Robotics and Automation MagazineSeptember 2004The "EURON/ERF Technology Transfer Award" was created in order to improve the quality of robotics research and to raise the profile of technology transfer between science and industry and was presented for the first time by the European Robotics Research Network (EURON) at its annual meeting on 13 March 2004 together with the European Robotics Forum (ERF) in Amsterdam and it is now to be presented annually. The goal of EURON is to create a network of excellence intended to coordinate research work, teaching and education as well as the collaboration between academia and industry," explained Henrik Iskov Christensen, EURON coordinator and professor at the Centre for Autonomous Systems at Kungliga Tekniska Hoegskolan in Stockholm. The European Robotics Forum is a European industry platform within the International Federation of Robotics (IFR). Stefan Sagert from VDMA Robotik + Automation is the General Secretary of the ERF, which has set itself the goal of increasing the visibility of the robotics community in Europe. The winners of the first EURON/ERF Technology Award are: 1st place: Dr. Martin Otter, German Aerospace Centre Oberpfaffenhofen (DLR), Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics, Wessling, Germany for 'High Performance Industrial Robots - The DLR-KUKA Success Story'. 2nd place: Dr. Olivier Michel, Cyberbotics Ltd., Switzerland, for his project: "Webots™ Fast Prototyping and Simulation Software for Mobile Robot Technology". 3rd place: Frank Beeh, Institute of Process Control, Automation and Robotics (IPR), University of Karlsruhe (TH) for developing an innovative seat testing system. The members of the jury were:
This first EURON/ERF Technology Award was sponsored by the European Commission, Asea Brown Boveri Ltd. (ABB), Rexroth Bosch Group, Reis Robotics, Güdel AG, Fanuc Robotics and Kuka Roboter GmbH. It is planned continuously to raise the profile of the Technology Award in the coming years and to increase public awareness of the Award. The authors of this column want to thank Martin Hägele for providing material for this report. 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 |
Getting InvolvedWe hope that you will get involved in many of EURON's activities and encourage others to do so as well. Attend MeetingsAttending meetings is an excellent way of making contacts and friends within the community. These contacts are normally interesting, and may also be useful! EURON Schools are aimed at PhD students so are particularly good for people wishing to deepen an already existing interest. [More details ... ] Contribute to the InitiativesYour knowledge and resources are valuable -- please consider sharing them with others by adding items to the databases, contributing your opinions to the roadmap and benchmarking initiatives, and your information to this website. Especially, please contribute to the Video Collection for Students asap. [More details ... ] Use the ResourcesMake use of the resources that EURON offers. Much of the information is freely available to all, but for other resources you have to be a EURON member. Apply for the grants, use the databases and the contacts, apply for the awards, use the mailing lists.
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