Programme time: 14-Oct | 10:00 | 75 min
Room: Infante Room (Catalyst Marketplace)

Moderator: TBC
Speakers
•    Simona Aracri (National Research Council of Italy / CNR-INM)
•    Till Christopher Lech (SINTEF)
•    Dimitris Giakoumis (CERTH)

Full description and objectives

The robotics for sustainability community at European level has already identified several sustainability challenges for robotics, including circular industrial processes, repair, reuse, recycling, environmental monitoring, inspection, agriculture, resource efficiency, lifecycle assessment, and the sustainability of robotic systems themselves. This workshop takes the next step: it asks how AI and data can strengthen these robotics challenges and how the three domains can come together as concrete ADR action lines.

The session will use a challenge-to-action format. Participants will first discuss selected sustainability challenges from the robotics perspective such as circular economy, environmental monitoring, resource efficiency, lifecycle impact, recycling, inspection and sustainable production. They will then identify what AI can contribute, what data is needed, and which validation, deployment, policy, skills, or infrastructure gaps must be addressed. The outcome will be a first set of shared action goals for sustainable ADR, linking technical development with measurable environmental, social and economic value.

The objective is to create a bridge between the robotics sustainability community and the wider AI and data communities at ADRF, and to define collaboration topics that could feed into future workshops, roadmaps, funding discussions and ADRA topic group activities.

Why you want to join?

The session relates to ADRF themes by addressing sustainability as a strategic challenge that requires the convergence of robotics, AI and data. Robotics provides the physical capability to act in the real world, for example in circular industrial processes, environmental monitoring, inspection, maintenance, agriculture, recycling and resource-efficient production. AI provides the means to interpret complex situations, support decision-making, optimize actions, and adapt robotic systems to uncertain and changing environments. Data provides the evidence base for sustainability assessment, monitoring, validation, traceability, benchmarking and policy-relevant decision support. Together, they support the technology transfer and uptake required to translate groundbreaking innovations into practical solutions. At the same time, the session recognizes that AI is both an enabler of sustainability and a technology whose own environmental impacts must be addressed. The workshop will also explore approaches to Green AI and sustainable data practices, including responsible data collection, data minimization and energy-efficient computing.

The session is especially relevant to ADRF themes on ADR convergence, European resilience, industrial translation, deployment, validation and value creation. It starts from already identified sustainability challenges in robotics from previous venues such as European Robotics Forum, IEEE IROS and ICRA and now asks how AI and data can help turn these challenges into concrete action lines, technical goals, collaboration needs and measurable impact pathways for the European ADR community.

Running agenda