The European manufacturing industry needs competitive solutions to keep global
leadership in products and services. Exploiting synergies across application experts,
technology suppliers, system integrators and service providers will speed up the
process of bringing innovative technologies
from research labs to industrial end-users.
As an enabler in this context, the EuRoC initiative proposes
to launch three industry-relevant challenges:
- Reconfigurable Interactive Manufacturing Cell (RIMC),
- Shop Floor Logistics and Manipulation (SFLM),
- Plant Servicing and Inspection (PSI).
It aims at sharpening the focus of European manufacturing through a
number of application experiments, while adopting an innovative approach
which ensures comparative performance evaluation. Each challenge is launched
via an open call and is structured in 3 stages.
45 Contestants are selected using a challenge in a simulation environment:
the low barrier of entry allows new players to compete with established robotics
teams. Matching up the best Contestants with industrial end users, 15 Challenger
teams are admitted to the second stage, where the typical team is formed by research
experts, technology suppliers, system integrators, plus end users.
Teams are required to benchmark use cases on standard robotic platforms empowered
by this consortium. After a mid-term evaluation with public competition, the teams
advance to showcasing the use case in a realistic environment.
After an open judging process,
6 Challenge Finalists are admitted to run pilot experiments in a
real environment at end-user sites to determine the final EuRoC Winner.
A number of challenge advisors and independent experts decide about access to the
subsequent stages. A challenge-based approach with multiple stages of increasing
complexity and financial support for competing teams will level the playing field
for new contestants, attract new developers and new end users toward customisable
robot applications, and provide sustainable solutions to carry out future challenges.
Source: Prisma Lab.