The European Commission Robotics4EU project aims to take concrete steps to ensure a more widespread adoption of AI-based robots across the EU, particularly in the areas of healthcare, inspection and maintenance of infrastructure, agri-food, and agile production.
Under the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme, the project’s will also work to raise awareness about non-technological aspects of robotics, such as ethics, legal, socioeconomic, data, privacy and gender issues.
It will gather a responsible robotics community, with representatives from companies and academia in the areas mentioned above, citizens, policy and decision-makers, and it will organise community-building and co-creation events while advocating for the cause of responsible robotics.
Officially launched in January, the project has already conducted a series of interviews and online surveys to gain insight from stakeholders and members of the robotics community in topics such as the deployment of robotics, current practices, shortcomings and other needs of the community.
The surveys highlighted issues including labour force concerns, the consequences of robotics on overall human well-being, among others, and are available on the project’s website. Its report also includes information regarding good practices from other projects, robotics community readiness and robots’ acceptability, cooperation between policy makers and the robotics community, among others.
During the month of October, Robotics4EU will promote a GlobalSay consultation that will engage approximately 700 citizens from 12 countries. It will study the societal and ethical impacts of robotics.
A series of workshops starting in November, and lasting until mid-2022, is also in the works. The goal of these workshops is to broaden and empower the responsible robotics community and encourage the debate around cutting-edge issues and ideas for practical solutions that will support the responsible adoption of AI-based robotics.
There will be a total of 20 workshops: four online and one in-person for each of the projects’ areas – healthcare, inspection and maintenance of infrastructure, agri-food, and agile production.
Robotics4EU is a €3m (£2.5m) coordination and support action comprising seven organisations from six European countries with expertise in several technological domains.
