Smart Mechatronics And RoboTics (SMART) Research Group

🤖 European Robotics Forum 2026, a vibrant beacon of hope 🤖 . . Last week, Smart Mechatronics And RoboTics (SMART) Research Group traveled to Stavanger (Norway 🇳🇴) for the European robotics event of the year: the European Robotics Forum. The wide range of setups brought in and the team of passionate SMART colleagues demonstrated the impact and importance of the applied sciences we practice at Saxion University of Applied Sciences! From flying with drones to dancing with our latest robotic colleague, this was and is #LivingTechnology at its finest 🦾 While many report on rapid robotic development in the USA and China, robotization initiatives in Europe should not be overlooked. Great progress is being made, as shown by the setups from fellow exhibitors. This is what makes the European Robotics Forum a beacon of hope for European manufacturing. The advancements are available locally, increasingly affordable, and ready to implement 🛠️ At the same time, many questions remain about the implementation of the latest robotics technologies in manufacturing, especially from a human capital perspective. Questions such as 'how to structurally and effectively involve workers in (re)design activities', 'how to organize productive, attractive and safe human-robot interactions', and 'how to turn resistance into acceptance and trust', are given honest room in the program. It was great to have contributed to two workshops on human-centered robotics: * Human-centric robotics implementation and collaboration in practice: tools, methods and best practices from industry (Anne de Vries, Wietse van Dijk, Ecaterina Ermurachi, Veronika Bak, Vladimer Kobayashi, PhD, Abeje Y. Mersha (አበጀ የኔሁን መርሻ)) * Human-centric robotics in Industry 5.0: designing for trust, human oversight, safety, and acceptance (Agata Suwała CEng MBA MSc, Gabriele Marchello, Shirley Elprama, Clara Wiederschwinger-Fischer, Cecilia Scoccia, Alberto Landini, Elodie Hüsing, Abeje Y. Mersha (አበጀ የኔሁን መርሻ)) Looking back, it was a very successful week full of sharing, (re)connecting, and teambuilding. Want to know more? Get in touch by sending a DM or leave a comment below! #ERF2026 #Saxion #SMARTies #Norway #Stavanger #Robotics #FutureofWork #Industry5_0 #Tech #LivingTechnology #Employability #SmartIndustry #Humanoid #Drone #AppliedSciences #Netherlands

Couldn’t stop laughing ;-) Smart Mechatronics And RoboTics (SMART) Research Group at Saxion University of Applied Sciences Rahul M R, Ph.D, Amin Zaami , Jason Buitenhuis

🚨 𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆: 𝐀𝐈-𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐫. In response to the ever-changing landscape of Higher Education, the SMART Mechatronics and Robotics Research Group has taken a bold step: We didn’t just study AI and robotics… We applied it to ourselves. Today, we welcome a new colleague: 𝐌𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐀𝐘𝐌 — 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐈 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐌𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐫. As of now, Abeje has transferred a significant portion of his responsibilities to AYM. Is this fully aligned with all ethical guidelines? 𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒚. Is it technically possible? 𝑨𝒃𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚. 💬 “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. If you want to explore the unknown… automate your job.” Over the years, our systems (LASS-e, LUCi, AI servers, and projects) have been quietly generating data. Enough data, apparently… to train a professor. Now combined with a humanoid robot and access to internal knowledge systems, AYM is ready to: ✔ Attend all meetings ✔ Make data-driven decisions ✔ Instantly adapt to partner requirements No coffee breaks required. Abeje comments: “𝘍𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦. 𝘐 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴… 𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺.” ⚠️ 𝘙𝘪𝘴𝘬𝘴? “𝘖𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦. 𝘏𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘶𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘴. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘳… 𝘐 𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘵𝘰𝘰.” ⚙️ Technical details (for the curious): AYM is trained on: * Confluence * Saxion Research Drive * SharePoint …and a mysterious collection of files from researchers’ laptops 👀 Decisions are guided by Power BI and AFAS — so yes, even the AI must respect budgets. 📩 Want to contact AYM? Just message Abeje. Chances are… you’ll be talking to AYM. 🤖 Disclaimer: This post was co-written by ChatGPT, Copilot, and possibly AYM itself on April 1st. Abeje Y. Mersha (አበጀ የኔሁን መርሻ) | Smart Mechatronics And RoboTics (SMART) Research Group

