Creating Jobs for Robots

The robot agenda exposed.

"Nearly a million robots are used in major factories around the world. The EU-funded project "SMErobot" FP6 wants to give smaller and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) similar access to robotics technology."

There are an estimated 23 million SMEs in the European Union providing over 75 million jobs and accounting for 99% of all enterprises. In some sectors, such as textiles and construction, they contribute up to 80% of employment. SMEs are also considered vital to achieving the Union’s revamped Lisbon goals of more and better growth and jobs.

The EU SMErobot project aims to develop new, inexpensive versions of industrial robots especially for SME needs.

The four-year project includes leading research institutes, universities and the top five robot manufacturers in Europe.
Thanks to increased automation, robots offer a number of advantages to industry, including high throughput and speed, generally better accuracy and improved safety conditions for staff.

European community programmes - Industrail research : robots for SMEs !