The MURAB project has the ambition to revolutionise the way cancer screening and muscle diseases are researched for patients and has the potential to save lives by early detection and treatment. The project intends to create a new paradigm in which, the precision of great medical imaging modalities like MRI and Ultrasound are combined with the precision of robotics in order to target the right place in the body. This will be achieved by identifying a target using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and then use a robot with an ultrasound (US) probe to match the images and navigate to the right location. This will be done thanks to a new innovative technique, which will be developed in the project and called Tissue Active Slam (TAS) which will use different techniques and modalities, like elastography, in order to cope with the deformation of the tissues. Such a procedure has the potential to drastically improve the clinical workflow and save lives by ensuring an exact targeting of (small) lesions, which are visible under MRI and not under US. Technologies developed within MURAB also have the potential to improve other clinical procedures. Clinically, two applications will be targeted and validated in the project: breast cancer diagnostics (MUW and ZGT) and muscle disease diagnostics (UMCN). Considering the potential for the market, industrial partners are involved with expertise in the delivery of safe robotics components and applications (KUKA), as well as with great knowledge and ambition in pushing innovation to the medical market (SIEMENS).

The FP7 coordination action RockEU has been extremely successful in building a strong European robotics community, leading to the creation of euRobotics aisbl - the private partner of the SPARC PPP and development of the Strategic Research Agenda and the Multi-Annual Roadmap, which are the main guidelines for shaping European robotics R&D&I. RockEU2 builds on and extends this successful community integration by providing analysis of innovation and skills and by developing major outreach activities. This extension is achieved by intensifying and strengthening collaboration within the community and by taking a leading role in the development of strategy. This includes activities in market observation, technology watch, innovation support, analysis of funded proposals, regulations assessment, and standardisation support. RockEU2 aims to Intensifying cooperation with international funding agencies (e.g. for joint calls), policy makers, and end-users as key enablers in the R&D&I process that contribute to the outreach and innovation themes. Outreach to the cognitive science community is another key part of this proposal. Improving the uptake of cognitive science’s results by the robotics community is an important target, leading to more innovative robotics products and applications, boosting innovation. Integration of activities started by the FP7-funded CAs euRathlon and RoCKIn on using robot competitions to foster research and innovation has great potential for improved public awareness of European robotics. Participation in robot competitions is attractive for young researchers and develops excellent engineering skills. The impact of robot competitions both for public awareness as well as for industry will be analysed and its results will influence the roadmap for future European robot competitions and outreach campaigns. The consortium consists of partners playing key roles in their respective communities and contributing unique competences to the consortium