Rojas

In addition, city infrastructure will have to be reimagined, which will require close coordination between experts from many different disciplines including regulators, city planners, network providers, car makers, and end users. As a first step, autonomous car trials are underway in cities across Europe. Greenwich in London announced last year that it would be deploying autonomous cars as part of the £8m GATEway project (Greenwich Automated Transport Environment), which is led by the UK’s Transport Research Laboratory. The resulting ‘pods’ will operate at low speeds, in known spaces, and as part of a fully connected network that monitors information from a central ‘control room’. These experiments will help understand needs in terms of infrastructure and operating costs, and could improve the case for more autonomous cars in urban environments in the future. Allowing the public to be immersed in environments with pods will also provide important insight regarding perception and acceptance of the technology.

GATEway pod

The final element holding back autonomous cars is liability. Andrea Bertolini is an expert in Robot Law at the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Italy and the organiser of an upcoming summer school about the Regulation of Robotics in Europe.

“Liability plays a gigantic role in the deployment of autonomous cars on roads. For insurance companies to provide policies, they will need a clear framework to foretell who is liable between the driver of the vehicle, the owner, and the producer. Currently, the driver is liable, but if the car is fully autonomous, the producer would be liable. If we have an intermediate system then it gets much more complicated.”

As a solution, Andrea suggests designing clear regulation that would make it easy to assign liability. Without these rules, he expects the deployment of autonomous cars will be held back for years.

“We should be creative with the design of liability rules to foster the development and diffusion of autonomous cars. In particular, we need a clear-cut rule that determines who is liable. For example, we could decide that the producer is liable in 100% of cases, regardless of who is at fault in the accident. Such a clear definition in the law would prevent litigation and therefore encourage innovation by startups and industry. All the producer would need to do is purchase insurance on the market, which insurance companies would be happy to sell since the simple rule would make it easy for them to calculate risks, and associated premiums. The producer would simply take the price of insurance into account when calculating the final price of the car. Alternatively, if the owner is liable in 100% of cases, then the owner would purchase the insurance. Insurance companies would likewise be able to take into account the risks involved, irrespective of if this driver is actually driving the car or just sitting in it.”

There is reason to think this clear-cut solution is in the works. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in the USA recently announced that a car’s software could qualify as the “driver” and as the responsible entity.

The hope is that the incremental steps taken today will allow us to build the infrastructure, regulation, and technology needed for fully autonomous cars to become a reality in the long term. If this results in a greener, safer, and more productive society, then it’s worth the long wait ahead.

Read the previous article in the series here.

The ten-part series on European Robotics will be published every two weeks on the SPARC website and Robohub. Funding for the series was provided by RockEU – a Coordination and Support Action funded under FP7 by the European Commission, Grant Agreement Number 611247.

Source: Fraunhofer IPA/photo: Jens Kilian

By 2020, a quarter of Europeans will be over 60. In their silver age, many would like to stay in their homes and will require care from family or social workers. Unfortunately, the number of caregivers is diminishing year-after-year due to shifting demographics and an increase in working families. This leads to a ‘care deficit’ that poses a major challenge to most European societies. And today’s social workers are often hard pressed, wishing they had more time to connect with the people they care for, rather than the minuted dance of tasks that need to be done. It’s also hard physical work requiring workers to bend over up to 1300 times per shift .

It is like you are part of a machine. You’ve got to be here at this time and you’ve got to finish at this time. [. . .] It’s all down to minutes. – Peter, care worker

It’s an area that is ripe for innovation, enabling both day to day care, and more meaningful human interactions.

So, how can robotics technology help as you grow older?

Connecting you with loved ones
Telepresence robots allow care workers and family to drop by your house remotely. There is no need to pick up a phone, or start a computer. The robot, essentially a videoconference system on wheels, will drive up to you and initiate a conversation. It’s the modern day equivalent of a knock on the door. The idea is not to replace in person visits, but to allow them to happen more frequently, and at the times that matter most. Imagine having your daughter drop by – albeit sometimes virtually – multiple times a day, or being able to ask for help when needed.

