Russia to give robotic technologies a boost

Even for someone who has not been following developments too closely over the past 4 years, it’s clear that momentum is building to make robotics an integral component of STEM work in Russia. A recent message from the Education and Science Minister that “robotics should be made part of Russia’s educational curriculum” certainly brings the point home.

Sochi hosted the World Robot Olympiad in 2014 and since then robotics-dedicated Olympiads, competitions and eye-catching ‘Robot Ball’ shows have mushroomed across the country, gathering big audiences and claiming attention of the national media. The Skolkovo innovation cluster has received generous funding for a robotics centre and its recently announced plans to set up a testing ground for autonomous vehicles show that Skolkovo tries to keep pace.

Russia has quite a few gems among its commercial projects in robotics. A project by Skolkovo resident’s, Lexy, that I saw presented at this year’s Skolkovo Start-up Village event, made it to the final 100 of the Hello Tomorrow Challenge prize. Marketed as emotional artificial intelligence, this project, along with numerous others, are exciting but it does not address the pressing needs in some of Russia’s crucial sectors such as space, sport and medicine where more sophisticated purpose-made robots for surgery are being purchased abroad.

Developments suggest the Russian Government has come to recognise the need to invest in Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS) but experts in Russia remain concerned about what they call the unsystematic nature of robotics development and lack of a unified state-driven country-wide action programme. Whilst there have always been robotics centres of excellence e.g. Moscow’s Bauman University and the Research Institute of Robotics at the South Federal University, they do not quite fit together into any comprehensive national strategy. A collaborated approach is vital, which is why earlier this year the British Government supported the launch of The EPSRC UK Robotics and Autonomous Systems Network (UK-RAS Network). The networking will bring together the UK’s core academic capabilities in robotics innovation under national coordination and encourage academic and industry collaborations.

In addition, from my experience, the people behind some of the Russian robotic technologies I spot at public events often have no clear idea as to how their inventions can be applied on the national scale and therefore fail to raise vital capital funding at the increasingly popular “pitch” sessions that take place at innovation events.

However, things are changing and over the next few years we will probably witness a push towards upgrading robotics educational programmes and ensuring wider application of technologies in priority areas. In this respect, Russia’s space sector is likely to be setting trends and channelling research in robotics in the right direction. Talk of new Lunar programmes, exploration of Mars and Russia’s deep-space exploration ambitions means relevant technological backing and robotics will be in high demand. For example, Russia’s space state corporation Roscosmos and the Russian Academy of Sciences are mulling over a joint £25Mln plan to develop space robots to assist cosmonauts during their spacewalks.

Socially important strands are likely to follow suit or even develop simultaneously, as robotic technologies for space may enjoy wider application, fundamentally changing the lives of people with disabilities. Russia has some excellent companies in the area of bio-electronic prosthetics, and following the example of London 2012, the Sochi 2014 Winter Paralympics brought into the spotlight both Russian people with disabilities and the issues they are grappling with on a daily basis. Next year, Motorica, a Russian company working in robotics, hopes to sell prosthetic arms with 3-D printed elements for around £2,000. The production of low cost prosthetics is currently a hot topic – a bionics company is the UK national winner for the 2015 James Dyson Award. It’s therefore fantastic news that Russian inventors are contributing to this important area of work which will hopefully revolutionise how amputees can access life changing prosthetics.