First Hellenic robotics center becoming a reality
![First Hellenic robotics center becoming a reality](https://www.ekathimerini.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/polytechnic_web.jpg)
Researchers who lead the Robotics Institute at the Athena Research Center are charting a path toward the creation of the first Center of Excellence (CoE) in Robotics Technologies called HERON.
A few days ago the center won a competitive grant of more than 30 million euros, of which €15 million is from the European Commission and the other €15 million from the General Secretariat for Research and Innovation.
HERON will be led by National Technical University of Athens professors Petros Maragos (director) and Evangelos Papadopoulos (deputy director), while the president of the Athena Research Center, Yiannis Emiris, a professor at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (EKPA), will serve as HERON’s development project coordinator.
HERON will develop three directions of service robotics, critical for Greece, namely field robotics, health robotics and security robotics. The aim is a culture shift, with an emphasis on research and innovation, to position robotics at the center of the economy and society.