Europe needs bigger robots push

JennyBond · Europe needs bigger robots push

Europe needs bigger robots push Very Happy

European Union (EU) member states are losing out to the Japanese when it comes to developing useful robots that are commercially available.
The European Commission (EC) urged businesses to turn their robotics research into viable products much more quickly than they do now.

The EU spends about 50 million euros (£34.4 million) a year on research projects which produce prototypes.

But these tend not to make it to market as products until 10 to 15 years later.

Ulf Dahlsten, the EU's emerging technologies director in Brussels, said this meant EU businesses lagged behind Japan in terms of pushing robots into new market areas.

"The truth is that in robotic research, so far, it has been mainly academic research, and industry has not been very present," he said.

He added that the EU was losing out to Japan because it had a higher level of development in its research and innovation.

Much of the EU's robotics research focuses on innovations such as "swarm bots" which look to the natural world for inspiration.

Swarming bots act like ants, working in teams, to carry out tasks that individuals could not do.

Researchers around the world are developing robots for different uses, and many are making them a lot smarter and autonomous by developing AI systems (Artificial Intelligence).

Hi-tech manufacturer, Honeywell, is testing micro air vehicles, essentially flying robots equipped with two cameras that send live video feeds to soldiers on the ground, for example.

Nasa is also developing miniature robots which join up to form "autonomous nanotechnology swarms" (Ants) that change shape to flow over rocky terrain or to create useful structures like communications antennae and solar sails.

But robots are getting ready to step out of the industrial and research world to be viable human companions and helpers.

The worldwide market for both industrial and service robots is forecast to be worth more than $66 billion (£37.4 billion) by 2025.

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