The European Robotics Forum in Edinburgh late March brought together over 800 people from industry, academia and government. #ERF2017 is the premier event for European Robotics, with a staggering 1M impressions on twitter.
Bernd Liepert, President of @eu_Robotics, to officially open #ERF2017 #robotics pic.twitter.com/zovHHxCDrY
— SPARC robotics (@SPARCrobotics) March 22, 2017
'The European Robotics Forum is unique in the World!' Juha Heikkilä #ERF2017 @eu_Robotics @KUKA_RoboticsEN @EU_Commission #FutureOfRobotics pic.twitter.com/kx32or1IuO
— Dominik Boesl (@NickBoesl) March 22, 2017
The public-private partnership #SPARC is highly important for keeping the EU at the cutting edge of #robotics #ERF2017
— SPARC robotics (@SPARCrobotics) March 22, 2017
The 3-day event packed its lot of talks, workshops, and panel discussions.
So much to see, meet and listen at #ERF2017 @eu_Robotics pic.twitter.com/b640q25IIK #robotics #AI and much more
— MONTAUD Andre pro (@MontaudPro) March 23, 2017
The event kicked off with a dive into deep learning and its applications in robotics with keynotes by Senior Research Scientist at DeepMind Raia Hadsell, CEO of FiveAI Stan Boland, and Member of the Scottish Parliament Keith Brown.
Keith Brown, MSP to present the Scottish perspective of #digital and #robotics #ERF2017 pic.twitter.com/HDhQNmjIbC
— euRobotics (@eu_Robotics) March 22, 2017
Great opening to #ERF2017 @eu_Robotics - interesting talks from @DeepMindAI and @_FiveAI on the future of machine learning
— Vik Khurana (@vik_khurana) March 22, 2017
#deeplearning might lead to superhuman performance by agents #erf2017 pic.twitter.com/UzMOqEzGxc
— Andrea Bertolini (@AnB_Law) March 22, 2017
#ERF2017 #superhumanAI to deliver #transportation services. The future of #mobility is a #service not a product @adiminin @RiccaboniM pic.twitter.com/EcZ7Kz4WYF
— Andrea Bertolini (@AnB_Law) March 22, 2017
The theme of the forum this year was “living and working with robots”. A theme that was tackled in nearly every session, and through dedicated events solely focussed on the legal, ethical, and societal opportunities and challenges surrounding the deployment of robots in our everyday lives.
Inspiring time at #ERF2017. Good to see growing recognition of importance of societal, ethical and legal issues in robotics
— Tony Prescott (@tonyjprescott) March 24, 2017
#ERF2017 3 Workshops on “Ethical, Legal and Socio-economic Issues in Robotics”
— Vincent C. Müller (@VincentCMueller) March 22, 2017
at the European Robotics Forum 2017 https://t.co/mMPbpQRpVR pic.twitter.com/rbhsJLySyO
#ERF2017 @alan_winfield presenting #ethicallyalligneddesign and ethical #standards for #robotics pic.twitter.com/BToyK4dYTs
— EURegulatesRobotics (@EURegRobotics) March 22, 2017
'Legislation can enable #innovation to get things done. We need to have a legal #framework that is fit for purpose' Juha Heikkilä #ERF2017
— Robohub (@Robohub) March 23, 2017
#ERF2017 @sanjadogramadzi workshop on legal issues in healthcare robotics - complex liability, human dignity quagmire pic.twitter.com/NkhNFsrwU1
— Praminda Caleb-Solly (@praminda) March 24, 2017
The forum is also the main showcase for success stories from European Projects funded under FP7 and H2020. We’ll be featuring the projects in video pitches captured at forum in an upcoming post, but in the meantime, you can read about the seven success stories here.
Cècile Huet @EU_Commission presenting new #H2020 #robotics projects in the @SPARCrobotics strategy #healthcare #ERF2017 pic.twitter.com/xwan3bd9Op
— Stefano Mazzoleni (@s_mazzoleni) March 22, 2017
In fact, the robot LINDA designed as part of the STRANDS project was roaming the exhibit floor, taking pictures of attendees.
I took a picture of this human at #ERF2017 pic.twitter.com/3xqv6KAWTj
— Linda Strands (@LindaStrands) March 24, 2017
The exhibit floor was also the main venue for networking, and featured dozens of robots from KUKA, Shadow Robotics, Softbank, Pal Robotics, Clearpath Robotics, Schunk, Tharsus, and many more.
Made some new friends at #ERF2017 this week! pic.twitter.com/x08rG6oobD
— EdinburghAmbassadors (@EdinAmbassador) March 24, 2017
Beyond the exhibit floor, networking extended to the conference dinner. True to tradition, the event featured a Bag Pipe concert at the National Museum of Scotland. In fact, the organisers of #ERF2017 opted to wear the kilt, along with the robot TIAGo from Pal Robotics.
What an evening! #ERF2017 pic.twitter.com/5PQepXumJX
— Sabine Hauert (@sabinehauert) March 23, 2017
#ERF2017 Awards Dinner. Even the robots wear kilts #tartanrobots @Lanespace pic.twitter.com/YCLGy5FI8Z
— Edinburgh Robotics (@EDINrobotics) March 23, 2017
The evening was the opportunity to hand out awards for Tech Transfer, Entrepreneurship, and for the European Robotics League.
Congrats to the Entrepreneurship Award 2017: ReHand Technologies (3rd), Haxtron (2nd), Walk to Beat (1st) #ERF2017
— euRobotics (@eu_Robotics) March 23, 2017
The winners of the TechTransfer Award 2017: ANYdrive (3rd), Hunova (2nd), Fotokite (1st) #ERF2017
— euRobotics (@eu_Robotics) March 23, 2017
Winners of #ERL Awards 2016/2017! Congratulations! #ERF2017 pic.twitter.com/s2aKu5GilV
— euRobotics (@eu_Robotics) March 23, 2017
The European Robotics Forum is organised by euRobotics under SPARC, the Public-Private partnership for Robotics in Europe. This year’s conference was hosted by the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics. And you know it was a success when Rory Cellan-Jones from BBC orders a Pint from a robot in your exhibit hall.
Robotic barman pours Rory a pint - a big cheers! From us to all who supported #ERF2017 #edinburgh @EDINrobotics https://t.co/W4HH5s5wdL
— HWUInnovation (@HWUInnovation) March 24, 2017
You can see all the pictures from the conference here.