RockEU2 - Robotics Coordination Action for Europe Two

Objectives

The project builds on the success of the RockEU coordination action funded under the FP7 programme together with the competition expertise generated within RoCKIn, EuRoC and Eurathlon. The primary objective is to move beyond community building and develop communication structures, mechanisms and resources that will enable the robotics stakeholders within Europe to build a viable global market. This represents a shift in focus from the community building objectives of RockEU to a greater emphasis on tasks that focus on outreach and community enabling activities that address the emerging needs of the European robotics community.

The project is built on three key themes that present challenges to the emerging robotics industry: outreach, innovation and skills. These key themes emerge from the targets of the work programme, and are reflected in each work package in the proposal. They represent the core concerns of the primary European robotics stakeholders.

In each theme the project seeks to achieve three core objectives, to examine and address barriers, to create interaction and collaboration, and to stimulate the transfer of knowledge and skills.

The project will achieve these three core objectives by deploying a set of basic tools:

•  By organizing collaborative activities both with and for the community as well as for non-robotics stakeholders.
•  Through the provision of Information dissemination processes including social media and an accessible information resource.
•  By identifying best practice and key trends within the community and internationally. In this respect the project does not seek to include all of the required expertise into the consortium. Instead, it will manage and implement diverse mechanisms to tap into the resources of the community through the consortium partners, specifically, through euRobotics AISBL via its members, Topic Groups, and associates; through the euCognition association to the cognitive systems community and through the experience of the RoCKIn, euRathlon and EuRoC communities into the competitions community.
• By utilizing these rich threads of connectivity within the community, the project will seek to achieve bi- directional information flow from and to the community with a wide range of stakeholders at all levels from students to policy makers. The ultimate goal is to create sustainable growth within the European robotics industry.