The Australian Research Council (ARC) Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr Richard Johnson, officially launched the ARC Training Centre for Collaborative Robotics in Advanced Manufacturing (Australian Cobotics Centre) in Brisbane yesterday.
Led by the Queensland University of Technology, the Australian Cobotics Centre is working closely with Australian businesses to shape the innovative use of collaborative robots, or 'cobotics', to combine the strengths of humans and robots in shared work environments.
The ARC awarded Queensland University of Technology around $5 million over 5 years for the Australian Cobotics Centre in the 2020 round of the ARC Industrial Transformation Research Program. The Centre is further supported by $2.73 million in funding from participating universities and partner organisations and $6.8 million in in-kind support.
In officially launching the initiative, Dr Johnson highlighted the capacity of well-designed initiatives that bring university researchers and manufacturing businesses together to boost Australia's competitiveness in advanced manufacturing.
ARC Industrial Transformation Training Centres support collaboration between Australia's most innovative researchers and industries creating the workforce of the future that will seamlessly transition between industry and the research institutions.
"This training centre, which is focused on the practical application of robotics within manufacturing, has created a structured, intergenerational research and translation environment, where new and emerging researchers work with highly experienced researchers, and they do so side-by-side with Australian manufacturers who bring practical business needs and opportunities," Dr Johnson said.
In this collaboration, the Queensland University of Technology has partnered with the University of Technology, University of Sydney, the Technical University of Dortmund, and 6 industry partners.
