The Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi (IIIT-Delhi) will now be leading the project IRAS-HUB, funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union (EU), adding an enchanting feathering cap to its name. The project is mostly aimed at addressing the lack of skilled talent in robotics technology in India. For overcoming the scarcity of skilled talent in robotics technology in India, the project IRAS-HUB will establish three hubs in Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS) in India. The hubs will get equipped with prototyping equipment and robotics software and will train researchers from Indian Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in RAS with reputable researchers and experts from EU HEIs.

“Robotics can offer numerous opportunities to a wide range of market domains in a developing country like India, such as manufacturing, agriculture, transport and logistics, and space exploration. However, the use of robotics in India has been mainly challenged by the high cost of adoption, lack of accessibility, and the lack of skilled talent in robotics technology," noted Professor Jainendra Shukla, Assistant Professor (CSE, HCD) IIIT-Delhi, adding, "Leading the Indo-EU collaboration for capacity building in Robotics, IIT-Delhi commits towards bringing in transformational changes in the domain, which will aide towards the overall technological advancement in the country.” 

The EU has sanctioned funding of 800,000 euros for three years, involving ten partners from 5 different countries, including four HEIs from India. As the lead institute, IIIT-Delhi will collaborate with other partners to achieve the goals; the partner's organisations are: 

1. International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad, India 

2. Indian Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad, India 

3. Universita Degli Studi Di Genova, Italy 

4. Politechnika Warszawska, Poland 

5. Universitat Rovira I Virgili, Spain 

6. Creative Thinking Development, Greece 

7. Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, India 

8. Addverb Technologies, India 

9. Polytechneio Kritis, Greece 

“The aim of this project is the development of robotics technology for problem-solving in diverse sectors of India, such as agriculture and transportation. Through this, we will also be promoting competencies and capacity building, and providing training to nurture innovation, start-ups, and aspiring entrepreneurs in robotics,” stated Professor Shukla. 

Indo-EU partnership will be helping the internationalisation and modernisation of Indian HEIs by connecting them with global initiatives in robotics education. The institutes in India will also develop courses in robotics at the level of UG and PG and continue learning about working professionals. This will enable knowledge generation in robotics technology through basic and applied research.