Is Europe all set to compete with China and the United States in the race for humanoid robotics? Well, the opening of a new innovation center in the Netherlands shows Europe’s attempt to close the gap. 

The Netherlands has just launched its first Humanoid Application Center (HAC). Wondering what exactly is the goal behind this ambitious project? Simply put, it wants to help Europe catch up with China and the United States by bringing humanoid robots out of research labs and into real workplaces. The centre aims to speed up the adoption of humanoid robots across various industries. As we all know, currently, China and the United States are dominating the robotics field. However, this move will surely make a difference for Europe’s position. 

This new centre officially opened on July 2 at the Mechatronics Innovation Campus Schiedam (MICS), near Rotterdam. It brings together businesses, technology companies, researchers, educational institutions, and public organizations to test, train, and deploy humanoid robots in real-world workplaces. This center doesn’t focus on developing robots only. In fact, it also helps organizations use humanoid robots in their existing businesses. And to do so, HAC provides demonstrations and pilot projects along with training and real-world validation.

During the opening, many robots were seen showing what they are capable of. The tasks included laying bricks, cleaning, packing objects, walking, dancing, and running. In the initial stages, the center aims to help applications across construction, logistics, manufacturing, horticulture, healthcare, and facilities management. These are the sectors where labor shortages and physically demanding tasks continue to create challenges.

Speaking in an interview, HAC Chief Executive Officer Evert Jaap Lugt said that the growth in Artificial Intelligence (AI) is playing a major role in the rapid improvement of humanoid robotics.

“In five years from now, you will not see the difference anymore between a human being and a robot if you are, let’s say, five meters (16 feet) away from it.”

Lugt also predicted that in the near future humanoid “companion robots” can even resemble the people who are no longer in this world. Not only might they look exactly like them, but they’ll also behave in the same way as they did. 

Dutch real estate executive Niels Langenhuizen happens to be one of the early industry partners of HAC. He said that he is planning to bring in the 1st humanoid robot to one of his industrial sites by the end of this year. His company makes prefabricated homes in order to solve the problem of a shortage of houses in the Netherlands. However, he believes that if we rely only on humans, we won’t be able to fill the gap efficiently. And that’s exactly why he wants to normalise the use of humanoid robots in order to meet the housing requirements.

“As long as we depend on manual labor, we’re never going to reach 24/7 (production), and we’re never going to get to 100,000 houses a year.”

He added:

“We need humanoids to be able to speed up this process, to make housing more affordable, to make it more flexible, to make it quicker.”

The launch surely signals how important it is for Europe to compete in humanoid robotics. As per sources, out of all the robots deployed throughout the world last year, 85% of them were installed in China alone. Well, don’t you think it’s quite a big deal? Of course, it is! And this is why the Netherlands is now actually focusing on its robotics sector. 

Lugt said, “Europe is almost nowhere, like always, with all these new technologies. And this is really terrifying. Because this is about the future earning models of our society.”

He also said that currently, Europe is left behind. He is of the view that this is the only chance they have to focus on adopting this technology. He hopes that doing so might help them gain leadership in this field. 

Humanoid Application Center (HAC) is not limited to research and new ideas only. In fact, the center really aims to make the Netherlands a vital hub for humanoid robots in Europe. This will help Europe compete in the robotics race with the US, China, and other major countries. The goal of the center is to help businesses so that they can deploy humanoid robots in their day-to-day operations.