The National Centre of Robotics (NCR) is a non-profit organization founded in 2014 at the Slovak University of Technology. It currently focuses on industrial robotics, including collaborative applications, mobile robotics, flying and walking robotic systems, as well as sensor-specific applications such as bin picking. In our ecosystem, we have managed to build many joint laboratories with private companies that deal with these topics. The staff of the National Robotics Center brings together robotics experts from all over Slovakia.
NCR is on the map of European innovative hubs for topics such as robotics, agile manufacturing or IoT manufacturing solutions. At the beginning of 2020, NCR was accepted into the largest professional robotics organization in the EU – euRobotics. NCR members fully cooperate at the international level with renowned research and development organizations such as VTT (Finland), RISE (Sweden), SUPSI (Switzerland), BUT and CTU (Czech Republic), Joanneum Research and LCM (Austria), the University of Ferrara and Prisma Lab (Italy), and with many other universities, development centers or innovation hubs.
Our key activity is to build well-equipped laboratories for robotics research. We have established laboratories for research in the field of industrial robotics, which is equipped with several global robotic brands such as KUKA, ABB, Yaskawa, SCHUNK, Mitsubishi and others. The second laboratory is specific for mobile robotics and is equipped with a test ground for mobile robots. We also have unique robotic concepts created in Slovakia for indoor or outdoor environments. The remaining laboratories were created in collaboration with Photoneo (bin picking applications), Airvolute (flying robotic systems), Matador Group (industrial robotics applications) and Panza Robotics (walking robotic systems).
We consider IZVAR, SAHARRA and UAVLIFE to be the most important projects currently being solved. The IZVAR project deals with a robotized workplace that is able to weld highly variable low-volume production. The robots are able to adapt to changing production and, based on inputs and sensors, perform production at the level of a human worker – welder.
The SAHARRA project and its solution is so far the greatest success of NCR members. With the project, we reached the finals of the Kuka Innovation Awards 2020 competition, where we were among the five finalists from all over the world. The project is focused on a collaborative workplace of an epilation robot that can perform epilation on the human body automatically. The UAVLIFE project is focused on the automated flight of a swarm of flying robots and the transfer of biological samples or other materials in crisis situations, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
NCR’s vision is to build a top technological workplace in the field of robotics and related disciplines, to establish itself on the international robotics scene, to build a good reputation and awareness of Slovak robotics abroad, to support students in creating robotic applications and to support the use of robotics for the benefit of society as a whole in Slovakia.