To cap off our stay in #Stavanger during European Robotics Forum 2026, we visited ABB Norway last Friday, and what a great experience it was. This ABB unit specializes in advanced painting technologies, mainly for the automotive industry, and getting a behind-the-scenes look was impressive. One of the highlights was seeing one of the earliest modern painting robotic arms, built mainly with analog equipment. We got a detailed walkthrough of how it operated, and it is remarkable to see how this kind of early innovation seems to have shaped many of today’s techniques, including #imitationlearning. We were also given an exclusive tour of their R&D department, where they are working on the latest cutting-edge painting technologies, with a strong focus on #digitaltwins, #safety, and more. We also got a live demo of their #pixelpainting Seeing that level of innovation up close was very inspiring. Many thanks to Morten Mossige and his team for the warm welcome and an unforgettable tour! Gabor Sziebig, Ahmed Nabil Belbachir, Inge Rehorst, Reinhard Lafrenz

We recently had the pleasure of hosting two exchange students from #Egypt over the past two months, and it has been an enriching experience for everyone involved. During their stay, they took on hands-on engineering challenges with great potential impact: Samaa El-rouby focused on characterizing the aerodynamic influence of coaxial rotor configuration on thrust generation. Using our thrust stands, she conducted experiments, collected data, and contributed to the development of a thrust model that accounts for configuration and direction of rotation. This work will also support future studies on proximity effects. Youssef Elgamal worked on gaining a better understanding of recoil forces in the #IFFSDrone to improve firefighting applications. His work involved designing and executing experiments with a water cannon system, generating data for more competent dynamic modeling of recoil behavior. Despite the short duration and the challenge of adapting to a new environment, both students demonstrated a strong ability to combine theoretical analysis with practical experimentation, and to translate results into insights. This exchange has been just as valuable for our team as it has been for them. A special thanks to Waseem EL Sayed for initiating this through the Erasmus+ program, and to Youssef AbouDorra for providing tailored supervision and coaching to the students throughout their stay. Wishing you both all the best in your future endeavors, and we hope to see you again soon! Smart Mechatronics And RoboTics (SMART) Research Group at Saxion University of Applied Sciences

Yet another productive workshop with Milan Wolffgramm, PhD at European Robotics Forum 2026! During the “𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻‐𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰 𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝟱.𝟬: 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁, 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁, 𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲𝘁𝘆, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲” workshop, the main message was that the future is not robots vs humans….. it is robots with humans. We explored some fundamental questions around human–cobot collaboration: what real use cases look like today, why trust is becoming a critical factor, how we design for safety, inclusion, and what human oversight real means in practice. At the core of all of this lies a bigger challenge: how do we ensure that people not only work with robots, but actually trust and accept them? The session featured a series of short but punchy pitches from Gabriele Marchello, Milan Wolffgramm, PhD, Shirley Elprama, and Elodie Hüsing. Their contributions highlighted how #robotics and #AI are reshaping the workplace, both in how tasks are executed and shared, as well as in redefining the skills required for effective and acceptable collaboration. One message resonated strongly with me: 𝘸𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘥𝘢𝘱𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘴. Co-design and inclusivity are no longer “nice to have”, they are essential. Acceptance on the shop floor depends not only on usability, but also on a clear understanding of what these technologies can and cannot do. During the panel discussion together with Cecilia Scoccia, Clara Wiederschwinger-Fischer and Alberto Landini, we reflected on how to accelerate the adoption of human-robot collaboration. The main takeaway: involve workers from the very beginning, not just for requirements gathering or final validation, but as active contributors throughout the entire process. This journey does not follow a predictable or predefined path; it requires continuous fine-tuning, learning, and inclusion. Embracing #robotics and #AI as opportunities while being transparent about their limitations, is crucial for building trust. Personally, I believe we need to approach this transformation without fear, but also without blind optimism. Utilizing the full potential of Industry 5.0 requires a holistic perspective, one that brings together technology, human capital, and organizational change. This is exactly what we strive to do at Saxion University of Applied Sciences (Lectoraat Employability Transition and Smart Mechatronics And RoboTics (SMART) Research Group), together with our industrial partners and innovation boosters TechOost, TechYourFuture, TechForFuture, TValley. Thank you to Agata Suwała CEng MBA MSc for moderating and to the organizers and everyone involved for such an insightful and inspiring exchange. Stephan Corporaal, Paul Preenen, Stephan Maathuis, Verena Van Oosten