ERW2016 is expected to attract over 700 events all across Europe and beyond. It is organised by euRobotics and the EU-funded project RockEU2.
This year the central event takes place in Amsterdam under the theme is "Robots at your Service" with focus on assistive living technologies and healthy ageing as well as girls and women in technology. There will be a 48-hour hackathon where children and teenagers get a chance to experiment and interact with new technologies, such as 3D printing and virtual reality. The Amsterdam event also features public talks where the keynote speakers include Juha Heikkila of the European Commission's Robotics & AI unit, Member of the European Parliament Mady Delvaux-Stehres, Dr. Bernd Liepert, Chief Innovation Officer at KUKA AG and Aimee van Wynsberghe of University of Twente, as well as a number of dignitaries from The Netherlands.
Many EU funded projects will show their robots during the week. RockEU2 is holding the local robotics tournament under the European Robotics League at Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences in Germany.
Schools all over Europe introduce and inspire children to STEAM-subjects and many carry on working with robots and coding after the ERW is over. STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics, but is much more than that. STEAM also includes many other professions such as psychologist, lawyers and economists, all of which are vital for robotics innovation.