The Future of Manufacturing Is Cooperative: COROB’s Final Achievements

The COROB project has officially come to an end. Funded by the EU’s Horizon Europe programme and the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI), COROB — Cooperative robotics powered by AI and data for flexible production cells — set out to develop a flexible, cooperative and intelligent multi-robot solution for arc welding-based manufacturing, covering both joining and additive manufacturing. As the project closes, the results speak for themselves: cooperative robotics powered by AI and data is not only a research topic, but a practical pathway towards Industry 5.0.

• Two industrial demonstrators, successfully validated. COROB validated two cooperative multi-robot demonstrators: one for jig-less robotic welding and one for WAAM-based tooling repair. Together, they show that cooperative robotics powered by AI and data can address real industrial manufacturing challenges. See them in action in our use case demonstrator videos.
• More productive, more flexible welding. The cooperative welding cell reduced production time by 60.1%, while eliminating the need for dedicated fixtures and enabling the same cell to manufacture multiple product references.
• Repair instead of replace: a strong sustainability impact. Compared to manufacturing new tooling, WAAM-based repair achieved:
  – 41.7% to 64.6% cost reduction
  – 61.5% to 70.3% reduction in downtime
  – approximately 82–90% reduction in energy consumption
  – approximately 88–92% reduction in CO₂ footprint
• AI-powered manufacturing workflows. COROB demonstrated active learning, no-code AI lifecycle management, MLOps pipelines, AI-based monitoring and intelligent decision-support tools. These significantly reduced model training and maintenance effort and made advanced AI accessible to manufacturing experts.
• An open and interoperable ecosystem. COROB integrated technologies from the consortium and from external innovators, showing that platform-based architectures and common data models can simplify the integration of heterogeneous robots, AI services, sensors and third-party solutions.
• People at the centre. Thanks to intuitive interfaces and user-centred design, operators with limited robot programming experience were able to interact with and operate advanced robotic manufacturing systems.
• A broader European innovation ecosystem. Through two Open Calls, COROB supported 16 innovative solutions from external innovators, creating a lasting community around cooperative robotics, AI and smart manufacturing. Meet them on our Beneficiaries page.