Institute of Robotics "Saint Apostle and Gospeller Mathew"

The Institute of Robotics “St. Ap. and Gospeller Matthew”(IR – BAS), as a leading national scientific institution integrated in the European Research Area, conducts complex fundamental and engineering studies leading to innovative technologies and inventions, trains doctoral students from Bulgaria and abroad as well as highly qualified specialists and Master students in robotics, sensorics, mechatronics and artificial intelligence systems.

With its developments, expertise and project activities, IR-BAS is in favor of society and is a sought-after partner mainly by the national industry, consulting in these avant-garde areas state and non-governmental organizations, companies and enterprises. The institute disseminates knowledge and skills in robotics, mechatronics and sensorics at secondary schools through the RoboAcademy for young talents founded by it. The IR is among the initiators to extend the scope of application of robotics and artificial intelligence to public relations before the European Parliament, through the European Robotics Agency.

Priorities of the IR – BAS

The leading research of the Institute is constantly evolving and enriching in line with world trends and achievements in robotics, which is currently the most dynamically developing field of science and technology. According to the EU, US, Russia and Japan Strategic Perspectives, by 2040, 47% of the industry in the world will be robotic.

The current priorities of the IR-BAS, adopted by the Scientific Council, include:

• Industrial and service robotics with multiprofile applicability;

• Sensors, Hall Elements, Micro- and Nano-Converters and Components including Intelligent Multisensors for Robotics, Mechatronics, Non-Contact Automatics, Intelligent Process and Production Management, etc .;

• 3D design and printing for robots and manipulators, training and development of the educational skills of children and students through robots and cognitive methods;

• Medical and interactive robotics, management of cyber-physical, robotic and mechatronic platforms, including through intercepting and processing human brain signals;

• Robots, mechatronic systems, intelligent interfaces and quantum communication for counterterrorism, security and defense purposes, including underwater, ground and air combat robots and platforms;

• Robotic and mechatronic biotechnology and energy systems;

• Specialized and unique measurement methods and instruments, metrological provision in sensors, robotics and mechatronics, etc.

The Institute a national leader in recognized patents with over 150 inventions. For the most part, they are transferred as technologies to companies and businesses that have made a significant economic contribution through them.

Some of the key achievements of the IR-BAS include:

• Development of cyber-physical systems in the field of robotics for the training of talented students and to support the social inclusion of adults and children with special needs;

• New fundamental surface properties laws have been discovered, in more than 20 inventions of 2D and 3D sensor systems and devices for robotics, mechatronics and contactless automatics;

• A family of industrial and service robotic platforms with increased technical and performance characteristics and dual purpose based on 9 inventions;

• Robotic power systems for transforming the energy of sea waves into electrical, including 5 inventions, etc.

The creative activity is concentrated in 7 thematically related laboratories equipped with modern control-measuring technologies and experimental methods, including next- generation atomic-force microscope for study of sensor structures to sense a surface. The prototypes of robotic systems are experimented on the basis of NAO-type robots.

A direction in which science and technology-relevant results are planned in the near future is the remote sensing control of bio-systems by intercepting human brain signals.

IR-BAS has subsidiaries in Plovdiv, Veliko Tarnovo and Malko Tarnovo, extending the scope of research and applied activities in robotics, sensorics and mechatronics on a national scale. Participation in Regional Academic Centres is also active, mainly in Pleven, Plovdiv and Rousse.

Educational activity

IR-BAS was accredited in 2017 by the National Evaluation and Accreditation Agency to train PhD students in 4 specialties in the field of Sensorics, Robotics and Mechatronics, Cybernetics and Automation of Production by conducting 6 doctoral programmes. Trained PhD students are more than 20, and Master students – more than 10. The Institute has one of the largest and best-kept technical libraries in the country with more than 56 300 information units.

There are general institutional and thematic sectoral seminars on topical issues of robotics, sensorics and cybernetic systems at IR-BAS. The Institute is the organizer of the prestigious international conference “Mechatronics and Robotics”, which has been held for more than 30 years.