ShieldBot took part in the AI Data Robotics Forum (ADRF26), held on 13–14 October 2026 in Porto, Portugal, by contributing to a workshop organised by the Tech4EUConstruction cluster. Titled “AI, Data and Robotics for Construction 5.0: From European Pilots to Industrial Deployment”, the session took place on the second day, 14 October, from 14:30 to 15:45, in the Infante Room. It brought together four Horizon Europe projects, ShieldBot, DISCOVER, RADIANCE and RoboCons, as complementary cases to discuss how European research and innovation can become safe, interoperable and deployable solutions for construction and renovation sites.
Tech4EUConstruction Cluster partners participating at ADRF26
The workshop was moderated by Andoni Amurrio (IKERLAN | RoboCons). The speakers were Jorge Rodriguez (Aldakin | RoboCons), Juanan Arrieta (IDEKO | ShieldBot), Carlos Saldarriaga (CDEI-UPC | DISCOVER) and Gálata Martínez (Universidade de Vigo | RADIANCE). Juanan Arrieta represented ShieldBot on behalf of IDEKO, the organisation coordinating our project.
During the session, the projects presented their different robot architectures for building and construction. The speakers then sparked a debate on the future exploitation of the results and on how to bring them closer to the industrial world. The workshop set out to address five key questions: what data needs to be captured and shared, how robotic systems can be safely validated on real sites, which value metrics matter to contractors and building owners, how interoperability and worker acceptance can be addressed, and what capabilities and skills are needed to scale European construction robotics.
According to Juanan, the forum itself offered a wide range of technological content and many ongoing EU projects across five to six parallel sessions over the two days. It also came at a politically relevant moment, as the form and scope of the future EU partnership on digital topics under FP10 are still to be defined.
ADRF26 is a reference event for the AI, Data and Robotics community, with a great deal of technological content and many EU projects under way. In our workshop, the speakers sparked a debate on how to exploit the results in the future and how to bring them to the industrial world. Juanan Arrieta, IDEKO.
Tech4EUConstruction Cluster during their Workshop at ADRF26
About ADRF26: The AI Data Robotics Forum
The AI Data Robotics Forum (ADRF26) is a reference event for the AI, Data and Robotics (ADR) community. The Tech4EUConstruction workshop contributed to the forum’s themes by showing how AI, data and robotics converge in construction, from autonomous robots and exoskeletons to digital twins and AI-based planning.
ShieldBot’s participation follows the cluster’s workshop at the European Robotics Forum 2026 in Stavanger, continuing the joint effort of the Tech4EUConstruction projects to bring robotics and AI closer to real construction sites.