Network links robotics research in the Netherlands

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Agência FAPESP* –By Heitor Shimizu*
Agência FAPESP – RoboNED is a network created in the Netherlands to link the main activities in the country’s robotics research. Since its launch in 2010, the initiative has worked toward three objectives.
The first is to bring together several fields of knowledge and disciplines involved in robotics at universities, research institutes and companies. The second is to stimulate innovation in Holland by providing incentives to carry out research. The third is to broaden the introduction of robotic technologies into society.
RoboNED is funded by NL (the Netherlands agency of technological innovation), STW (a foundation that works to transfer technology from scientific and technical centers to society) and NWO (the Dutch National Organization for Scientific Research), with which FAPESP has a cooperation agreement.
“RoboNED has no intention of telling universities and scientists what to do. What we want to do is to help to develop robotics in Holland through an exchange of ideas and dissemination of research results,” said Marteen Steinbuch, a professor at Eindhoven University of Technology who represents universities and research centers in the network.
“Working together, with the unification of the most varied areas of knowledge that are and can be involved with robotics, we can outline strategies and resolve challenges that allow for the introduction of technologies that can help society,” he said.
Steinbuch explains that RoboNED created a database on the Internet that brings together information about research and robotics conducted in the Netherlands. The database is open to any researcher in the country and can add information about their activities.
RoboNED has also produced documents such as the Dutch Robotics Inventory, which covers the sector’s main activities in 2011 and the Dutch Robotic Strategic Agenda - Analysis, Roadmap & Outlook, released in 2012, with analysis on the sector and its main challenges in the coming years.
RoboNED also holds meetings between its members, including the RoboNED Conference, the latest of which was held this past May and focused on robotics projects at companies. According to Steinbuch, the initiative believes that robotics could play a fundamental role in the future of the Netherlands. Among the initiatives researched in the country is the development of innovations for the health system, such as using robots to conduct surgeries that cannot be performed by human hands and providing other functions to help care for the sick.
Agriculture is another sector in which innovation in robotics has promising applications, particularly because farming in the Netherlands is facing a shortage of manual labor. Automated systems for planting, harvesting and distribution have been studied with good results at centers such as Wageningen University.
*The reporter traveled at the invitation of the NL Agency.

<p><b>By Heitor Shimizu*</b></p>
<p><b>Agência FAPESP</b> – RoboNED is a network created in the Netherlands to link the main activities in the country’s robotics research. Since its launch in 2010, the initiative has worked toward three objectives.</p>
<p>The first is to bring together several fields of knowledge and disciplines involved in robotics at universities, research institutes and companies. The second is to stimulate innovation in Holland by providing incentives to carry out research. The third is to broaden the introduction of robotic technologies into society.</p>
<p>RoboNED is funded by NL (the Netherlands agency of technological innovation), STW (a foundation that works to transfer technology from scientific and technical centers to society) and NWO (the Dutch National Organization for Scientific Research), with which FAPESP has a cooperation agreement.</p>
<p>“RoboNED has no intention of telling universities and scientists what to do. What we want to do is to help to develop robotics in Holland through an exchange of ideas and dissemination of research results,” said Marteen Steinbuch, a professor at Eindhoven University of Technology who represents universities and research centers in the network.</p>
<p>“Working together, with the unification of the most varied areas of knowledge that are and can be involved with robotics, we can outline strategies and resolve challenges that allow for the introduction of technologies that can help society,” he said.</p>
<p>Steinbuch explains that RoboNED created a database on the Internet that brings together information about research and robotics conducted in the Netherlands. The database is open to any researcher in the country and can add information about their activities.</p>
<p>RoboNED has also produced documents such as the Dutch Robotics Inventory, which covers the sector’s main activities in 2011 and the Dutch Robotic Strategic Agenda - Analysis, Roadmap & Outlook, released in 2012, with analysis on the sector and its main challenges in the coming years.</p>
<p>RoboNED also holds meetings between its members, including the RoboNED Conference, the latest of which was held this past May and focused on robotics projects at companies. According to Steinbuch, the initiative believes that robotics could play a fundamental role in the future of the Netherlands. Among the initiatives researched in the country is the development of innovations for the health system, such as using robots to conduct surgeries that cannot be performed by human hands and providing other functions to help care for the sick.</p>
<p>Agriculture is another sector in which innovation in robotics has promising applications, particularly because farming in the Netherlands is facing a shortage of manual labor. Automated systems for planting, harvesting and distribution have been studied with good results at centers such as Wageningen University.</p>
<p><i>*The reporter traveled at the invitation of the NL Agency.</i></p>