Intelligent robots are one of the most interesting and promising topics of the future. In Austria, there are multiple high-quality research institutes and companies which work within this field. The European Robotics Week, which took place on the 18th to 27th November, 2016, worked towards the goal to make the performance of robotic research and industry in Europe accessible to the public. On Friday, the 25th November, 2016, Austrian research units and companies presented within the scope of the “Lange Nacht der Roboter” their impressive results and products. Together with the Faculty of Informatics of the Alpen-Adria University Klagenfurt, ROBOTICS participated under the title “Faszination Roboter - Anfassen erlaubt” and two locations in Lakeside Science & Technology Park Klagenfurt. The Open Lab @ ROBOTICS allowed the visitors to experience research up close and to get to know this young and dynamic industrial branch, which will contribute to Austria’s technical and economic success in the future.
The following event on the 29th of November, 2016 “Robotik & Prothetik” offered a proper finalization of the subject area of Robotics. The Lakeside Science & Technology Park Klagenfurt and JOANNEUM RESEARCH invited to guest lectures of Genta Kondo and Janos Kalmar. Around 60 interested listeners followed the Keynote of Japanese researcher Mr. Genta Kondo. He is the developer of the bionic hand prosthesis HACKberry, which already won multiple international prices and was listed as Honorary Mentions on this year’s ARS Electronica Festival. Furthermore, expert Janos Kalmar presented the field of prosthetics of the renowned medical-technology company Otto Bock Austria GmbH.
About European Robotics Week
The European Robotics Week (ERW) was founded in 2011 by the European Robotics Forum (ERF) on request of the European Robotics Community. The goal was to give the public an understanding of the research and development within the subject area of robotics. From then on, annual weekly events about robotics take place all around Europe. The aim of these events is to emphasize on the growing importance of robotics in multiple fields of application and the increasing importance/necessity of skills within the field of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, as well as to call the public’s attention to this development/requirement.