Giraff, a telepresence robot developed through two European Projects (ExCITE and Giraff+) is currently undergoing tests in homes across Europe and is already available for purchase.

Helping you get around
Reduced mobility is one of the main causes for people joining a care home. Whether it’s walking, lifting everyday objects, eating, bathing, or getting up from a chair or bed.

An estimated 9 million people in the EU need help getting out of bed. – Multi-Annual Roadmap for Robotics

Focus has been on making robots that can help with specific mobility-related tasks. The MOBOT project for example is currently developing an intelligent robotic walker that could help you sit down in a chair, or assist as you move around your house.

MOBOT Project

LEA from Robot Care Systems is also a carebot disguised as a stroller that may help you get out of bed, walk, or hold a cup. LEA also knows about your daily routine, and can sense if you’re not taking medication, eating, or drinking.
And Company Besticinc, founded by Sten Hemmingsson who was disabled by Polio, looks at how robots can help you eat.

It is extremely important for a person’s integrity that you’re able to eat independently. – Sten Hemmingsson

Rather than buy a robot for your home, you may instead be wearing it as an exoskeleton to help with everyday movements. The AXO-SUIT project is providing inroads into developing an exoskeleton specifically adapted to help the elderly move, reach, and grasp. This is not an easy task as special consideration is needed to make the material light-weight, and delicate. In the future, these suits may even feel more like soft smart pants, than rigid bodies made of bolts and metal.

AXO-SUIT Project

Getting things done

Care-o-bot 4

The next step is to allow these robots to help around the home. This will require them to have grippers so they can fetch medicine, or a bottle of water. The robots may be remote operated, or may follow your commands in an autonomous manner. This has been the focus of the team behind the Care-o-bot robot. Their robot for assistive living, now in its fourth version, is the result of years of development and more than six related European projects.

The team behind the Care-o-bot also worked with CASERO, a robot that can help workers in care homes take over the heavy lifting. The robot can be used to collect the laundry, or carry water bottles around.

CASERO has certainly been a great help for us in our day to day work, transporting things [. . .]. It saves us time, and we can spend more time with the residents. – Silke Mlakar – care home worker

And if you believe the Robot-Era project, you might even send your robot out to shop for groceries, or pick up a prescription at the pharmacy.

Keeping you company
However sophisticated the robot, you may find yourself emotionally attached to its daily presence and enjoying its companionship. Human-robot interactions with the elderly need to be carefully assessed to make sure they are providing just the right level of interaction to be as helpful as possible, without being misleading. One of the most successful companion robots to date has been Paro the robot seal developed by AIST in Japan. The robot pet reacts to touch and has been shown to calm dementia patients and improve social interactions. This new form of Robot Therapy has also been shown to have benefits beyond eldercare, including to improve social interactions in children with autism.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFMenahpJtI

Making your home smart
And why not make your home a robot? A connected home could automatically check that the cooker is off, order food when the fridge is empty, remind you of appointments, and handle the entertainment system. The home may also coordinate a suite of mobile robots, including your vacuum cleaner, or other task-specific helpers. These smart living spaces, which build on the latest trends in Internet of Things, machine learning, and robotics, could deliver on the promise of better care outcomes.

Like many robotics technologies, integration is key. To move things along, universities are building dedicating assistive living spaces that will allow them to explore integrated homes in a well controlled research environment.

Barriers and prospects
Technology for assistive living leads to real challenges with privacy, ethics, and liability. The act of caring comes with deep responsibility, and potential for harm if not done carefully. In fact, most carebots developed in the laboratory have not made their way to the home. Public acceptance is still quite low, with the latest Eurobaromoter survey on autonomous systems reporting that 51% of European respondents are uncomfortable with having a robot to provide services and companionship to elderly or infirm people. Much of this is due to a lack of exposure to the technology, which will improve as robots become more prominent in the care sector. Thanks to the International Standards Organisation (ISO), there are also new standards for carebots, which should help pave the way for startups and SMEs who would like to enter the sector. The EU market for robots and devices assisting elderly people is estimated to reach €13 billion by 2016. Given this potential, Europe has been heavily investing in assistive living within the Horizon2020 robotics programmes, and also through the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing, the Active Assisted Living Joint Programme, and national programmes such as the UKs Long Term Care Revolution project.

