EARASHI Open Call results: 10 projects receive a total of 2 million euros for their digital innovation ambitions

The HORIZON Europe project “Embodied AI/Robotics Applications for a safe, human-oriented industry” announces the results of its two open calls for applications: 10 projects among the 92 eligible proposals will receive a total of 2 M€ to develop their innovative solution to support the industry in the uptake of advanced digital eco-responsible technologies (in particular AI, Data and Robotics) for supporting the workers in their daily activities and improve their working conditions (safety, health and well-being) leading to a productivity increase, fostering the adoption of a worker-centric approach by considering worker well-being and health at work (e.g. MSD and stress), design thinking methodology of production machines and worker acceptance and Ethics.

Through its efforts to engage European start-ups and SMES in its innovation programme, EARASHI is pleased to announce the results of its two open calls run on February 15 and September 29, 2024, respectively.

Out of the 96 eligible proposals, 10 were selected involving 13 companies as some proposals involve more than one company (SINGLE=1 company, TWIN= 2 companies, TRIPLE= 3 companies, see fig.1). The applicants come from 18 countries, 7 of them being Widening countries or Associated Countries with equivalent characteristics in terms of R&I performance, as illustrated in Fig. 2.

The applicants are Start-ups or SMES (open call request to be funded) with a fair distribution among Start-ups (less than 10 employees with more than 2 full time equivalent staff), small and medium size SMEs (e.g. 1-10 employees and 11-50 employees resp.). Mid-cap could join proposal but without any fund. Not surpringly considering the open call scope, nearly half of the companies are Industry 4.0 oriented (44%), followed by the Manufacturing and IT & telecom application domains.

EARASHI is designed to support the uptake of advanced digital-eco responsible technologies (AI, Data and Robotics) for supporting the workers in their daily activities and improve their working conditions, fostering the adoption of a worker-centric approach by considering worker well-being and health at work (e.g. MSD and stress), design thinking methodology of production machines and worker acceptance and Ethics. Over the 2 open calls, EARASHI supports 10 projects, fostering alliances between the 13 granted SMEs and the EARASHI consortium through cross-border collaborations and aims at providing answers to a broad variety of challenges such as Robotic assistance to tenuous tasks (e.g. repetitive task, heavy duty, assembly workcell), assistance for more sustainability (e.g. recycling goods, electronics, batteries), digitalization towards industry 5.0 (e.g. optimization of intra-factory logistics, enhanced digital planning, AI & Human supervisor collaboration), worker stress monitoring and assistance, etc. to support the workers in their daily activities and improve their working conditions.

The 10 granted projects through EARASHI open calls are listed in the Table 1. The building Block refers to the BB portfolio and the challenges are described in the challenge brochure.

Table 1 – EARASHI, granted projects through the 2 open calls

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