The first meeting (Plenary Meeting and General Assembly) of the European Tornado project (Plenary Meeting and General Assembly (Tornado project (Foundation Models for Robots That Handle Small, Soft and Deformable Objects), started in January 2025 and financed in the context of Horizon Europe (Grant Agreement n. 101189557) with the support of the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (Hadea).
During the two days (17 – 18 September), the partners of the Tornado Consortium, including universities, research centers and companies from all over Europe, will take stock of the progress reached in these first 8 months and plan the next steps on the design and technical management, the innovation and communication activities of the results, the expected impacts and the performance indicators.
The main objective of the project, which is based on a multidisciplinary European consortium that brings together research, industry and companies, is to develop a new generation of cognitive robots integrated with generative artificial intelligence models capable of adapting to complex and changing tasks, with particular attention to the manipulation of small, soft and deformable objects, one of the most demanding challenges in the field of robotics.
“A crucial moment of comparison and evaluation of the progress” underlines Prof. Fiorella Guadagni, scientific contact person of Tornado, head of the Biobanca area, advanced biotechnology and Discovery biomarker of the IRCCS San Raffaele and full professor of clinical biochemistry and clinical molecular biology at the San Raffaele Roma University. “For the IRCCS San Raffaele it is an important opportunity to be able to contribute with our scientific and clinical experience. In the two days of work we will focus not only on the coordination of activities, but also on the strengthening of the collaboration between the research groups and the organization of the next stepwith the aim of quickly translating technological innovation into concrete benefits for health and quality of life “.
Tornado coordinator is Iotam (ITML CY), specialized in software development and user experience. The industrial partners stand out Netcompany-OtraSoft SA, which deals with the specification of the system, integration and management of innovation; Hankamp Gears BV, expert in the production of high precision mechanical components; NSBPROJECT SRL and K3Y, innovative SMEs active in digital innovation and cybersecurity respectively.
The world of research is represented by centers and universities of excellence such as ICS-FORTH (research institute for technology and computer science of the Foundation for research and technology-Hellas), which deals with the evaluation of the social impact and the development of mechanisms for the analysis of human behavior; the University Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC); The Vrije University Brussel (VUB); La Zapadočeská university V Plzni (UWB); the Italian Institute Foundation of Technology (IIT), through the Men-RoBot interaction laboratory; In addition to Charokopeio Paneipistimio (Hua) and Elliniko Mesogeiako Panepistimio (HMU), engaged in scientific and technological development.