euROBIN: network meeting and hackathon in Seville
More than 150 participants from 14 different countries and 31 partner institutions worked closely together in Seville from 15 to 19 May 2023 to exchange knowledge and create new synergies in the field of AI-powered robotics. In addition to lectures and workshops, the meeting focused on a hackathon involving various robotic systems. The hackathon was held in the laboratory of the Robotics, Vision and Control Research Group (GRVC) of the Higher Technical School of Engineering (ETSI) of the Universidad de Sevilla. Coordinator of euROBIN, the European Network of Excellence in AI-based Robotics, is the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics of the German Aerospace Center.
The goal of the hackathon was to lay the foundations for future robot collaboration across laboratory boundaries, and to demonstrate this through a joint final demonstration. In a scenario lasting about 20 minutes, the teams demonstrated how a number of different robots worked together to pack a package at a delivery service, deliver it, accept it and unpack it and put the contents away, using eight of the world's most advanced robots. Humanoid and flying, rolling and walking, very light and dynamic as well as large and correspondingly heavy systems worked hand in hand - or hand in gripper. Appearance, handling options, software and development status - the robotic systems used could hardly have been more different. Nonetheless, the package was delivered successfully.
Heterogeneity, the high interdisciplinarity of the technology, limited standardisation and a supplier industry that is only just being developed pose a huge challenge to the development of robotics. For the first time, renowned research labs across Europe are collaborating to research transferable AI-based robotics with heterogeneous robots. The fact that after only nine months, the first concepts were available that enable robots to communicate better, share software modules via cloud platforms and cooperate in complex everyday tasks, is therefore a big success for euROBIN. This shows ways to overcome some of the biggest hurdles in robotics and to further strengthen the excellent important role of European robotics. The Network of Excellence is also Europe's response to the international challenges posed by google, TESLA and other large technology corporations into entering the field of robotics. Members of the network are renowned research institutes as well as outstanding industrial partners from various sectors. euROBIN thus unites European expertise in the fields of robotics and artificial intelligence and establishes a common pan-European platform for research and development. A central goal of the network is to achieve significant scientific advances in core issues of artificial intelligence and robotics.
Robotic research in Europe in the fields of industrial, assistive and outdoor robotics is currently worldwide leading. euROBIN will further expand this outstanding position. The meeting, as part of the European Commission's "Network of Excellence" initiative, also strengthens mutual understanding of the approaches of the different teams across technological and national borders. In addition, the integrative research platform aims to support the scientific community of robotics in Europe. The network is available to the entire robotics community and is expected to double its membership in the coming years through cascade funding opportunities.