Assoc. prof. Ph.D.Sc. Matko Orsag and postdoctoral, Ph.D. Frano Petric received the Annual Award for popularization and promotion of technical sciences in the field of robotics for 2021. In addition to significant scientific activity in the fields of robotics and automation, they are particularly active in the popularization and promotion of science and humanoid sciences. robotics.
Activities include the organization of workshops, visits for primary and secondary school students, the organization of significant media events, appearances in the media and similar activities. In 2021, they organized robot Christmas parties, which they started at FER in 2018. In the Maksimir Cultural and Information Center, they organized a Christmas robot party where visitors mingled with the robots Frank, Pepper, Kinova and Schunk. An integral part of this event were four different workshops for primary and secondary school students. All these activities were sponsored by the Embassy of the United States of America.
In October 2021, they organized DroneDays in Biograd na Moru, a gathering and exhibition dedicated to aerial robotics. In 2021, they were also members of the organizing committee of the AIRPHARO 2021 international workshop, also held in Biograd na Moru, with the theme of using aerial robots to interact with people and the environment. Also, in 2021, they participated in the Conference on the Future of Europe in the Croatian Parliament, where the robot Pepper presented the FER's Center for Artificial Intelligence, which had a significant impact in the media and the public.
The decision on the awarding of state prizes for science was made by the Commission for the distribution of state prizes for science of the Ministry of Science and Education on November 21, 2022.