The statement, released against the backdrop of ICRA’s gathering of nearly 8,000 robotics professionals at Wien Messe in Vienna, builds on euRobotics’ earlier Tallinn Statement from December 2025. Where Tallinn set the context, Vienna provides answers to three pointed questions: where are robots mission-critical for European sovereignty and resilience; how should AI contribute — and critically, where should it not; and what concrete steps will convert European strengths into a global strategic position.
Three principles
The association frames its position around a set of grounding principles developed through weeks of discussion among its Board of Directors and sector-focused topic groups:
- With and for people, not only instead of them — robots should augment human capability, not simply displace workers.
- Economics and sustainability are design requirements — viability cannot be an afterthought bolted on after engineering decisions are made.
- Responsibility for societal and environmental consequences — the robotics community must own the downstream effects of its work.
The association frames the moment as one of geopolitical as much as technological urgency. Climatic pressures, demographic shifts, and an unstable global order are converging, and euRobotics argues that robotics offers “convincing responses” to each — but only if politicians and policymakers create the right conditions for the community to advance solutions at the necessary speed.
euRobotics is calling on European institutions to formally acknowledge the essential role of robotics and to act accordingly: providing a regulatory and funding environment that matches the ambition. The full Vienna Statement is available at eu-robotics.net.
Earlier this year, at the European Roboticsa Forum, this sentimenmt was already expressed across the board, as can be seen in these reports:
