“Days of the Future: Robotics” presented 25 robots, 50 lectures, three panel discussions, 45 movies and dozens of national and international robotic innovators.
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The manifestation “Days of the Future: Robotics” organized by the Center for the Promotion of Science in cooperation with the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the University of Belgrade, was opened on September 24th at the “Ilija M. Kolarac” Endowment. CPN’s Director Aleksandra Drecun and the Dean of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Professor Dr Miodrag Popovic, opened the manifestation.
At the guest packed Kolarac, the Minister of Education, Science and Technological Development, Professor Zarko Obradovic addressed the audience. Professor Rolf Pfeifer, the international sponsor of the manifestation, and one of the leading robotics innovators in Serbia, Professor Veljko Potkonjak held interesting lectures about the current achievements in robotics.
After the official part of the ceremony, the main attraction of the event appeared at the scene of the “Ilija M. Kolarac” Endowment. In a spectacular show, ASIMO robot presented all the current developments in robotics but at the same time it pointed towards the upcoming future.
The Main hall at Kolarac was sold out for all the other ASIMO shows, and the enthusiastic audience – mostly children – chanted the name of this popular humanoid.
ASIMO was also on the cover pages of a number of daily newspapers during several days, it had its exclusive appearance at the program “OKO magazin” at the National Television of Serbia, and it was mentioned in numerous other programs on national and local TV stations.
Up to the end of the manifestation more than 250 articles, radio and TV stories were published regarding the “Days of the Future: Robotics”, robotics innovators were guests at the most popular programs in the national media, and articles, reports and columns were written about robots.
Aside from ASIMO robot that had its shows on October 25th and 26th, visitors at the exhibition space at the Gallery of the Department Store “Belgrade”, Knez Mihailova St. 5, could see numerous robots from different parts of the world as well as many other activities organized.
The manifestation “Days of the Future: Robotics” presented 25 robots, 50 lectures, three panel discussions, 45 movies and dozens of national and foreign robotics innovators.
The festival “Days of the Future: Robotics” was organized with the support of the renowned international organization, The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Academy of Engineering Sciences of Serbia (AINSA).
Together with the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the University of Belgrade and the Center for the Promotion of Science, the manifestation was supported by a number of scientific and educational institutions and companies in the Republic of Serbia. A large number of world prestigious universities, many national and foreign companies and dozens of media partners also supported it.
Why the days of the future?
Why does the Center for the Promotion of Science organize a festival like this? The results of a survey, which the Center in cooperation with the Faculty of Philosophy and the MASMI agency, conducted during 2012, based on the representative sample of 1000 respondents, showed that the citizens of Serbia fear scientific progress in a large number and do not know about it a lot. However, as much as 90 % of citizens believe that one of the national priorities must be the spreading of science literacy.
Taking this into account, the “Days of the Future: Robotics” was organized by the Center for the Promotion of Science with the idea of building a society based on knowledge. The reason for the launching of this event dedicated to the future is the dissemination of scientific knowledge among the population of Serbia, as well as the need to make a traditional society that looks more towards the past look towards the future and be intrigued by the technological progress.
The literacy is the first step towards the future. A journey through the robotics world, its ups and downs, has repeatedly been high lightened with the idea of the future. There is still a long way to go in dealing with challenges brought by science and technical developments, but also with the hopes of thousands of researchers and the variety of pursuits that are the only way that lead towards the future.
