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Introduction
In June 2014, the European Commission's (EC) Vice President Neelie Kroesa announced a new 3 billion research and innovation programme, which promises to be the largest ever civil-funded robotics project in the world. The Partnership for Robotics in Europe (SPARC) project will cover all manner of non-military applications and with the recent announcement of further funding for the US National Robotics Initiative and South Korea and Japan both investing heavily in the technology, the European commitment is particularly timely. However, the European Union (EU) notes that the growing use of robots raises many ethical, legal and societal issues, and a recent pan-European survey revealed that around 70 per cent of Europeans are concerned that robots will take people's jobs, and the vast majority believe that they should be banned from caring for the elderly or children. This article examines Europe's position within the global robotics industry, describes the SPARC project and discusses the finding of the European "Public Attitudes towards Robots" survey.
The European position
Europe has a strong position in robotics in terms of applications, manufacturers and research and Figure 1 shows the location of many of the 182 members of the euRobotics Association Internationale Sans But Lucratif (AISBL) consortium (see below). The EU presently has a 32 per cent share of the global industrial robot market and around 63 per cent of the professional service sector. Leading European manufacturers include Kuka, Schunk, ABB and Staubli, together with perhaps 100 or so smaller companies, many of which have significant positions within specific market sectors or particular technological strengths. In terms of use, Germany is the leading nation, with around 40 per cent of the European installed base, followed by Italy, Sweden and Finland, with the automotive sector being by far the largest consumer. Europe has notable strengths in research, with many universities and other centres offering expertise in fields such as co-operative robots, ambient intelligence, speech- and haptics-based human-machine interfaces, actuation, grippers and dexterous hands, locomotion, navigation and collision avoidance, sensing and imaging, kinematics, biomimetics and cybernetics.
In a highly competitive, global environment, Europe is not only facing pressures from low-wage economies (e.g. China and India) but also from technologically advanced nations such as Japan and the USA, and as the decades progress,...