Importance of Industry-Academia Collaboration in Robotics for Modern Education, Research and Industry

10th International Scientific Conference Technics, Informatics and Education – TIE 2024 , str. 3-9

АУТОР(И) / AUTHOR(S): Kosta Jovanović , Nikola Knežević , Zaviša Gordić

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DOI: 10.46793/TIE24.003J

САЖЕТАК /ABSTRACT:

What were software and computers in the nineties, today are artificial intelligence and robots. Therefore, the quick and efficient adoption of robotic technologies in education, research, and industry can leapfrog the current technological and societal level to an advanced and modern one. To that end, a structured collaboration of academia and industry is essential. Collaborative robots entered the market as inherently safe, user-friendly, easy to program, and, as such, the fastest-growing robotics segment. Such features create new opportunities to make robotics technologies more affordable, accessible, and more appropriate for small and medium companies, new applications, businesses and education. This paper demonstrates an example of the University of Belgrade – School of Electrical Engineering collaboration with industry in robotics and the impact such collaboration makes on education, research, and industry. The collaborative activities include setting up join robotic system testbeds, creating open educational materials, organizing student competitions for a broader understanding of robotic applications and capabilities, providing real industrial needs, real data, and field testing for competitive and impactful research actions, conducting return of investment and proof of concept services for the industry. The role model shows the impact of academia-industry collaboration on creating new opportunities for talents in academia and industry.

КЉУЧНЕ РЕЧИ / KEYWORDS: 

industry-academia collaboration; robotics; robotics education; robotics research; collaborative robots

ПРОЈЕКАТ / ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

This research was partly supported by the Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia, Modular and Versatile Collaborative Intelligent Waste Management Robotic System for Circular Economy — CircuBot, under Grant 6784. Some of the presented results receive funding from the European Commission, project a human-centered factory for a future technological sustainable development driven by arts — MUSAE, Grant 101070421, and project Bringing Artificial Intelligence towards SMEs —BrAIn.

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