Australia's Robotics Roadmap

Speeches from the Launch of A Robotics Roadmap for Australia at Parliament House in Canberra, 11:30am Monday 18th June

Opening Speech

Welcome everyone

Today we are meeting together on Ngunnawal country and I acknowledge the Ngunnawal people, the traditional owners and custodians of this land and pay my respects to their elders - past, present and emerging.

It’s wonderful to see representatives from government, industry and research gathered here from different parts of the country to see the launch of the first robotics roadmap for Australia.

I’m Dr Sue Keay, the Chief Operating Officer for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Robotic Vision and the producer of the Roadmap. Many of my roadmap co-chairs, editors and advisors are here today and I thank you all for your support and your contributions to the final product. There are also many business owners and inventors here today who generously shared their time and stories with me to help paint a picture of what the Robotics Industry in Australia looks like. And it is because of the great work that you are doing that we need a roadmap.

Our Centre of Excellence began in 2014 with the aim of bringing computer vision to robotics. By creating robots that see we can overcome some of the fundamental limitations that prevent the more widespread use of robots in our communities. Since that time we have grown to more than 200 researchers across the globe and are still the world’s largest collaboration of people in this new field of robotic vision. We will graduate more than 80 PhDs specialising in robotic vision and are developing new robotic vision technologies that are unique in the world. But our efforts will be in vain if there are not opportunities for us to see the talent and technologies we develop put to use in Australia.

So, back in 2014 I started looking for our key stakeholders – the people and companies already working in robotics and computer vision in Australia. And you were not easy to find. There is no Yellow Pages for the robotics industry in Australia. Many of you do not conveniently label yourselves robotics companies and that’s because you service every sector of the Australian economy without being defined as an industry in your own right. And why is that important?

It’s important because you will play a crucial role in the future prosperity of this country. As we step up to the challenge of equipping the people and businesses of Australia with Industry 4.0 relevant skills, you are already leading the way.

Through the national consultation process to produce this roadmap we found that there are more than 1,100 robotics companies in Australia and we very conservatively estimate that you add value of more than $12b to the Australian economy each year employing around 50,000 people. But we can be doing much more.

We need robotics in Australia to maintain our living standards, to provide services to our remote communities, to reduce healthcare costs, to provide safer and more fulfilling jobs, to encourage investment and to create jobs and to reshore jobs back to Australia.

Our first Robotics Roadmap is a starting point. It acts as a guide to how Australia can build on our strengths in robot talent and technologies and support a vibrant robotics industry that can harness the benefits of a new robot economy.

Robotics Roadmap for Australia - Closing Speech

Australia has a unique opportunity to take advantage of our human talents and unique environment to transition to a robot-ready economy while retraining and upskilling our workforce. This requires a collaborative, multi-sector approach to education, funding and legislation to build Australia’s leading role in robotics and in the tech sector more generally.

Our robotics industry has a significant store of talent in research communities, small businesses and large corporations. Combined with the right investment, this ecosystem can build, and feed, an innovation pipeline that will realise new products, services and businesses and the skills needed to service them.

Transitioning robotics from the R&D stage to market-ready product requires investment to support our ambitions for a robot economy. And we promote the creation of regional high-technology clusters to attract a highly skilled workforce and venture capital to make this happen.

The Robotics Roadmap for Australia is a starting point. It is a beginning, not an end, and from here we will continue to build the narrative that describes this unique industry in Australia. We are creating an interactive website where we will continue to collect stories from Australian companies that highlight the technologies being developed and the benefits of applying robotics. Because until these stories are heard we can’t expect the rest of Australia to understand the importance of this industry to our nation or to share in our vision for the future.

In the roadmap we have put forward a bold vision of what this industry means to Australia and how we can progress by setting grand challenges. It is a vision where: where Robots do the dull, dirty and dangerous tasks not suited to human beings; where Robots solve many of the world’s most pressing problems such as war, famine, natural disasters and environmental damage; where Robots help humans unlock their potential and help us to explore the furthest reaches of our universe.

This is a future where a prosperous Australia embraces a robot economy and builds national health, well-being and sustainability despite the challenges of our vast and remote geography.

Thank you everyone for being here and supporting the launch of a Robotics Roadmap for Australia.

Copies of the Robotics Roadmap can be downloaded from roboticsroadmapau.org