IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - March 2016 - 18

the competition, represented Robert
Riener, the initiator and organizer of
CYBATHLON.
Lakmal Seneviratne from Khalifa University, United Arab Emirates (UAE), presented the aims and goals for MBZIRC, a
competition organized in Abu Dhabi,
UAE, that will have the first event in February 2017 [9].
MBZIRC aims
to provide an
Competitions and
ambitious, sciprizes achieve
ence-based, and
innovative changes by technologically
demanding set
influencing society or
of challenges in
robotics and is
specific communities
i nte nd e d to
and individuals.
demonstrate the
current state of
the art in robotics in terms of scientific and technological
accomplishments and to inspire the future
of robotics. The first challenge of this prize
is based on mobile robotic devices operating in dynamic environments for autonomous tasks for navigation, surveillance,
and physical intervention.
Europe is home to world-leading
researchers and innovators who are
uniquely well positioned to tackle the
pressing issues society faces. Challenge
prizes have a long history in Europe, with
proven high impact for mobilizing talent

to find new solutions to societal problems. The Horizon 2020 program for
research and innovation, supported by
the European Commission, is already
pioneering the first five Horizon Prizes
[11]. Emanuele Ruffaldi from Scuola
Superiore Sant'Anna, Italy, described the
activities of a set of proposals for the next
generation of Horizon prizes in ICT [12].
This workshop was the first forum in
a large IEEE international robotics conference (IROS 2015) where researchers
and competition organizers provided a
review of the major current approaches
to robotic competitions, sharing common practices and exploring possible
new approaches on the design and execution of such competitions.
Presentations and round-table discussions focused on obstacles and challenges and the future direction of robot
competitions. The workshop acted as a
platform for wider discussions and
establishing guidelines/recommendations for future robot competitions. Topics such as robotic competitions toward
research excellence and technology
innovation, robotic competitions and
education, and training early career
roboticists were addressed in the workshop. There was general agreement
about the benefits of robotic competitions to be used as hub for economic
development; see details in [13].

References
[1] W. Masters, B. Delbecq, "Accelerating innovation
with prize rewards," Discussion Paper from IFPRI,
Dec. 2008.
[2] 'And the winner is ...' Capturing the promise of
philanthropic prizes, McKinsey & Company, 2009.
[3] (2015, Dec. 11). Challenge Prizes Landscape
Review. [Online]. Available: http://www.nesta.org.uk
[4] (2015, Dec. 11). RoboCup. [Online]. Available:
http://www.robocup.org
[5] (2015, Dec. 11). RoCKIn. [Online]. Available:
http://www.rockinrobotchallenge.eu
[6] (2015, Dec. 11). EuRoC. [Online]. Available:
http://www.euroc-project.eu
[7] (2015, Dec. 11). euRathlon. [Online]. Available:
http://www.eurathlon.eu
[8] (2015, Dec. 11). CYBATHLON. [Online]. Available: http://www.cybathlon.ethz.ch
[9] (2015, Dec. 11). The Mohamed Bin Zayed International Robotics Challenge (MBZIRC). [Online].
Available: http://www.mbzirc.com
[10] (2015, Dec. 11). The UAE AI & Robotics
award. [Online]. Available: http://www.roboticsforgood.ae
[11] (2015, Dec. 11). Horizon prizes. [Online].
Available: http://www.ec.europa.eu/research/
horizonprize
[12] (2015, Dec. 11). Future challenges: Designing
ICT prizes for europe. [Online]. Available: http://
www.ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/news/ictipnew-h2020-project-ict-inducement-prizes
[13] (2015, Dec. 11). Robot competitions: What did
we learn? IROS. [Online]. Available: https://www.
iros2015.org

President's Message (continued from p. 6)
international market and regulation
of import and export.
Other fields of robotics and automation
could have similar or different issues.
RAS is expected to advise and educate social stakeholders, engineers, and
researchers but also business leaders,
politicians, and media. Otherwise, these
issues would not be appropriately
resolved because many of the social
stakeholders would not have accurate

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insight into future robotics on the basis
of correct technical knowledge. The
social system has to be designed carefully and wisely to embed robotics and
automation into human life.
We, the top world leaders of robotics
and automation, shall take a major role
in realizing this innovation with profound wisdom and strong leadership to
add a new page in the history of humanity. We are following the same trail as

march 2016

our forerunners-such as in the development of the automobile, communication technology, and computers-to
accomplish the historical revolution.
Reference
[1] J. C. Mankins, Technology Readiness Levels: A
White Paper. Washington, D.C.: NASA, Office of
Space Access and Technology, Advanced Concepts
Office, 1995.
http://www.nesta.org.uk http://www.robocup.org http://www.rockinrobotchallenge.eu http://www.euroc-project.eu http://www.eurathlon.eu http://www.cybathlon.ethz.ch http://www.mbzirc.com http://www.robotics http://www.forgood.ae http://www.ec.europa.eu/research/ http://http:// http://www.ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/news/ictip https://www http://www.iros2015.org
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - March 2016