This is needed as we are still very far from the robot in the movie Frank and Me. Making robots is hard, and we’re just starting to see robots for assistive living leave the laboratory to help with specific tasks such as walking or eating. More versatile carebots still require some work, and most important, plenty of real-word experiments. Fortunately, any developments in assistive living have the potential to improve quality of life for the elderly and carers. And it will become a necessity in the future.

Read the previous article in the series here.

The ten-part series on European Robotics will be published every two weeks on the SPARC website and Robohub. Funding for the series was provided by RockEU – a Coordination and Support Action funded under FP7 by the European Commission, Grant Agreement Number 611247.

Making robots is no easy task. If you talk to roboticists, they will tell you that it took years before the last robot they built or programmed was any good at performing a specific task. And although you may see videos of impressive robot feats, the reality is often more sobering. Remember the video of robots falling at the DARPA Robotics Challenge?

So why is it difficult to make robots? Here’s a breakdown looking at why robotics still requires years of research and development before we can expect to see them in our everyday lives .

Power

Most robots are required to operate without being plugged into a power socket. This means they need to carry their own energy source, be it a battery pack or gas tank. Small drones can typically operate for less than 1 hour, which is also the battery life of most advanced humanoids such as ATLAS from Google’s Boston Dynamics. So by the time the robot has walked out the door and made a few steps, it’s time for a power recharge.

Progress is being made, and a push for batteries that allow our laptops and cellphones to work for days on end is also powering the increase in robot run time. Take the same ATLAS robot which was tethered just a year ago, and now carries its own battery pack. The main challenge is that robot motion is often power hungry. Most drones will use the largest portion of their energy powering their propellers rather than computation, sensing, and communication combined. Larger batteries could give a robot more power, but will also make it heavier, which then requires more energy to move the robot. The reality is that robots are often docked to a charging station.

Beyond power, efficiency is also a real challenge. For example, human muscles are capable of impressive strength, yet many robot manipulators don’t have strength to carry heavy loads.

Biological muscles are still an order of magnitude lighter and smaller for generating the same force as robot motors. – Herman Bruyninckx

Sensing

Did you ever wonder why most demos show robots manipulating objects with bright colors or with a QR code?

Robots still have a hard time recognizing everyday objects. And although machine learning algorithms have proven effective in allowing computers to label images with sentences such as “black cat on a white chair”, robots also need to know what the objects are used for, and how to go about interacting with them. A fuchsia shirt, striped jacket, or a pair of trousers will all look quite different to a laundry folding robot, and would require a different sequence of motions. And even though cameras are helpful, image processing is still a burdensome task. Sensors like the Microsoft Kinect, and Laser Range Finders have enabled robots to make 3D maps of their environment. With the resulting point clouds, they can detect obstacles, build maps, and know where they are in them. Inferring the meaning of the scene however, is a step further. Beyond vision, touch and sound are still seldom used in robotic systems. Fortunately, robots have access to a number of dedicated sensors that are not human-centric, and are better suited for specific tasks, including accelerometers, temperature or gas sensors, and GPS.

Manipulation

Industrial robots are very successful at manipulating specific pre-defined objects in a repetitive manner. Manipulation outside of these constrained environments is one of the greatest challenges in robotics. There is a reason most successful commercial robots for the home environment, including telepresence robots, vacuum cleaners, and personal robots, are not built to pick up objects. Amazon solved this problem in their warehouse by building teams of humans and robots to fulfil orders. Robots move shelves to the workers who are then responsible for picking objects off the shelves and placing them in boxes. Just last year, Amazon ran a “picking challenge” at ICRA to help move the state of the art forward. The competition was won by Team RBO from Berlin. The RoCKIn competition in Europe also focuses on manipulation in the home and work environments.

