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In January 2023, the AGILEHAND project was successfully launched with the intention of developing advanced technologies for grading, handling and packaging autonomously soft and deformable products, as a strategic instrument to improve flexibility, agility and reconfigurability of production and logistic systems of the European manufacturing companies. This ambitious R&D initiative is granted with 6 million euros by the European Commission under the Horizon Europe framework programme, and 22 partners from 7 European countries are involved in it, among them some prestigious Universities from Spain, Finland, Portugal, and Italy, as well as several industrial partners and research centers. Two Japanese partners (Tokyo University of Technology and Nagasaki University) are also involved as Associated Partners. As project coordinator, I am very honored to lead such a valuable group of researchers toward this ambitious goal. The AGILEHAND project aims at developing innovative solutions for three key aspects of a workpiece handling system: the "grading" aspect, i.e. knowledge of the workpiece's characteristics and condition, the “handling” aspect of soft and deformable products during the Sorting, Handling and Packaging stages and the aspects of “agility”, “flexibility” and “reconfigurability” in production lines.
The project coordinator
Prof. Filippo Emanuele Ciarapica |
