European cool robots

The EU Robotics Week 2013 has just started!

The European Commission funds over 100 collaborative projects under the 7th Framework Programme on advanced research into robots. The projects aim at helping robots better understand the world around them through sensing, perception, understanding, reasoning and action.

Here are some examples of the best EU-funded Robotics projects:

•   RoboHow – Can a robot learn to make pancakes on its own? The project enables robots to learn on their own how to carry out tasks in human working and living environments by finding instructions online or by observing humans doing them. The goal is to develop robots that can help people in everyday activities, as well as to find out to what extent a robot can learn by itself. 

•   RADHAR – Self-Driving. Driving a wheelchair can be difficult and very tiring. As a result, the user may over-steer the wheelchair or not have enough strength to steer it. The RADHAR (Robotic ADaptation to Humans Adapting to Robots) project has developed an intelligent wheelchair that enables people with cognitive or physical challenges to independently drive around in an everyday-life environment.

•   Stiff-Flop - A Surgical Robot based on an Elephant's Trunk. This robotic arm could be used in keyhole surgery, as it is able to adjust its texture and stiffness to organs inside the human body; it can soften to get through narrow passages and then stiffen again when needed avoiding damage to soft tissue.

•   STRANDS - The Last Robot Standing Wins! STRANDS is an EU-funded project enabling robots to achieve robust and intelligent behaviour in human environments.

•   ROBOFOOT – Robots bring manufacturing back to Europe. The industry for hand-made fashion shoes is one of the important industries in Europe, which faced intense competition from low-cost countries. The EU-funded ROBOFOOT project showed that robots can also be introduced in traditional footwear industry, maintaining most of the current production facilities and help Europe's footwear industry.

I'll end with a quote from Emil Cioran: "Man is a robot with defects."

An Open, Safe and Secure European Cyberspace

The European Union is committed to assure that the European  fundamental rights, democracy and the rule of law are protected in cyberspace. This is why the European Commission, together with the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, has published a cyber security strategy alongside a Commission proposed directive on network and information security (NIS).

 

The strategy articulates the EU's vision of cyber-security in terms of five priorities:

• Achieving cyber resilience
• Drastically reducing cybercrime
• Developing cyber defence policy and capabilities related to the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP)
• Developing the industrial and technological resources for cyber-security
• Establishing a coherent international cyberspace policy for the European Union and promoting core EU values

Find out more on European Cyber Security Strategy.

 

some cyber security statistics:

an estimated 150,000 computer viruses in circulation every day,

148,000 computers compromised daily,

56.8% of respondents had experienced over the past year NIS incidents with a serious impact on their activities,

12% have already experienced online fraud and 89% avoid disclosing personal information,

 while only 26% of enterprises in the EU had a formally defined ICT security policy.