Factory in a Day
From kilts to clogs, TIAGo certainly seems to be living it large in 2017! We had a great time at RoboBusiness (thank you RoboValley for the kind invitation), and we’re very excited to see what lies in store over the coming months and years for the newly merged RoboBusiness and TUS Expo.
TIAGo wasted no time collecting Factory in a Day’s lego bag and proudly parading it around the RoboBusiness conference hall! A lively lego competition later ensued in the PAL Robotics office (winners still to be announced).
Part funded by 
the EU, Factory in a Day aims to improve the competitiveness of European manufacturing SMEs by removing the primary obstacle for robot automation: installation time and cost. The project, which finishes in September 2017, has been making huge strides towards its aim of reducing system integration time to just one day over the last four years, and we are proud to be a partner.
Robotics and healthcare
Robotics is starting to play an increasingly important role in the healthcare industry, and several of the European projects we’re involved in are rooted in healthcare.
EnrichMe is hoping to improve the quality of life for older people by means of technologies that enable independent health monitoring, complementary care and social support.
GrowmeUp is looking at ways to provide an affordable robotic system that can learn older peoples’ needs and habits over time – as their abilities and capabilities degenerate – so they’re able to maintain active, independent lives for longer.
Our CEO, Francesco Ferro, spoke in a panel on the subject with some of the most prominent roboticists in Europe: Maja Rudinac from Robotic Care Systems, Joris Jaspers from UMC Utrecht, Ivo Broeders from the Meander Medical Centrum at the University of Twente and Marcelo Ang, National University of Singapore. The discussion was well attended and thought provoking.
Making new friends (and catching up with old ones)
TIAGo never fails to make new friends at events, and RoboBusiness could well be the robot’s new personal record.
First up was local Dutch politician Thierry Baudet. Newly elected to the House of Representatives in The Hague, Baudet took a brief break from political duties to visit RoboBusiness – and particularly enjoyed learning about our robots’ capabilities and potential use cases. (Photo: Hucopix.com)
Although TIAGo managed to acquire lego from Factory in a Day and even persuaded the nice humans at Droneland to practice their drone landing skills, the robot was unable to convince Tesla to lend PAL Robotics a new car – not even for a test drive around the World Forum conference centre!
We also bu
mped into old friends Harmonic Drive, manufacturers of robotic reducers, who we’ve collaborated with over the years to make some of the most advanced robotic arms in the world (including TIAGo’s!).
All in all, it was another great event for TIAGo and the PAL team. Thank you to everyone who came to visit our stand, and particularly to RoboValley for hosting us.
Next stop: Singapore.
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