Happy holidays and a happy new year!

Dear friends and fellows of ECHORD++,

2016 has been a very busy but also very successful year for our project. 16 new experiments have joined the consortium, developing exciting robotic solutions for use-cases in agriculture, rehabilitation, industry, logistics and more. The 15 experiments selected from the first call have already finished their work within ECHORD++, with their clear commitment to ECHORD++’s mission to bring robotics technology from lab to market they were able to produce amazing results.

After six months of system designing, phase 1 of PDTI ended in July of this year. Due to the competitiveness of the PDTI scheme, only two out of the three consortia per scenario could qualify for another twelve months of funded prototyping. We would like to congratulate ASSESSTRONIC and CLARC for their great job on their solution for Robotics for Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA) in the healthcare scenario and ARSI and SIAR for their outstanding performances on Robots for the Inspection and Clearance of the Sewer Network in Cities.

The RIFs have continued to offer access to high-tech robotic equipment and expertise at zero risk for their users. Field tests of experiments and projects with external partners again showed the need for institutions which are at the heart of the innovation process and which are building bridges between researchers, integrators and end users. One of this year’s highlights certainly was the production of virtual reality tours of the RIFs in Bristol and Pisa-Peccioli. A tour through the facility in Paris-Saclay will follow in January 2017.

At several trade fairs, scientific conferences and other events, visitors had the opportunity to experience the enormous versatility of present-day robots funded under the umbrella of ECHORD++. Probably the most important event in 2016 was AUTOMATICA in Munich, where we showcased seven experiments to thousands of visitors at the ECHORD++ booth and hosted around 100 guests at the ECHORD++ best picture award ceremony.

We are already excited to continue our work in 2017 and hope you will stay in touch with us also next year.

Happy holidays and a happy new year 2017 from the ECHORD++ teams in Barcelona, Bristol, Manchester, München, Odense, Paris and Peccioli!