The quote for robotic equipment is now closed. The deadline was August 10, 2010 17:00 Brussels time

The equipment quote instructions and the related documents, which can be found on the right, should be read carefully before an equipment offer is submitted.

In the context of ECHORD, small-scale projects, so-called “experiments” will be conducted, which will use state-of-the art robot equipment. The third call for experiment proposals is planned to be published on 24 August, 2010. The proposers of experiments, typically research institutes, will be given the opportunity to buy equipment from a qualified equipment list from European Robot manufacturers at special prices. The research institutes will perform research and development with relevance to industrial applications. This will initiate knowledge transfer between industry and academia.

A manufacturer can either solely sell the equipment to an experiment, or it can become a partner in the experiment’s consortium. In both cases, a research partner of the experiment’s consortium has to buy the equipment according the conditions and prices given by the qualified equipment list.

A general overview of the project is given in the document “ECHORD: Background, objectives and implementation”.

The objective of this quote for robotic equipment is to set up such a qualified equipment list. Manufacturers of robotic equipment are asked to submit offers for equipment in different categories (grouped by functionality and price range).

The equipment for the experiments will be divided into classes of standard components, accessories, such as cables or mounting material, and custom designed devices. Standard components and accessories will be grouped into pre-defined categories for comparability (e.g., a 6 kg payload six axis robot with controller, programming environment, force-sensor, colour camera and gripper). The categories are given in the annex 3 “Types and price categories”. For non-standard or prototypical custom-designed devices, typical building blocks (“components”) are recommended to be proposed by tendering manufacturers (e.g., motors, axes, controllers, peripherals). With respect to the relatively short duration of the experiments, offering packages which include everything for a quick and easy start of operation is stronly recommended.

The qualification of equipment for the list does not necessarily mean that the equipment will be bought by research institutes and used in an experiment. Similar equipment from different manufacturers may be available so that the experiment consortium can choose with respect to various criteria, such as functionality, software, support, training, price, etc.

It is up to the experiment consortium to decide which equipment they want to buy and in which quantities.

For transparency and fairness reasons, the list (including prices) is fixed before a call for experiments is issued and no modifications will be made while the call is open. After the first experiment proposal deadline, frequently needed or used additional equipment can be added to the list. The list is updated between the calls for experiment proposals.