INTERVIEW
The director of the Kutxa savings bank’s Social Funding Schemes, Carlos Ruiz, was present at the official presentation of kTBot, a robot financed by the bank and designed by IK4-TEKNIKER for the Eureka! Science Museum. In this interview he explains how the project came about and why Kutxa’s Social Funding Schemes are interested in encouraging robotics in Gipuzkoa.
1.- With the presentation of the new robot guide for Eureka!, Kutxa’s Social Funding Schemes are committing themselves once again to a research project on robotics. Why do you regard this field as important?
Because industrial robotics has been sufficiently developed and applied to the manufacturing processes of companies. And we understand that there is a field of robotics, of technology, that could have applications in the field of functional diversity, functional mobility and relationships with people. And we believe that robotics could contribute additional social value, beyond what is industrial added value. That is why we see this robot at the Eureka! Science Museum as a testing and experimentation platform rather than a final objective with a specific purpose. In other words, Eureka! did not commission IK4-TEKNIKER to produce a robot with a specific aim; it was rather another step in the collaboration that has been going on for many years between IK4-TEKNIKER and Kutxa's Social Funding Schemes.
2.- How did the project and the collaboration with IK4-TEKNIKER as a technological partner to develop the robot come about?
The relationship with IK4-TEKNIKER has been going on for over ten years. At that time it first took the form of a smart wheel chair for mobility problems which was a significant advance. Not only regarding mobility, but also in terms of the relational situation of the person, because the chair allows the person to be at the same visual height as his/her interlocutors and has various adaptations in the areas of stability and mobility. That opportunity for collaboration prompted us to look at fresh areas for the use of robotics in the field of functional assistance, in the healthcare field and in the field of multifunctional spaces of wide-ranging origins, like a museum. And here robotics is going to enable us to test functionalities that we are unlikely to sense intuitively today and which in the future may be applicable mainly in the field of disability and mobility limitation.
3.- The project comes within the framework of a long history of collaboration with IK4-TEKNIKER as a technological partner. How did this relationship come about?
Firstly because of the advances in the social field and in that of technology applied to the mobility of people, but also mainly because an industrial and business sector could emerge and could be rooted in Gipuzkoa. As we see it, IK4-TEKNIKER is leading many projects that could result in a step forward in social wealth, economic wealth and business development.
4.- What role are R&D centres playing in the modernization of the economy and, therefore, in the social development of Gipuzkoa?
The whole science and technology network of the Government of the Basque Autonomous Community and the entire network of R&D centres are analysing, seeking and testing technology and science applications so that we can all enjoy a better standard of living. There are a whole host of fields, of course, but the priority ones for us are disability, functional diversity, healthcare, and ultimately, the creation of business value and wealth; these are naturally of interest to us in terms of our Social Funding Schemes, as Kutxa and as Kutxabank.
5. How are Kutxa’s Social Funding Schemes helping to transform the economy of Gipuzkoa through innovation?
Innovation is a field in which not only Gipuzkoa but also the Basque Country have committed themselves towards generating knowledge and economic value. Kutxa is present wherever social advance and socio-economic advance is generated. And that is why we are involved as a financial institution and in terms of our Social Funding Schemes in this project and in all the ones where we believe social and economic value can be contributed.
