Artificial intelligence is driving a new generation of smarter and more autonomous robots that “will be able to learn and understand changing environments, in order to have a positive impact on people and businesses,” explained today Daniel Serrano, Director of Eurecat’s Robotics Unit, during the second day of ROSCon Spain.
In just a few years, “we will see much more skilful robots, thanks to the combination of artificial intelligence and perception, enabling them to learn new tasks with only a few demonstrations,” predicted Daniel Serrano. In his view, in the future “robots will be far more present in everyday life, collaborating with people and becoming a natural part of daily routines.”
In the social sphere, Eurecat is already developing various technologies, such as assistive robots that can help older people or individuals with reduced mobility with daily tasks. In the industrial and agri-food sectors, the technology centre has also successfully tested robots equipped with force-controlled grippers and tactile sensors to handle delicate food products, as well as the design of systems for dismantling batteries and electronic waste that require adaptation to different components.
ROSCon Spain: developing robots for increasingly complex environments
ROSCon Spain 2025, organized by Eurecat with the support of Open Robotics and around ten sponsors from the sector, brought together for the first time in Barcelona developers, researchers and leading companies from the ROS ecosystem (Robot Operating System), showcasing the development of increasingly autonomous and intelligent robots with applications in sectors such as agriculture, industry and domestic environments.
This year’s edition focused on how artificial intelligence and cognitive systems are transforming robotics, enabling the creation of new solutions ranging from robots that learn to interact with people to autonomous fleets that collaborate in complex environments.
Over the two days of the conference, examples were presented of increasingly autonomous robots capable of navigating, manipulating and making decisions in real time, integrating 3D vision modules, semantic reasoning and reinforcement learning. Technical sessions addressed key topics such as learning-based navigation, multimodal perception for industrial and agricultural environments, and human–robot interaction.
“We are entering a new stage in which artificial intelligence and cognition are no longer add-ons, but the core of robotic behaviour. Robots no longer simply execute commands; they learn, interpret and make decisions,” commented Carlos Rizzo, Head of Mobile Robotics at Eurecat, adding that “in this sense, ROSCon Spain has established itself as a benchmark for intelligent and autonomous robotics.”
“Generating knowledge and sharing it creates impact, that is what ROSCon is about. The ROS community serves to share, accelerate innovation and democratize robotics,” highlighted Daniel Serrano, adding that it opens a space where “we see how the technology we develop in joint and international projects later finds real applications in companies.”
The event featured an exhibition area with around ten stands where the main sponsors, among them PAL Robotics, ROBOTNIK and Camp Tecnológico, as well as Eurecat, presented demonstrators of different types of mobile robots, drones, manipulators, quadrupeds and humanoids.
