Safety, Security and Performance in Robotics - A workshop led by the European Commission

by Alias Robotics

Alias Robotics will participate as guest speaker in a workshop about what's needed for the safety validation of cobots that is led by the European Commission and members of the AI Data Robotics Partnership EU. This includes the Big Data Value Association (BDVA), the European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELLIS), the European Robotics Association (euRobotics), the Confederation of Laboratories for Artificial Intelligence Research in Europe (CLAIRE), and the European Association for Artificial Intelligence (EurAI).

The workshop will focus on the the topics around standardization, safety, security and regulation. The discussion seeks to provide insights to the European Commission and a perspective on the current state-of-the-art and what’s needed for the safety validation of collaborative robotics systems.

Join the discussion the 9th of February 2022 at 10:00 CET using the following link: Microsoft Teams meeting link.

Motivation

The current situation whereby robot manufacturers can declare their robots as incomplete machines will be changed in the upcoming European Machinery Regulation. In the new situation, robot manufacturers will be required to provide more evidence that the safety of their product has been validated. As this could be an unsurmountable barrier for the EU’s scene of robotics manufacturers (which consists mostly of SMEs), the EC is interested in knowing what kind of research is needed in order to provide more guidance and support to the SME robotics manufacturers on how to validate their robot systems and better design their funding programmes around these real needs. This includes evaluations of cybersecurity aspects (cyberthreats should be considered as foreseeable misuse within the risk analysis), what physical dimensions to measure, when a measurement is meaningful, and how to execute it.

Agenda

  • Mikhail Simonov (European Commission)- 20 minutes – Introduction to upcoming changes and motivation for workshop
  • Jan Veneman (Hocoma AG) - small company healthcare perspective with Medical Device Regulations (MDR) - experiences from a robotic company - 10 min
  • José Saenz and Roland Behrens (Fraunhofer IFF) – current status on Validation measurements and outlook on needs - 10 minutes
  • Rigo Wenning (ERCIM) - Data perspective on robotics validation testing - 10 min
  • Keshav Chintamani (Tractonomy) - SME robotics manufacturer from industrial domain using ROS – needs and challenges for safety validation - 10 minutes
  • Victor Mayoral-Vilches (Alias Robotics) - Cybersecurity challenges for robotics - DDS and ROS2 status – 10 min
  • John Clark (Univ. of Sheffield) - Cybersecurity challenges and needs for robotics - 10 minutes
  • Discussion (30-40 min) – where are individual challenges, what’s available, what needs to be funded / to be done?

About the AI Data Robotics Partnership EU

The AI, Data and Robotics Partnership is one of the European Partnerships in digital, industry and space in Horizon Europe. To deliver the greatest benefit to Europe from AI, Data and Robotics, this Partnership will drive innovation, acceptance and uptake of these technologies.

The Partnership will boost new markets, applications and attract investment, to create technical, economic and societal value for business, citizens and the environment. By 2030, European sovereignty is expected in the development and deployment of trustworthy, safe and robust AI, Data and Robotics, compatible with EU values and regulations.

About Alias Robotics

Founded in 2018 by Víctor Mayoral-Vilches, Alias Robotics is an international leader in robotic cybersecurity solutions including its robot cybersecurity services, as well as its Robot Immune System (RIS), a cybersecurity product that’s incorporated into robots to protect them against cyber-attacks from the inside, as it evolves and adapts like the human immune system.

Born in Europe and headquarted in Vitoria-Gasteiz (Euskadi, Spain), the team behind Alias is made up of renowned robotics engineers, scientists and security researchers. Its customers include large automation companies, government institutions and large industrial robot users.