The day before, a journalist from our editorial office visited the opening of the first university robotics laboratory, RoboLab, launched at the Kyiv National University of Civil Engineering and Architecture. Potentially, such laboratories should later appear in a number of other educational institutions.
The day before, a journalist from our editorial office visited the opening of the first university robotics laboratory, RoboLab, launched at the Kyiv National University of Civil Engineering and Architecture. Potentially, such laboratories should later appear in a number of other educational institutions.
In the RoboLab, students will be able to create and test robotic solutions, work with 3D modeling and artificial intelligence, launch prototypes, and develop collaboration with the business and scientific community. This learning space is equipped with more than 30 workstations.
Among other things, the laboratory is equipped with mechatronics kits, robotic arms, 3D printers and scanners, robotic platforms, a VR system for engineering simulation and prototyping, software for 3D modeling and engineering design, as well as AI infrastructure for creating your own robotic solutions — using computer vision and intelligent development support tools. Important nuances are that not only students of KNUBA, but also any other universities can come to work here, and the companies Profi Robotics Ukraine, Ajax Systems and Deus Robotics have joined the project .
After visiting the event, we decided to collect information about other high-tech laboratories and centers that were opened in higher education institutions. During the previous year alone, we found as many as 7 of them! It is worth saying that thanks to such centers, the scientific and technical base of Ukrainian universities has taken several confident steps forward, and a number of constantly operating technological projects have been created on the basis of universities, for which in some places we need to thank not only (and not so much) the state, but also Ukrainian companies. So in the selection below — about 7 high-tech educational laboratories and centers that were opened in Ukrainian universities during 2025.
Last fall, Ajax Systems, together with Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute , opened a design and robotics laboratory at the institution. The new space was designed to provide students with a «live» experience in designing, assembling, and testing robotic systems.
The laboratory at the Faculty of Instrumentation is designed for about 20 workstations, and the space is divided into a design area with computers for CAD/CAE work and a workshop for prototyping and finalizing assemblies. A robot manipulator for moving objects along a given trajectory is also available for training.
The space is open to all KPI students, and, among other things, it is intended for conducting master classes in robotics, automation, metrology and optics, practical classes, and internships.
As dev.ua wrote, Oleksandr Kurinny, a graduate of KAI and CEO of AxxonSoft Ukraine, together with the Kyiv Aviation Institute State University, opened the first intelligent video surveillance laboratory in Ukraine last year. Thanks to this cooperation, students will be able to learn to develop complex security systems based on artificial intelligence. The company invested more than five million hryvnias in the project, which allowed creating a unique educational program.
The laboratory is a complex system that includes neuroanalytic networks based on artificial intelligence; biometric identification systems with facial recognition; car license plate recognition systems with color, brand and model identification; intelligent archive search by events and criteria; detection of unusual human behavior and persons with weapons; systems for detecting fires and other emergencies.
As reported, the university plans to become a testing ground for new technologies, and the laboratory is open not only to KAI students, but also to AxxonSoft partners and customers.
Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, as a leading «manufacturing center» for the Ukrainian IT and technological sphere, appears in this selection with impressive regularity. In November last year, the university’s innovative spaces were replenished with another one — an artificial intelligence laboratory, opened by the MacPaw company.
The lab is located in the former Bilka Space coworking space and is intended for lectures, hackathons, practical workshops, and discussions of AI trends and the implementation of various AI projects by university students. Despite the «sponsorship» of MacPaw, the space was promised to be open to other technology companies to implement joint projects with the university and involve its students in practical cooperation.
As an interfaculty hub that will bring together researchers from different fields, the Center for Data, AI and Society opened at the Ukrainian Catholic University last year. As reported, it was to become a hub for research at the intersection of technology and social sciences, as well as a platform for international cooperation in the field of responsible artificial intelligence and digital technologies for the public good.
The center’s areas of activity include Responsible AI; Data for Education; Social Resilience & Information Integrity; Computational Social Science, and others. The initiative was formed on the basis of almost four years of cooperation between UCU and the Center for Responsible AI at New York University within the framework of the Responsible AI for Ukraine program.
The Center for Data, AI, and Society aims to combine fundamental research with practical solutions. «The Center will function as an interfaculty hub that will bring together researchers from different fields, work in collaboration with an international advisory board, and remain open to partnerships with universities, business, the public sector, and the state,» says Tetyana Zakharchenko, head of the Center and head of the Bachelor’s Program in Computer Science at the Faculty of Applied Sciences.
About a year ago — in February 2025 — SkyFall, a company well-known in the miltech sector, opened a laboratory at KPI, where future RF engineers had the opportunity to acquire practical skills in working with the latest equipment.
So, on the basis of the Radio Engineering Faculty of the Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute (KPI again, how could we do without it!) they opened a laboratory of signals and processes in radio engineering. This laboratory is designed for 24 students, and future engineers there were to be taught to master the work with frequency spectrum analyzers, signal generators and oscilloscopes.
«Communication is critically important for the entire defense tech sector. Electronic warfare, electronic warfare, UAVs — all these solutions require RF engineers. We help create an environment where they will grow and gain the necessary experience,» SkyFall noted in this regard.
Last year, Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute also hosted the grand opening of an innovation space designed to become a point of intersection of science, rehabilitation, and high technologies. A number of technology companies were involved in the opening — EPAM, appflame, OBRIO, Genesis for Ukraine, and others.
Thanks to the 3D printers available at the center, it is possible to print products from various polymers. A unique feature is the ability to quickly print complex parts with high accuracy. In their work, the center’s specialists rely on Generative design — an approach to engineering modeling, in which the design of an object is created not manually, but using algorithms that generate dozens or hundreds of design options based on given parameters.
«The bottleneck now is not equipment, but the lack of specialists who know how to design products for printing. Therefore, the emphasis is on training personnel,» the authors of the project said.
The launch of the center, science park, and laboratory was funded by donors who invested over $700,000. And this is just direct investment. There is also equipment that donors purchased themselves or transferred on a free-of-charge basis.
Thus, the Additive Technologies Science Park has become a platform for the development of 3D technologies for prosthetics, student projects, and free training for veterans. This center, unlike the others in the selection, was not created primarily for the training of students, it has a different goal. But they have the opportunity to improve additional skills in the center, learn a lot of new things, and get useful interaction, and some university students work there.
Last year, an IT space opened at V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University. The new location was intended to be a place for learning and collaboration between students, scientists, entrepreneurs, and IT professionals, and the project was financially supported by the NIX IT team.
The new IT space includes four classrooms that are effectively research laboratories where students can learn popular technical areas. These include computer engineering as a space for getting acquainted with robotics, embedded systems and the Internet of Things, as well as cybersecurity, AI and eSports.
As a shelter, the space can accommodate up to 300 people, and as an educational center, it is designed to accommodate 100 students at a time. The renovation and arrangement of the hub has been ongoing since late 2024, and the official opening took place in April 2025.
By the way, very recently, five Ukrainian universities also launched cybersecurity training centers, as we also reported. Such centers were launched at the National Aerospace University «Kharkiv Aviation Institute», Kharkiv National University named after V.N. Karazin, LLC «Science Park of the State University «Zhytomyr Polytechnic», the National Academy of the Security Service of Ukraine and Vinnytsia National Technical University.
This selection does not claim to be comprehensive, but it shows that if at least 7 such spaces opened in Ukrainian universities last year alone, then the future of Ukrainian engineering and technological education, if not cloudless, at least inspires significant hope. There are changes for the better, and domestic IT and technological companies are actively participating in them.
