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Financier
CDTI
File Number: CER-20211007
Call: Accreditation and Granting of Aid to “Cervera” Technological Centers of Excellence
Partners
- TEKNIKER Foundation – TEKNIKER
- EURECAT Foundation – EURECAT
- Northwest Metallurgical Research Association – AIMEN
- CARTIF Foundation – CARTIF
- Andalusian Foundation for Aerospace Development – Advanced Center for Aerospace Technologies – FADA-CATEC
Summary
The CeRveRa Network of Robotic Technologies in Smart Manufacturing (5R) was created with the aim of eliminating the existing technological gap in the value chain at the national level, which hinders technology transfer and affects the competitiveness of the productive sector. This is because the industrial sector’s share of the Spanish economy has steadily declined in recent years, mainly due to the well-known process of relocation of production to emerging countries such as Brazil, China, and India. This situation has forced traditionally industrialized countries to define new smart manufacturing strategies to maintain or increase their competitive position.
The 5R Network’s primary purpose is a deeper objective that goes beyond promoting the development of advanced robotics technologies and functionalities for smart manufacturing: to energize and evangelize the industrial fabric, strengthen the value chain, and facilitate innovation and transfer with the aim of accelerating the deployment of proprietary solutions in the manufacturing industry. To this end, this collaborative network is being established, equipped with the technology, tools, and infrastructure necessary to act as a driving force for the development and introduction of new robotics technologies into the manufacturing industry.
The new Strategic Research, Innovation and Deployment Agenda (SRIDA) identifies three areas of interest for research, innovation and deployment in Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and Robotics, as well as five enabling technologies, as an evolution of those already defined by SPARC (Contractual Public-Private Partnership (cPPP) on robotics in Europe) in its Strategic Research Agenda (SRA).
The 5R Network selects technologies that fall into the following categories as priority lines of work, clearly aligned with the SRIDA strategy:
- Perception
- Human-robot interaction
- Cognition
During the three years of the strategic plan (2021-2023), the five centers that take part in the 5R Network will:
- Develop a plan to strengthen the scientific and technical capabilities of participating centers.
- Promote the introduction of new paradigms of flexible and collaborative robotics supported by Artificial Intelligence into the manufacturing sector.
- Increase business technology transfer and accelerate technological innovation.
Increase business technology transfer and accelerate technological innovation.
CATEC’s role in the project
The Advanced Center for Aerospace Technologies (CATEC) has a team of more than 80 highly qualified researchers with over 10 years of R&D experience in the application of robotic technologies in perception, interaction, and cognition for automated flexible manufacturing processes. CATEC boasts comprehensive facilities, including a flexible manufacturing cell with various industrial robots, as well as various machine vision heads and auxiliary equipment.
As part of the project initiative, the 5R Network will design a total of five pilot factories. CATEC will develop the Pilot Factory for interactive supervision and support of predominantly manual aerospace processes, for the validation of augmented and cognitive reality-based applications, complemented by collaborative robotics and logistical support tools. In addition, CATEC will work on:
- Actions aimed at improving the capabilities of Spanish industry in relation to robotic technologies.
- Training strategies, talent attraction, and technology development.
- Accelerate the process of transferring knowledge and technology to the industrial sector.
- Dissemination activities.