Apply AI: Robotics for Manufacturing: Advancing Core Skills through Technical Challenges (RIA) (Partnership in AI, Data and Robotics)
Programme Category
Programme Name
Programme Description
Horizon Europe is the European Union (EU) funding programme for the period 2021 – 2027, which targets the sectors of research and innovation. The programme’s budget is around € 95.5 billion, of which € 5.4 billion is from NextGenerationEU to stimulate recovery and strengthen the EU’s resilience in the future, and € 4.5 billion is additional aid.
Identifier Code
Call
Summary
The proposed project aims to significantly enhance robotics capabilities in manufacturing by developing advanced robotics skills (for example, task and environment aware autonomous pick and place with high precision and speed, human-robot collaboration, etc).
Detailed Call Description
By leveraging the use of next-generation AI, including generative AI, to enable robots to better adapt to real-world environments and interact with human operators, and focusing on reconfigurability, the project will develop industry-agnostic solutions that can be easily adapted to different manufacturing environments.
The project will create a comprehensive framework for robotics skills development in manufacturing, including the initial definition of three technical challenges that must be clearly described at proposal stage, with evidence of their industrial relevance and potential impact. The detailed specification and design of these challenges may be further refined during the first phase of the project in collaboration with industry partners.
The project will organize a multi-stage competition for each of the three identified technical challenges. Each stage of the competition is expected to present an increased level of complexity compared to the previous one. The approach for designing the competitive process, including the use of FSTP, should aim at maximising the impact.
One of the key use cases for this project will be the automotive industry, which should be explicitly included in proposals either as a primary focus or as a dedicated use case, demonstrating how advanced robotics can enhance production efficiency and adaptability in this sector. Other use cases alongside the automotive one are allowed and encouraged, to demonstrate the industry-agnostic nature and the transferability of the developed solutions to different industrial contexts.
User-industry companies from the manufacturing sector (including automotive) should be core partners in the consortium. They should demonstrate a genuine interest in the project results and actively support the FSTP recipients in achieving powerful and exploitable results that benefit their industry.
Organization of the Challenge:
Stage 1 – Open call: The consortium launches an open call for proposals. A challenge, open to all, will allow the selection of the 10 highest-ranked proposals for each of the three technical robotics skills, according to a pre-defined selection process and criteria. Each solution competing for the challenge can be submitted either by a single SME, research organisation or public body secondary or higher education establishment, developer of robotics solutions, or a small team of organizations.
Stage 2 – Competition among Stage 1 winners: The 10 teams or organisations selected from Stage 1 will receive a EUR 200,000 FSTP grant each in accordance with their successfully selected proposal (which addresses the tasks and challenges defined for this stage by the consortium). At the end of Stage 2, the 3 highest-ranked competing solutions will be selected for the next stage according to a pre-defined selection process and criteria.
Stage 3 – Grand Finale (competition among Stage 2 winners): The 3 best teams or organisations selected from Stage 2 will receive a EUR 1,000,000 FSTP grant each in accordance with their successfully selected proposals to address the tasks and challenges defined for this stage. In conjunction, they will prepare for the grand finale that will identify the best performing solution at the end of Stage 3 according to the evaluation methodology defined by the consortium.
The consortium should define measures to support the team winning the grand finale in maximising the impact and uptake of its solutions.
Proposals must include a draft exploitation plan outlining how the solutions developed by the FSTP recipients will be taken up, with concrete support from the user-industry partners to ensure industrial relevance and future exploitation.
This scheme is repeated for each of the three technical challenges.
The consortium will ensure high visibility of the competitions, including possible sponsorships, and will seek to attract the best developers from the EU and associated countries to compete, particularly SMEs, alone or within a team competing for the challenges.
All proposals are expected to incorporate mechanisms for assessing and demonstrating progress, including qualitative and quantitative KPIs, benchmarking, and progress monitoring. This should include the methodology to accompany the challenge participants to the various stages during the project and the assessment methodology during the various selection stages.
