Robot challenge

The EU has launched a major bid to give fresh impetus to Europe’s robotics sector, amid warnings that the continent risks falling behind other parts of the world in fast-developing applications of the technology.

The European Robotics Platform (EUROP), which brings together more than 50 industrial and research organisations from across Europe, has been set up in an effort to define a future strategy and tap into the often underexploited knowhow of SMEs working in the sector.

Geoff Pegman, managing director of UK company RU Robots, one of the members of the initiative, claimed that despite the huge amount of expertise in Europe, projects have tended to be fairly disparate, with poorly-defined commercial aims.

The UN’s recently-published World Robotics Survey forecasts a massive worldwide growth over the next few years in the use of both industrial and service robots. But Europe must act quickly if it is to avoid being left behind by the major initiatives underway elsewhere.