ERF2026 workshop: Infrastructure resilience through next-gen inspection and maintenance robotics

This interactive workshop brings together experts from industry, the public sector, and research to explore how robotics, AI, and IoT can transform inspection and maintenance (I&M) into a proactive driver of infrastructure resilience.

Building on real-world challenges, including large-scale disruptions such as the 2025 blackout in Spain, the session will look beyond traditional inspection approaches. The focus will be on enabling robotic intervention, real-time sensing, and predictive maintenance that can prevent failures before they happen.

Through expert talks and open discussion, participants will explore:

• How IoT and robot-enabled data can be integrated to predict, prevent, and even autonomously address faults
• How robots are currently used for intervention in industry and the public sector
• What the next high-value I&M use cases are — and which technical, regulatory, and business challenges must be overcome to scale these solutions

Workshop Format (80 minutes)

• ~5 min: Introduction by the organizers
• ~45 min: Short expert pitches with Q&A, highlighting real use cases and technologies
• ~30 min: Interactive plenary discussion with participants, supported by digital tools (e.g., Slido) to gather input and insights

Speakers

• Tjibbe Bouma (SPRINT Robotics / Quasset)
• Svein Ivar Sagatun (Equinor)
• Thor Kamp & Emad Samuel Malki Ebeid (SDU)
• Jone Sæbbø (Aker BP)
• Michele Guarnieri (Hibot)
• Aksel A. Transeth (SINTEF)

Please note that the speaker list may be subject to change.

The workshop is co-organised by one of our partners, SINTEF and SDU with the support from the JARVIS project, Robots4Green, the euRobotics I&M topic group, the RIMA Alliance euRobotics Innovation Network, the ADRA topic group on I&M, SPRINT Robotics, the RINVE network, the Nemonoor EDIH, and the Naine network. 

If you would like to join the euRobotics I&M Topic Group, please contact Aksel.A.Transeth@sintef.no.