When possible, proposals should build on and reuse public results from relevant previous funded actions. Communicable results should be shared with the European R&D community through the AI-on-demand platform and, if necessary, other relevant digital resource platforms to bolster the European AI, Data, and Robotics ecosystem by disseminating results and best practices.
This topic implements the co-programmed European Partnership on AI, data, and robotics (ADRA), and all proposals are expected to allocate tasks for cohesion activities with ADRA
Proposals should also build on or seek collaboration with relevant projects and develop synergies with other relevant International, European, national, or regional initiatives.
Call Total Budget
Financing percentage by EU or other bodies / Level of Subsidy or Loan
100%
Expected contribution per project: €18.00 million.
Thematic Categories
- Industry
- Information and Communication Technologies
- Information Technology
- Processing
- Research, Technological Development and Innovation
- Small-Medium Enterprises and Competitiveness
Eligibility for Participation
- Associations
- Businesses
- Educational Institutions
- Large Enterprises
- Legal Entities
- Non Profit Organisations
- Other Beneficiaries
- Private Bodies
- Researchers/Research Centers/Institutions
- Services Providers
- Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
- State-owned Enterprises
Eligibility For Participation Notes
In order to achieve the expected outcomes, and safeguard the Union’s strategic assets, interests, autonomy, and security, it is important to avoid a situation of technological dependency on a non-EU source, in a global context that requires the EU to take action to build on its strengths, and to carefully assess and address any strategic weaknesses, vulnerabilities and high-risk dependencies which put at risk the attainment of its ambitions. For this reason, participation is limited to legal entities established in Member States, Iceland and Norway and the following additional associated countries: Canada, Israel, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. In addition, entities established in third countries which may become associated to Horizon Europe during 2026 and 2027 may be eligible to participate in this topic if the third country is identified for this topic as an eligible country in the List of Participating Countries in Horizon Europe at the time of submission of the application[[See the List of Participating Countries in Horizon Europe available at https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/common/guidance/list-3rd-country-participation_horizon-euratom_en.pdf.]]. In any case, the association agreement to the Programme must apply by the time of the signature of the grant agreement.
For the duly justified and exceptional reasons listed in the paragraph above, in order to guarantee the protection of the strategic interests of the Union and its Member States, entities established in an eligible country listed above, but which are directly or indirectly controlled by a non-eligible country or by a non-eligible country entity, may not participate in the action unless it can be demonstrated, by means of guarantees positively assessed by their eligible country of establishment, that their participation to the action would not negatively impact the Union’s strategic assets, interests, autonomy, or security. Entities assessed as high-risk suppliers of mobile network communication equipment within the meaning of ‘restrictions for the protection of European communication networks’ (or entities fully or partially owned or controlled by a high-risk supplier) cannot submit guarantees.[[ The guarantees shall in particular substantiate that, for the purpose of the action, measures are in place to ensure that: a) control over the applicant legal entity is not exercised in a manner that retrains or restricts its ability to carry out the action and to deliver results, that imposes restrictions concerning its infrastructure, facilities, assets, resources, intellectual property or know-how needed for the purpose of the action, or that undermines its capabilities and standards necessary to carry out the action; b) access by a non-eligible country or by a non-eligible country entity to sensitive information relating to the action is prevented; and the employees or other persons involved in the action have a national security clearance issued by an eligible country, where appropriate; c) ownership of the intellectual property arising from, and the results of, the action remain within the recipient during and after completion of the action, are not subject to control or restrictions by non-eligible countries or non-eligible country entity, and are not exported outside the eligible countries, nor is access to them from outside the eligible countries granted, without the approval of the eligible country in which the legal entity is established.]]
A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects.
Call Opening Date
Call Closing Date
National Contact Point(s)
Research and Innovation Foundation
29a Andrea Michalakopoulou, 1075 Nicosia,
P.B. 23422, 1683 Nicosia
Telephone: +357 22205000
Fax: +357 22205001
Email: support@research.org.cy
Website: https://www.research.org.cy/en/
Persons to Contact:
Dr Angelos Ntantos
Scientific Officer
Email: antantos@research.org.cy
Mr. George Christou
Scientific Officer
Email: gchristou@research.org.cy