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IST Strategic Objective 2.6.1: Advanced Robotics

Objectives

The objective is to address some of the key challenges for the paradigm shift of robotic equipments in their evolution from a specific industrial technology to a broad enabler for a wide range of products and services that are entering the consumer, home and entertainment markets. The work will address the development of more intelligent, flexible, cost-effective, modular, safe, dependable, robust and user-driven robot systems. This will pave the way to the future massive introduction of robots in everyday human environments and their close cooperation with people. As robots are moving out of the shop-floor, robot technologies should be able to couple further the world of information and communication with the world of physical interaction. This will make them the interface of choice for a new variety of services in the professional and private sector.

Focus

Multi-disciplinary research based on a viable mix of scientific advancement and technology integration with focus on one or a combination of the following RTD themes:

  1. Flexible robot systems integrating lower-cost structures and materials and exhibiting rich sensory-motor skills and multi-sensory feedback based on advanced perception capabilities and adaptive control that enable such robot systems to reach higher levels of autonomy;
  2. Safe, robust and dependable robot systems operating in human environments and co-operating with people; underlying design should affect any aspect of robot R&D from architectures to key component functionality;
  3. Networked and cooperating robots: embedding robotic systems in surrounding smart IT infrastructure for enabling their integration, evolution and task/service provision in everyday environments;
  4. Advanced integrated modular robotics; modular design and modelling of new, versatile "plug-and-play" robot systems based on the development of open reference system architectures with standardised hardware and software building blocks.

The proposed R&D work should clearly support industrial innovation. To address some of the above RTD themes, work should build on and advance ongoing research in areas such as new models, architectures and methods for on-the-fly multimodal acquisition of knowledge and skills, reasoning and decision-making, for achieving goals in incompletely known environments, etc.; where needed, work could also address evolution and learning, collaborative behaviour and communication as well as progress in miniaturisation.

Instruments: STREPs

In order to prepare the emergence of a multidisciplinary robotics community in Europe, co-ordination and support actions with focus on: 1/ stakeholder liaison and development of longer term visions and research roadmaps; 2/ Identification of relevant organisational, legal, ethical and socio-economic challenges; 3/ Standardization activities addressing in particular modular design of robotic systems; 4/ Specification of benchmarks for comparative evaluation ; 5/ Study and assessment of international activities and establishment of international cooperation initiatives.

Instruments: CAs, SSAs

Participation of SMEs as technology providers, service providers or end-users is strongly encouraged.

Indicative budget: 37M€; STREPs, CAs, SSAs

Footnote: An important input to the orientations of this Strategic Objective is coming from the work of the European Technology Platform on Robotics (http://www.roboticsplatform.com/)

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