Robotics

The million industrial robots worldwide do not only assist or even replace people performing repetitive, dangerous or tiring tasks - they have also, according to one recent estimate, created some three million jobs in 8 years.

The global robotics market is now worth €15.5 billion a year, with some €3 billion of that in the EU. The EU also has a 25% share of the global industrial robotics market, and half of the professional service robotics sector. By 2020, the whole service robotics market could be worth over €100 billion.

To keep and improve this promising position, the European Commission, industry and academia are working together to launch a Public Private Partnership (PPP). It will aim to:

• improve EU industrial competitiveness through robotic technologies;
• provide robots and robotic services to help solve some of the EU’s societal challenges, such as aging;
• address ethical and legal issues;
• develop strategic goals.

This is not the first time the European Commission has supported Europe's robotics sector - the over 120 robotics projects funded by the EU's research programmes have looked at:

• scene and situation understanding
• physical behaviour such as grasping objects
• perception through artificial senses, including computer vision.

More details can be found on the following websites:

• Research: Robotics
• Research projects: Cognitive Systems and Robotics