On February 16, with the assistance of the USAID Project «Economic Support of Ukraine», a robotics laboratory was opened within the framework of the project «Better technical skills and inclusive conditions for the workforce development in the machine-building sector of Ukraine» at the Tech StartUp School, Lviv Polytechnic National University.
The first half of the event was dedicated to the presentation of the laboratory’s capabilities and the use of collaborative robots Universal Robots UR10e and Robot MG400. After that, the participants of the event, including representatives of the USAID Project «Economic Support of Ukraine», faculty of Lviv Polytechnic, stakeholders and employers in the field of IT and Computer Technologies, were able to directly share plans regarding robotics in Ukraine.
Also, Tech StartUp School presented to the participants of the event its achievements, including the development of innovative infrastructure and its filling, where $1,300,000 was raised for equipment; grant programs, 5 of which are Ukrainian and 8 are international, scholarships and investments in startups of Polytechnic students, where $10,000–25,000 are raised every year; technical and organizational innovations of Lviv Polytechnic ecosystems; laboratory devices, etc.
Kirsten Pfeiffer, Deputy Director of the USAID Project, expressed her gratitude to the partners and wished for active cooperation for the further development of robotics. Therefore, the participants of the event moved directly to the discussion of cooperation prospects and improvement of educational programs.
– Having a robotics laboratory, we can improve the quality of education, as students will be able to learn by performing various projects. Students will not only be able to simulate situations, but also test them with the help of these robots. This year we hope to renovate the 20th academic building, which should become a powerful hub. There are individual donors who are ready to fill it with essential aspects, namely equipment and support, informed Nazar Podolchak, head of Tech StartUp School, Lviv Polytechnic.
In addition, Nazar Podolchak said that companies that work with business models are involved in the work with the equipment. They help to develop the innovation hub and actively cooperate with Tech StartUp School.
Lyubomyr Demkiv, Head of the Robotics and Advanced Automation Group at SoftServe, who had signed a contract with NASA to stimulate the landing of cargo on the light platform on the Moon, was also present at the event.
– This is a challenge both for students, who need to make more efforts to understand the programming, and for teachers, as they have to transfer knowledge correctly. The more such centers there are where training and work experience can be gained, the better will be the development of industry, taking into account the war. Now, automation and robotics are extremely useful and will be just as useful during the reconstruction, noted Lyubomyr Demkiv.
Representatives of business communities also expressed interest in cooperation. Andriy Pereymybida, Talent Acceleration Center Director at SoftServe, and Associate Professor at the Department of Applied Mathematics, Lviv Polytechnic, added that the university also runs courses: basic and advanced. The second involves finding specialists who already have some experience in related fields and preparing them for the appropriate work with robots.
– Our company successfully cooperates with various HEIs. As it was mentioned, we are looking for talents, but we also support everyone. It is good that there is such a laboratory, it remains to install equipment there, noted Andriy Pereymybida.
Finally, the participants of the event expressed their support for future cooperation and called on those willing to actively develop robotics in Ukraine.
