Europe’s best young robot integrators come from Poland, Hungary and Germany. That is the result of the Europe-wide competition in "Robot Systems Integration", which took place in Gdańsk, Poland on 5-9 September 2023. A total of 10 teams from as many countries competed for the gold medal and put their robot programming skills to the test. The event was organised jointly by the educational organisation WorldSkills Poland and robot manufacturer FANUC, which has been a Global Partner of the organisation since 2018.
The Polish team prevailed in a closely fought contest against strong competitors from Hungary and Germany, who took second and third place. The European championship of young robot integrators under the age of 25 is part of EuroSkills, which is the biggest vocational education and skills excellence event in Europe. This year, a total of 600 participants from 32 countries took part in 43 competition disciplines. The biennial EuroSkills alternates with the global WorldSkills event, which attracts competitors from more than 60 countries.
At EuroSkills 2023, participants in the Robot Systems Integration skill programmed a finishing operation on workpieces with different geometries. An important element was the use of software functions dedicated to modelling and designing robotic processes. Here, FANUC ROBOGUIDE software with CAD-to-path functionality generated an offline trajectory for different parts before running programs from simulation on a real robot. The judges assessed the quality of the polishing process, the system’s low susceptibility to errors and error handling, as well as speed of implementation.
Robots are playing an increasingly important role in the manufacturing industry, but also in areas such as medical technology and the domestic trades. The increasing shortage of skilled workers in many countries is further driving demand, which means that the training of experts who can skilfully implement automated solutions with robots is paramount. By organising competitions and co-operating with universities and schools, FANUC wants to interest more young people in robotic-based careers.
Herning, Denmark, will host the next Europe-wide competition for young robot system integrators in 2025. A year earlier, the global WorldSkills vocational championships will take place in Lyon, France.
