Towards Excellent Robotics and Artificial Intelligence at a Slovak university

Project Information

TERAIS

Grant agreement ID: 101079338

DOI

10.3030/101079338

Project closed

EC signature date 14 July 2022

Start date 1 October 2022

End date 30 September 2025

Funded under

• Widening participation and spreading excellence

Total cost

€ 1 578 793,75

EU contribution

€ 1 499 890,00

Coordinated by

UNIVERZITA KOMENSKEHO V BRATISLAVE
Slovakia

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - TERAIS (Towards Excellent Robotics and Artificial Intelligence at a Slovak university)

Reporting period: 2022-10-01 to 2025-09-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The TERAIS project aims at transforming the Department of Applied Informatics (DAI) at COMENIUS UNIVERSITY in Bratislava (UKBA) to a workplace of international academic excellence and an outstanding example for other HEIs in Slovakia. To achieve this, the project aims to: (1) prepare conditions for systematic development of human capital and research capacity of DAI UKBA, (2) establish sustainable networking and collaboration links with partner institutions/within UKBA, (3) boost scientific profile of DAI towards mitigating the research and innovation gap, (4) establish institutional research support structures at UKBA.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The partnership comprised, in addition to DAI UKBA, the Knowledge Technology team at UNIVERSITÄT HAMBURG in Germany - with exceptional expertise in neural networks, deep learning and cross-modal learning for developmental robotics - and two units at ISTITUTO ITALIANO DI TECNOLOGIA in Italy - with excellent experience in humanoid robotics, control using physical and simulated robots and human-robot interaction. The project was based on 4 pillars: (1) PEOPLE - aiming at creating a life-long career development system at UKBA; (2) NETWORKING - focusing on strengthening collaboration links with international partners and the business community; (3) RESEARCH - focusing on cognitive robotics, a part of embodied artificial intelligence, in which all project partners have outstanding expertise; and (4) SUPPORT - directed towards building the necessary research support structures at UKBA.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The project leveraged a broad range of channels, such as staff/student exchanges, joint events/ proposals / publications, and specific dissemination/communication tools. The project contributed to promoting research excellence at different levels (UKBA: DAI, Faculty, University; Slovakia; international scientific community) and achieving wider economic and social impacts - with UKBA serving as a key agent of transformation.

TERAIS team at IIT in 2024