Our Mission
The project HERON is funded under the European Union’s Horizon Europe Widening Program (Teaming for Excellence). It aims to create the first Robotics Center of Excellence (CoE) in Greece for advancing the science and technology of robotics in the AI era, coupled with industrial innovation.
The new CoE, named HERON (for Hellenic Robotics Center), will be a team effort between the Athena Research Center (coordinating partner), an excellent team of Greek University Professors, the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).
HERON will be driven by excellence and pursue world-class research in areas that reflect current and emerging challenges of national and EU value, covering a broad spectrum of R&I directions empowered by AI:
- Safety/Security, including aerial, ground, and marine robotics
- Field Robotics, including agriculture, maritime, logistics, and space
- Healthcare, including mobility and cognitive assistance of motor-impaired and elderly people, surgical and socially assistive robotics
HERON will build Makerspaces and Joint Labs to support validation, research demonstration, education, and maker training throughout Greece and beyond. It will initiate and coordinate actions to mobilize and collaborate with the Greek Robotics Ecosystem, emphasizing strategic collaborations between academia and industry toward innovation across the entire Robotics value chain. Such actions, backed by the compelling background, experience, and synergy between the partners, and the multidisciplinary HERON team, provide a unique prospect to establish a sustainable Robotics CoE in Greece, which can transform the Greek ecosystem with major benefits to the economy, the technology, and the social well-being.
The CoE is strongly supported by the Greek Government with matching funds and by over 70 public and private sector entities (industry, universities, research centers, clusters, regions) from Greece, Europe, USA, and the Greek Diaspora, via endorsement letters and significant complementary funding or in-kind support, ensuring HERON’s long-term sustainability beyond the Project end.
Our Vision
HERON’s vision is to leverage Greece’s competitive advantage in ICT, towards the development, use and optimization of sophisticated intelligent robotic systems, with higher levels of autonomy. HERON will steer national excellence in robotics, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, data analytics, simulation, maker approach, testing, sensors, and communication, towards Robotic Technologies (RT) in planning, control, modeling, sensing, autonomy, optimization, and learning.
HERON objectives include:
Build HERON as a worldclass Robotics Research & Innovation CoE
Build Human Resources and Infrastructure Capacity
Develop strategic collaborations between HERON and Industry towards Innovation
Establish and mobilize the Hellenic Robotics Ecosystem
Welcome and Collaborate with the Greek Diaspora in Robotics
Support Education and Training
Drive National Reforms