The Simbiots project, led by the Instituto de Robótica e Informática Industrial (IRI), a joint centre of the CSIC and the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, aims to integrate robotics in workplaces and create collaborative environments with the workers. Scientists seek to improve working conditions and productivity.

Robot clamp. Photograph by Anaís Morales CampoyImplantation of industrial robots in work environments meant the substitution of mechanical work. Machines are located in closed environments, separated from people, and are dedicated to one single task.

The Simbiots initiative explores how to transform robots into transition-devices able to work together with people, so that both the space and the task are shared between them. Human-robot collaboration, without physical barriers and working towards the same goal, would provide more intelligence to the environment and enhance productivity.

Simbiots seeks that both the space and the task are shared between human and robots

Another goal of the research is to develop robots easy to program, so that a worker can modify them without specialised knowledge.

RIS3CAT Project of the Future Industries Community

Simbiots, a RIS3CAT projectSimbiots is a project framed in the 2016 RIS3CAT call, the Research and Innovation Strategy for the Smart Specialisation of Catalonia, as a requirement of the European Commission and financed by the Generalitat de Catalunya with ESI funds (European Regional Development Fund).

Guillem Alenyà is the Principal Investigator of the project, directed by IRI (joint centre of the CSIC and UPC), where the EURECAT technology centre and the companies PAL Robotics, ZANINI Parets and PROMAUT also participate.

Other RIS3CAT projects:

• PLASTFUN
• IMAQUA
• NANONAFRES
• 3DBONT