ESMERA open call
The EU-funded robotics project ESMERA (European SMEs Robotics Applications) has opened its second open call. Under the call, industrial end users have defined specific challenges to be solved by introducing a robotics solution. The challenges are in the areas of Manufacturing, Energy, Construction, Agriculture, Food Processing, Retail, Healthcare and Emergency Response. European SMEs have until December 2nd to apply to solve one or more of these challenges by developing a robotics application and receive funding of up to €200,000.
SMEs can propose a project or experiment on their own or form a small consortium, teaming up with R&D organisations or other companies that can supplement their activities. ESMERA asks for proposals that aim to develop innovative robotic technologies. Such technologies may involve but are not limited to, fully/nearly autonomous robots or human-robot collaboration applications and must be demonstrable in real-world scenarios.
ESMERA offers direct financial support to solution-providing SMEs, through a cascade funding mechanism. On top, the core ESMERA partners will provide the beneficiaries with an environment for developing, evaluating, testing and demonstrating novel robotic technologies, alongside non-technical mentoring and support.
The solution design and evaluation will be carried out in two competitive phases. In phase I, the best experiments need to prove their concept. Phase II provides the winners with Industrial Leadership and Business Support. The ESMERA core partners will help the winners on their path from idea to a final product ready to go to market. Phase I offers funding of up to €75,000. Phase II offers €125,000 per experiment.7
About ESMERA
Within the European Commission´s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, ESMERA aims to boost robotics innovation by European Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs). In January 2018, the European Commission launched the ESMERA project to unlock the innovation potential of robotics SMEs. ESMERA promotes applied robotics technology developed for industrial challenges set by key European companies. Thereby the SMEs get a chance to implement, apply and prove new technologies that address real-life problems and thus already have a market.
For more information please visit www.esmera-project.eu.
The ESMERA consortium consists of:
- Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems and Automation (LMS) at the University of Patras (Project Coordinator)
- Commissarat à l´Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives (CEA)
- Technische Universität München (TUM)
- Fundación TEKNIKER (IK4-TEKNIKER)
- Blue Ocean Robotics
- COMAU
- R.U. Robots
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