Companies such as Shadow Robot are trying to capture the fine motor control that allows us to interact with everyday objects in a robotic hand – using these manipulators often requires precise planning. An alternative solution has often been to use proven manipulators from the industrial sector or increasingly soft robot manipulators that conform to different shapes of objects.

Cognition

Current robots typically use well determined algorithms that allow them to complete specific tasks, for example navigating from point A to point B, or moving an object on an assembly line. Designing collaborative robots for SMEs, or robots for the home, will increasingly require them to understand new environments and learn on the job. What seems like a simple task to us, could turn into an complex cognitive exercise for a robot. Projects such as the iCub have been making progress in this direction, aiming to reach the cognitive levels of a 2.5-year old child.

Deep learning is also providing new avenues. A team at the University of Zurich and IDSIA recently showed drones learning to fly through forest trails using Deep Neural Networks.

Whatever the learning embedded in the robot, it’s important to realise that we are still far from anything that resembles human intelligence or understanding. The forest trail navigation mostly crunches the data from lots of forest trail images and performs the correct motor commands in response. This is closer to a human learning to balance a poll on the palm of their hand through practice, rather than the development of a real understanding for the laws of physics.

Unstructured environments

The world is a messy place, and for most robots, operating in unstructured environments is difficult . That’s why commercial robots have been most successful in factories, on warehouse floors or roads, in the open air, and underwater. On the flip side, there are very few robots that operate autonomously in the home environment, other than vacuum cleaner robots. The Dyson 360 eye required over 100 000 hours of production time and 16 years of development before the company was convinced it would do a good job navigating a room. Their trials showed that kids would sometimes dance before their robot or play with it, attach little cardboard ears in front of its camera, or cover it entirely. Not to mention, every home is unique.

https://youtu.be/8c2SFXQ5zHM

Integration

The trick to understanding integration is to think like a robot. What does it take for a new robot to bring a glass of water to an elderly person in a house? First the robot would need to have a map of the house, perhaps building it from scratch by navigating through the corridors and rooms. It would then need to understand the command from the person to get the water, potentially using speech recognition. The robot would then use its map to plan a trajectory to the kitchen, avoiding obstacles, and constantly updating its estimation of where it is as it goes. Once at the cupboard, the robot would need to open the cupboard, locate a transparent glass, and pick it up. The robot would then turn to the sink, open the water tap using fine motor skills, position the glass under the stream, but only until the glass is full, and then navigate to the person without spilling. It would then gently put the glass on a table. This task requires safe hardware, an impressive sensor suite, and complex algorithms, which currently only exist as stand-alone pieces, if at all. Integrating all these components in a single robot is very difficult, and that’s just for one task – fetching a glass of water.

About integration, John Hallam from the University of Southern Denmark says

You’re not building a robot – you’re engineering a system – too often people focus on making the device. By doing that they miss out on important possibilities.

Legal framework and public perception

Startups are increasingly building robots that have the potential to be disruptive because they solve specific problems well. Drones and autonomous cars are a good example of this. The challenge for these startups is that regulation is not yet in place to allow their products to be commercialised.

Andrea Bertolini from Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Italy says there is “too much litigation and too little ex ante regulation” , meaning that startups may end up taking unnecessary legal risks, which could be prevented if better regulation was in place to support innovation up front.

And in a world where human safety and customer expectation is paramount, finding the right standards to make robots a reality has been an ongoing effort in the community.

Finally, misrepresentation in the public about what robots can do increases public concern. This carries the danger that policy makers may react to public opinion caused by a lack of balanced information. Public concerns need to be discussed and the responsible use of robots promoted so that policy is focused on what Europe needs.

It’s still hard to make a robot

Robotics is making strides in the development of specific technologies and robotics solutions for dedicated tasks. After years of development in research laboratories, robots are just starting to find their way to the consumer market. We are still very far away from Rosie the Robot however. Making Rosie would require profound advances in power, sensing, manipulation, cognition, and the magic glue – integration.

Read the previous article in the series here.

