Introducing EURON I

The objective of the original EURON was to implement and maintain a network of excellence that allowed coordination of research, teaching and education, academic-industry collaboration, and publications and conference in the area of robotics, and facilitated addressing of issues of interest to institutions and companies throughout Europe. The aim was to provide a fruitful basis that allowed Europe to remain at the forefront of robotics both in terms of research and industrial products.

Description of work

The network was organised around a set of five key-areas that were expected to benefit from short and long-term coordination across Europe. These Key Areas were:

• Research Coordination,
• Education and Teaching,
• Dissemination,
• Industrial links, and
• International Links.

For each key-area a committee was set up to consider how their particular issues could be coordinated and improved through the formulation of roadmaps, the production of joint education material, enhanced visibility, and improved coherence across Europe.

Ad-hoc working groups termed "Interest Groups" were set up to address specific issues. These groups aided the formation of a long-term research vision for Europe and enabled coordination of education efforts across institutions in Europe. In addition various databases of industrial problems, research competence, education material, shared resources, etc were set up and maintained.

The majority of the work was carried out through the use of an electronic infrastructure that facilitated coordination and communication across the institutions involved. The network was coordinated by a multi-national advisory committee.

The network worked actively to encompass all countries in the EU and attempted to include most of the robotics efforts in the EU, affiliated states and next generation states. Particular attention was paid to integration between EU and Eastern countries.