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Ігор Вишневський Robots
12 February 2026, 17:02
2026-02-12
The first university robotics laboratory RoboLab has opened in Kyiv. Which Ukrainian tech companies have joined the project and what opportunities students will receive — in the report of dev.ua
Such a polite and active four-legged pet greeted guests at the entrance to the newly opened university laboratory RoboLab, which was solemnly launched today with the participation of the leadership of the Ministry of Digital Affairs and other ministries, partners and sponsors at the Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture (KNUBA). The robo-dog ran and showed various tricks, except for wagging its tail. Simply because it didn’t have one.
Such a polite and active four-legged pet greeted guests at the entrance to the newly opened university laboratory RoboLab, which was solemnly launched today with the participation of the leadership of the Ministry of Digital Affairs and other ministries, partners and sponsors at the Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture (KNUBA). The robo-dog ran and showed various tricks, except for wagging its tail. Simply because it didn’t have one.
In early October last year, dev.ua wrote that KNUBA became the winner of the final stage of selection for the creation of the first pilot RoboLab laboratory in higher education institutions. In record time, since then, barely more than four months have passed, they prepared the premises, carried out repairs, purchased the necessary expensive equipment and equipped places for students' practical classes. Ahead is the appearance of such laboratories in other universities.
Who joined the project?
Acting Minister of Digital Transformation Oleksandr Bornyakov recalled that currently there are about 5 million industrial robots operating in the world and this number is growing every year, and Ukraine should not remain aloof from these trends. Robotics and other technological industries, in his opinion, should become a driver of GDP growth for the country, because we have the engineering human resources potential for this.
«We have a very strong foundation of engineers. We see this in the development of our industry and the number of people working in it. But there should be more opportunities for them,» Bornyakov noted.
That is why, he says, the Ministry of Digital Affairs took the initiative to create such laboratories throughout the country.
«I remember when we first came here, there was some kind of warehouse here — it didn’t look like a laboratory. But today, I see, everything is completely different. I’m very happy to see this transformation,» Bornyakov said, adding that the laboratory is designed for 30 student workplaces. He assured that the ministry will work to ensure that there are more such laboratories — and not only in Kyiv, but also in other cities.
He also explained that the issues of developing robotics in Ukraine also require changes to the regulatory framework, so this is being worked out jointly by the Ministry of Digital Affairs, the Ministry of Education, and the parliament.
In a comment to dev.ua, the rector of KNUBA, Oleksiy Dniprov, explained that the company Profi Robotics Ukraine provided its machines for the laboratory.
«Profi Robotics, as part of the Robotics Association, directly provided its excellent machines for use in the laboratory, and Profi Robotics, as we know, is the official representative of Kuka in Ukraine,» Dniprov noted. The latter is a well-known German manufacturer of industrial robots and production automation systems, and it is its machines that we can see in the photo, and, of course, in the university laboratory itself.
In turn, according to Dniprov, Ajax Systems participated in the renovation of the laboratory premises. «Ajax Systems participated in the direct creation of the technological laboratory, I mean the renovation work, zoning, and so on. That is, the main, as they say, „dirty work“ was done thanks to their help, and we are very, very grateful that everything was done in such extremely difficult conditions,» the rector of KNUBA noted.
Meanwhile, Deus Robotics co-founder Iryna Legkobyt said in a comment to dev.ua that as a successful startup, they are very acutely faced with a shortage of qualified personnel in the market who could develop prototypes of solutions in the field of robotics. Therefore, in her opinion, the opening of such laboratories could be useful for the entire industry, and not for individual companies.
Co-founder of Deus Robotics Iryna Legkobyt
«We took the initiative to the Ministry of Digital Transformation, they supported it. Together we designed what it should look like. The Ministry of Digital Transformation took up fundraising, because without it this laboratory would definitely not exist. For our part, as a business that already has its own laboratory and knows from practical experience what exactly such a laboratory should have and what it should be for, we were engaged in completely selecting what equipment should be there, what consumables should be there, and took on this function,» Iryna Legkobyt explained her participation in the Deus Robotics project.
According to her, Deus Robotics' mission does not end there, as they will provide assistance to students and project groups who will work here.
«We will involve public organizations that will hold seminars and hackathons with us here. We will involve mentors from corporations who will help these project groups create prototypes. We will also have project managers who will, so to speak, „lead“ these teams so that they don’t just start doing something, but are actually able to release finished products,» explained Iryna Legkobyt.
The doors of this laboratory are open to everyone. Next up are others.
Rector of KNUBA Oleksiy Dniprov, commenting on this issue for dev.ua, noted that the RoboLab robotics laboratory will be the base for the Faculty of Automation and Information Systems, where, in particular, the Department of Construction Machinery is located, and where specialists in the field of automation and robotics are trained. But, at the same time, according to the terms of the project, the doors of the laboratory will be open to other students, including those from external universities.
«According to the terms of the competition and the conditions for the creation of this laboratory, it should be open to all higher education institutions and scientific institutions. The relevant procedure has already been developed and approved, and there is a simple procedure for another institution or scientific institution to contact our laboratory with a request to conduct a certain research or practical lesson, and, accordingly, we determine the time for conducting these works in this laboratory,» Dniprov explained to our publication.
During his speech at the opening, Oleksiy Dniprov mentioned that the premises of the current ultra-modern Robolab laboratory previously housed a construction machinery laboratory, unique for its time, which was headed by the then rector of the university and laureate of state awards in the field of science and technology, Yuriy Vetrov.
«It was here, in this place, that unique construction machines were created at that time. Unfortunately, for a certain period of time, this laboratory did not function. And now it is truly a new birth of this laboratory,» shared Oleksiy Dniprov.
During the opening, we also asked Deputy Minister of Education and Science Denys Kurbatov about further plans to open similar laboratories in other Ukrainian universities.
«In my opinion, they should appear in a number of universities, but I can’t say which ones exactly, because there is a selection procedure, a competitive procedure ahead. But it is obvious that this project needs to be scaled up, because robotics is one of the advantages of Ukrainian science and the innovations thanks to which Ukraine can be competitive in the world,» emphasized Denys Kurbatov.
He also recalled that a number of similar projects, but with a slightly different focus, have recently been implemented with the participation of the Ministry of Education and Science.
«We have launched two major projects — one on centers of excellence, more of a defense focus. We will create six centers this year. Almost a billion hryvnias of funding has been allocated for these purposes, which means that this is a fairly large investment for Ukrainian science. And a separate project — we also have CampeX together with the World Bank, where we will also create 10 centers that are already civilian. Both competitions have already been launched. So this year we will begin building a new quality research infrastructure,» the deputy minister explained.
It would be symbolic to say that the traditional «red ribbon» at the opening of the laboratory was cut by a robot today. But it still did not do without the help of a person — in this case, Oleksandr Bornyakov.
