International Robotics Students Learn About Collaborative Robots in Denmark

Fifty students from eleven different nationalities gather during the summer in the Danish city of Odense to attend an International Summer School in Robotics. Most people know this city as the birthplace of the famous writer H.C Andersen, but in recent years, Odense has put itself on the tech map for being a hotbed of robotic innovations. Thus, being a small city, Odense cannot be overlooked with their contributions to the modern robotics marketplace. During the two and a half week long summer school, the students attend a highly ambitious curriculum of academic lectures in robotics and an extracurricular program with excursions to robotic labs and test centres and visits to innovative Danish companies that have implemented advanced robotics solutions in their production. The International Robotic Summer School, is a collaboration between the University of Southern Denmark (SDU), Aalborg University (AAU), Danish Technical University (DTU), Aarhus University (AU), IT University of Denmark (ITU) and the Danish Innovation Centres in Silicon Valley, Boston, Munich, and Seoul.

Many countries invest heavily in the development of robotics technologies these years to enable future societies with driverless cars, drones, factory robotics and automated medical procedures etc. since we need robots to solve future challenges in manufacturing, agriculture, construction, green transition and the public sector. The investments are not only directed towards research and development but also towards workforce development and education since many advanced economies are experiencing a huge shortage of skilled labour and engineers. The International Elite Summer School in Robotics was created to support the development of robotics technologies and accommodate the need for a workforce in the field.

An ever-changing field
For the past ten years, the tech industry has been growing exponentially and is predicted to continue to do so, and many countries around the world including the USA and Denmark have launched national strategies for the development of robot technology to support the rapid development. The innovation centres therefore wish to give students within programming and engineering the insights of an ever-changing field full of new discovery and potential.

During two weeks in August the Danish and international students, attend lectures on subjects such as Building Collaborative Robots, Digital Twins & Simulation for Robotics Systems, Planning of Robot Motions & Behaviour Based Robotics, Robot-Vision Systems, and Human-Robot Interaction. One of the students who joined in 2022 was Jason Byun, PhD Student at University of California, Berkeley College of Engineering.