euROBIN 3rd Open Call for the Technology Exchange Programme

euROBIN is the Network of Excellence that brings together European expertise on Robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI). It will establish a unified pan-European platform for research and development. For the first time, a large number of distinguished research labs across Europe are jointly researching AI-Based Robotics. Goals include both significant scientific advances on core questions of AI-based robotics as well as strengthening the scientific robotics community in Europe by providing an integrative community platform. The network is open to the entire European robotics community (researchers) and provides mechanisms of cascade funding to double its number of members over the coming years.

euROBIN comprises 31 partners across 14 countries. It is coordinated by the Institute of Robotics of Mechatronics of the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft – und Raumfahrt e.V. DRL) and includes the highest-profile research institutions as well as outstanding industrial partners across sectors.

As part of the 3rd Open Call, DLR will distribute the financial support for the ‘Technology Exchange Programme’ to the beneficiaries via the FundingBox Accelerator sp. z o.o. These decisions are made by a Selection Committee consisting of scientists from selected project partners.

The applicants from the euROBIN 1st and the 2nd Open Call, who have not been selected as beneficiaries, are allowed to apply to the 3rd Open Call for Technology Exchange Programme.

Scope

• The scope of the Technology Exchange Programme is:
  • Promoting the participation of researchers and companies for the design, development, and validation of novel scientific methods and technologies that contribute to the extension of the range of intelligent transferable skills and capabilities of robots in different application domains (industrial, personal, and outdoors), complementing the main goals considered in the euROBIN project. Participants will have the possibility to integrate and test their code, method or hardware in some of the most advanced robotic platforms in Europe to address significant research challenges  thanks to the cascade funding mechanism that will support their work.
  • The beneficiaries selected under this open call will join some of the euROBIN core teams, integrating and evaluating the developed solutions of the robots at the hosting labs. Two euROBIN partners will typically act as host institutions for the stays, providing access and support to the euROBIN robot platforms. Research results will be disseminated through the euROBIN media channels, while the developed software and produced documentation such as datasheets and tutorials will be included in the EuroCore repository with open access policy.

Funding Information

• The maximum amount of financial support to be granted to each selected third-party project under the 3rd Open Call of the Technology Exchange Programme is up to €60 000. During the 3rd Open Call up 9 beneficiaries will be selected.
• The total duration of support provided will be between 3 – 12 months per project and will be divided into 2 stages.
  • Plan Phase (up to € 4 000)
  • Implementation Phase (up to € 56000)

What types of activities can be funded?

• The activity that qualifies for financial support under the 3rd Open Call for the Technology Exchange Programme is to build transferable tech solutions to be included in the EuroCore repository shared and disseminated by and with the euROBIN Consortia Partners – Hosting Institution (Technology Development). Particularly, it is expected that participants contribute to the design, development, and validation of:
  • Perception methods for the realization of complex manipulation tasks, or for the navigation in either domestic environments or in outdoor urban scenarios.
  • Software modules that extend the range of functionalities of robots to conduct daily life tasks and facilitate interaction with human users.
  • Novel mechanisms that improve the dexterity and reliability of robots, or novel robot platforms whose features and capabilities may be of particular interest in some application domains.
  • Simulation tools combined with advanced Artificial Intelligence techniques that have the potential to speed up the development of general robot skills.
• They are looking for new partners with outstanding scientific and technical expertise in the topics of the call. You have to reply to one of the Open Challenges defined by the Consortium. Ideally, you have this expertise proven on benchmarks or previous publications.

Ideal Project

• Project proposals from participants should align and complement the general goals of the European Robotics and AI Network, implementing and demonstrating advanced transferable robotics solutions across the different robots and euROBIN application areas. The software and the models generated with their methods should be open-sourced, documented, and accessible in EuroCore.
• Cutting-edge methods and technologies, or hardware and software modules which are mature and reliable enough should provide general solutions to one of the identified challenges that can be easily adopted and benchmarked in at least two robotic platforms among those used for the three domain challenges of the project. Appropriate measures to ensure validation on different platforms should be considered in the proposals.
• The work done by participants should be preferably planned jointly with the host institutions according to the milestones or relevant events of the euROBIN projects, such as cooperative competitions and hackathons, project deliverables and reports. This will contribute to achieve the euROBIN project goals while increasing the visibility of the results produced by the participants.

Eligibility Criteria

• They are looking for a single (individual) legal entity (not a consortium) that is:
  • a Company of any size registered before the 20th of November 2024;
  • a Research Organisation;
  • an Academia Research Institution registered before the 20th of November 2024.
• Proposals should be submitted exclusively by the aforementioned applicants who will delegate a group of researchers/PhD students (that are endorsed by the organisation they belong to/work at) to work in a laboratory
• The entities have to be registered in:
  • The Member States of the European Union and its Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT);
    • or
  • Associated Countries (AC) to Horizon Europe.
• The applicants who are subject to EU restrictive measures under Article 29 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and Article 215 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU) are not eligible to participate in this Open Call.
• The euROBIN partners are not eligible to act as applicants and CANNOT be involved in the grantees’ projects, neither their affiliates nor employees or permanent collaborators.

For more information, visit European Commission.