The ten-part series on European Robotics will be published every two weeks on the SPARC website and Robohub. Funding for the series was provided by RockEU – a Coordination and Support Action funded under FP7 by the European Commission, Grant Agreement Number 611247.

Europe’s roadmap for robotics, updated last December, highlights a future where robots break from their traditional stronghold in the manufacturing sector to power healthcare, agriculture, transport, civil, consumer, and commercial applications.

Historically, Europe was known for manufacturing and supplying nearly one third of the world’s industrial robots, with companies like ABB, Comau, KUKA, and Schunk leading the way. This is changing with a rise in companies worldwide producing industrial robots. There is now a realisation that beyond big industry, SMEs are becoming the powerhouse of Europe.

What usually gets lost is that more than 99% of all European businesses are, in fact, SMEs. They provide two out of three of the private sector jobs and contribute to more than half of the total value-added created by businesses in the EU. Moreover, SMEs are the true back-bone of the European economy, being primarily responsible for wealth and economic growth, next to their key role in innovation and R&D.

The empowerment of SMEs happens by both allowing them to be productive through the use of robotic technology, and by nurturing a new wave of robotics startups that will mature into the next successful robotics companies.

This vision has been reinforced by the very way in which Europe funds robotics projects. In 2014, Europe launched a public-private partnership called SPARC with the European Commission investing €700M, and the private sector represented by euRobotics investing triple that amount. The total of €2.8B is the largest civilian robotics programme in the world. The Robotics Multi-Annual Roadmap, prepared by euRobotics, highlights the needs of the field, and the European Commission uses it as a guideline to fund projects. This strategy has led to a strong integration between academia and industry. It is not uncommon for larger companies to be the leaders of European projects, or to receive a significant portion of the funding. And a number of funding instruments are specifically designed to empower startups and SMEs. A full list of European Projects funded can be found here and here.

So, what will SMEs be working on? For the most part, focus is on improving quality of life for Europeans with practical solutions to practical problems. The technology is motivated by societal challenges, including: aging populations, healthcare, concern for the environment, and access to resources including food, minerals, and energy.

In healthcare, examples include robots that assist the disabled and elderly in their homes, smart prosthetics, and surgical robots for high-tech operations. Agriculture is being transformed through aerial imaging and sensing, as well as the automation of specific tasks including milking, plowing, and picking. Autonomous cars could have an impact on quality of life and the environment by optimising the use of resources and time, while reducing the amount of energy used. And with tasks such as mining, construction, and high-risk inspection, robots will increasingly be doing the dull, dirty and difficult.

Startups driving these applications are bubbling up from robotics incubators and innovation hubs across Europe. Most recent disruptive companies to emerge include the maker of 3D printed prosthetics Open Bionics, Blue Frog Robotics and their social robot Buddy, and Flyability with their Gimball drone for inspection.

To be successful, SMEs will need to be productive and innovative. “There are relatively few robotic systems designed specifically for the SME market.” – Robotics MAR . The vision is to make robots that can safely operate near humans and are easy to program through intuitive interfaces. Ideally, the operator would show the robot a new object to manipulate, and then guide it through a series of actions by manually moving its arms, effectively teaching the robot like one might teach a coworker. This would allow companies to readily use their robots on different tasks, without needing a specialised programmer. These so-called co-bots, if cost-effective, could increase productivity and allow for new types of industry that rapidly personalise products to consumer needs or iterate on design. Danish company Universal Robots saw the potential in this market, and quickly grew to become one of the top companies producing co-bots. Universal Robots was sold last year for more than €350M.

The surge in robotics technology is not happening in isolation. Recent advances in the internet of things, and a push towards smart European cities, are leading to new ecosystems in which robotics will play an important role. The key is to integrate with these news areas, and build on recent advances in computation, and increasingly capable sensors and actuators.

Stay tuned for our next article; we’ll be demystifying the latest robotics technologies and looking at why robotics is still really difficult.

The ten-part series on European Robotics will be published every two weeks on the SPARC website and Robohub. Funding for the series was provided by RockEU – a Coordination and Support Action funded under FP7 by the European Commission, Grant Agreement Number 611247.