Valentin, tell us a bit about your background.
Actually, I have never studied robotics. I initially wanted to study nuclear physics and that’s how I started off at university, but during my first year the Fukoshima accident happened so I decided to pivot and eventually graduated as a Materials Engineer. During my undergraduate degree I learned a lot about semi-conductors and batteries, however in my 3rd year I was drawn back into the nuclear world in studying materials for nuclear energy. After graduation I had a sabbatical in Australia and when I returned, I completed a post-graduate course in International Welding and then took a role as a Welding Engineer with a hydraulics manufacturer where I oversaw the control of the overall welding process within the company. This involved me working on the robotization of the welding process, so we acquired two robot cells, and I learned about robotics and how to program them. After being there for four years, I joined Proxinnov as a robotics engineer and as part of that I became the LER on the DIH² project.

And what is Proxinnov?
Proxinnov is a Research and Technology Organisation (RTO) based in Atlantic France that specialises in robotics and our mission is to guide companies through major transformations by introducing concrete robotic automation solutions. This requires us to carry out technical studies to identify the steps in a company’s processes that can benefit from robotization. We focus largely on SMEs because they don’t have the skills internally to do this and these are costly investments for them so it’s important that they get it right. We also frequently organise events with a focus on robotics. Last year for example, we had an event dedicated to robotized welding and another on AI for Industry. These take place in what we call our Pilot Plant which acts as a test-before-invest facility. In it we have robot cells that are dedicated to various processes such as welding, machine-sanding, and palletizing. These processes were decided in collaboration with local industry who provided input on what would be useful for them to have at their disposal for prototyping and testing.

You’ve talked there about working with SMEs and reaching that sector is at the core of what DIH² is about. How do you go about connecting with SMEs in your region?
We work closely with public institutions in the region whose role is to talk to SMEs and understand their needs and then redirect them to appropriate specialists so when there is a robotics need, they channel them back to us. Robotics seems to be very high on the agenda at the moment so we’re in a good place. We also have good relations with other RTOs in the region that specialise in other, complementary areas such as IoT, VR etc so we have a good overview of everything Industry 4.0 related. On top of that, the events that we organise help us raise our profile and we also do a lot of communication around robot problematics.

Let’s talk a little about the challenge of agile production.
It’s a key topic within Industry 4.0. We need to be able to personalise our production to meet customer demands and we can’t do this without an agile process that can reorganise itself according to needs, and at Proxinnov this is what we are trying to bring our SMEs towards. We’re also involved in a regional project financed by the French government called QUATRIUM that is working to build up platforms on a nationwide scale to assist SMEs on their Industry 4.0 journey. There’s a lot of technology involved in agile production – as well as robotics, we particularly need to understand IoT and how the communication between production cells works. We try to educate SMEs - it’s not easy but we need to do it to be successful.

A major task for us in DIH² was funding Transfer Technology Experiments (TTEs) to help us deliver against our mission to advance factories using robotics. One of those TTEs was PoRoLog and you were the LER, so give us an overview of what this solution involved.
Bleu Jour is a French computer manufacturer that wanted to increase storage density in its warehouse to enable it to operate 24/7. PoRoLog was designed to demonstrate how two smaller M-bots that individually could only transport small parcels could be aggregated into a larger Bi-bot capable of transporting a much heavier pallet around a warehouse facility. MecaBotiX, a French start-up has developed modular robots that can transport and lift payloads of up to 1,000kg when they are joined together, and for this experiment they teamed-up with Ortelio, a software house located in the UK, that has developed a fleet management system called Noos Open which provides the operator with a dashboard that can control the activities of the robot.

How did you bring the partners together?
We got to know the French technology provider from a webinar that we organised to promote the Open Call and we then worked closely with them to develop the proposal for the project. The goal of the PoRoLog project is quite specific, so we relied on MecaBotiX to find the right SME manufacturer and they also brought the software provider to the table.

What does the future look like for the solution?
This is relatively early-stage development of the solution and the TRL is quite low. But the TTE was a success and they have attracted strong interest from large warehouse operators, so the future looks good.

As someone who was new to working within the Horizon2020 world, what are your impressions as we now move towards the end of the project?
What’s been fascinating is the mix of different cultures from across Europe and the resulting different approaches to the same problem. The individual DIHs are also different – many of our partners are from the academic world and sit within the public sector, whereas we are a private company, and that drives a slightly different mentality as the need to create revenue streams for ourselves is a very important part of what we do. I think we also have a slightly different connection to industry – those that are in DIHs like ours often have backgrounds that are more industrial focused rather than academic and that also influences how we approach a problem. In summary though it’s been a great experience for me personally and I’m impressed by how we’ve managed to expand DIH² into a large network. The challenge now of course will be how we take that forward and continue to deliver value for the membership.

Finally, what’s your current passion within robotics?
I’m a little bit obsessed with the future and how robotics will fit into it and help deliver solutions for the challenges we already face as well as the additional challenges that will materialise. Climate change is an existential threat and there is a risk of degrowth for us – how will we be able to maintain our current level of development? And how can we use robotics as part of the solution? One area where robots can undoubtedly help is in reshoring. Looking forward 10-20 years, it’s doubtful that we’ll be trading in the same way we are today – we may be at the beginning of the end of globalisation. The cheap labour in Asia that we took advantage of is no longer as cheap and the supply chain is under tremendous pressure. We’re going to need smart solutions for manufacturing and that needs to be robotics led.