Robotics and Automation Magazine

December 2005

The challenge that Europe faces to stay at the forefront of robotics development, production and use, calls for a coordinated action involving all stakeholder groups. Towards this goal, top executives from ~50 leading robotic industrial and research organizations proposed the European Technology Platform in Robotics - EUROP in order to unite all the main European industrial and academic robotics stakeholders and public authorities to ensure that industrially relevant research goals, priorities and action plans can be agreed and relevant actions implemented. This is in accordance to the European Union's Lisbon strategy to boost competitiveness and growth by generating break-through innovations in robotics.

The Vision of EUROP is to provide a consolidated European strategy in robotics towards the goal of preparing a new generation of robots that will closely collaborate with workers and move out of the factory to pursue the service, security and space application markets.

Europe has a leading position in industrial robots and the EUROP initiative is being set up to ensure that Europe will continue to be a leader by developing new companies and supply networks to meet the new technology needs as the robots are gradually moving into our homes, offices and public spaces. Such an initiative would also aim at ensuring increased public and personal security levels as well as new levels of quality of life by providing technologies required to enable society to address challenges in terms of ageing and well-being.

EUROP's members cover the industrial, service and security/space robotics market segments and are a mix of large, medium and small companies. These include leaders in industrial robotics such as KUKA, ABB, COMAU and REIS, service and consumer product suppliers like Philips and Electrolux, and service and systems suppliers such as SAFRAN, EADS, THALES, and FINMECCANICA. Many high-tech SMEs also participate in the venture representing 70% of the stakeholders involved.

In Brussels on October 7th, Viviane Reding, the European Commissioner for Information Society and Media, officially launched EUROP, as part of the i2010 initiative. The European Commission is promoting 'Technology Platforms', such as EUROP, as part of this initiative by encouraging companies from different sectors to work together to become more competitive and develop new products and services. The strategic research goals of these platforms are also important inputs to priority settings in publicly supported research, including in the Commission's upcoming 7^th Research Framework Program.

For further information, please visit http://www.robotics-platform.eu.com/. Parties interested in promoting certain activities via this column can contact either Kostas Kyriakopoulos (http://users.ntua.gr/kkyria, kkyria AT central.ntua.gr) or Bruno Siciliano (http://wpage.unina.it/sicilian, siciliano AT unina.it).

Contributed by Kostas Kyriakopoulos and Bruno Siciliano