Final Report Summary - MIROR (Miniaturised Robotic systems for holistic in-situ Repair and maintenance works in restrained and hazardous environments)
Executive Summary:
Background and motivation
Conventionally the robotic and machine tools manufacturing industries have focussed their technological developments towards brand-new products and/or jobs with repetitive specifications; however, it seems that very little attention has been paid to the development of necessary tooling/automation solutions for post-production works such as maintenance and repair.
Some key industrial sectors rely on post-production treatments (such as inspection, maintenance, repair etc.) to sustain their business. Whilst they are not always in the public eye, they are of critical importance to the public wellbeing. For example:
• Imperious need for safe running of complex installations (e.g. nuclear power plants), highly engineered products (e.g. aero-engines) or equipment for construction (e.g. manufacture of safety critical beams).
• Cost penalties associated with possible down-times of equipment (e.g. shut down of power plants, offshore oil rigs) that provide critical inputs (e.g. gas, electricity, oil) to wide range of industries.
• Concerns on health and safety when post-production operations are performed on some installations (e.g. works at heights, underwater, chemical exposure, restrained spaces, explosive environments).
• Need to make “against the clock” treatments on industrial equipment under constrained/dangerous environments (e.g. works on submersed installations or offshore rigs to avoid ecological damages).
Usually, in-situ repair/maintenance works are performed using “job-customized” devices that lack flexibility while requiring significant resources for their setup and operation; this is because the industry is predominantly employing conventional tooling designs (e.g. inspired from the large machine tool systems) thus, having limited functional flexibility. In this context, considering the development of ever-more sophisticated industrial installations, the ability of these conventional (i.e. “job-customized”) in-situ repair/maintenance tooling to cope with the variety of job requirements in even more hostile environments (e.g. nuclear, underwater, high temperatures, restrained spaces) is likely to be questionable.
All these could be addressed through the use of robotics to address (pseudo)repetitive operations, improved accuracies, health and safety, flexibility, reduced cycles times, versatility through “adjust and trim” of the setups to fit the required applications.
In such instances, the lack of appropriate tooling systems to perform holistic post-productions operations (e.g. inspection & maintenance & repair) in a versatile manner to cover a large field of applications not only results in insufficient exploitation of the existing installations but also hinders the development of new and ever-more sophisticated technologies (e.g. energy, aerospace, construction) on which Europe has strategic interest to excel.
Project Context and Objectives:
MiRoR approach
MiRoR aims to develop a fundamentally novel concept of a miniaturised robotic machine system that equipped with intelligence-driven abilities will be demonstrated for holistic in-situ repair and maintenance of specific families of applications with minimal human intervention. This will be addressed by adopting two complementary miniature robotised machine (Mini-RoboMach) approaches:
i) “walking-in” Mini-RoboMach placed inside working environment – more suitable for wider workspaces and multi-task operations
ii) “snaking-in” Mini-RoboMach accessing working environment in invasive manner – suitable for crammed /dense workspaces
The complementarity of the approach means that a hybrid configuration of Mini-RoboMach, i.e. “walk & snake-in” called in the following “scorpion”, can address combined working environments.
In MiRoR approach, the innovative concept of Mini-RoboMach consists of a hybrid system that has:
i) a novel “free-leg” (i.e. without base platform) parallel kinematic configuration utilised for providing both “walking-in” positioning capability and 6-axis movement for performing post-production operations (e.g. repair, maintenance) over larger workspaces volumes;
ii) an original stiffness-controlled flexible-arm robot for enabling “snaking-in” capability in dense structures as well as the 6-axis movement to utilise end-effectors for post-production operations (e.g. inspection, repair, maintenance, etc) in very confined/dense workspaces.
Supported by MiRoR intelligent controlled, Mini-RoboMach will be able to (self)configure in its main operation (i.e. walk, snake, “scorpion”) modes upon the conditions found in the working environments. Moreover, due to its unique design solution/configuration the Mini-RoboMach concept is easily scalable and reconfigurable, features that allows it to respond to the needs of a wide range of post-production operations and working environments.
List of work package (WP) and partners responsible (WPL= WP leader)
WP1: Project Management: Coord- UNOTT, Prof. Axinte;
WP2: Architecture of MiRoR Platform: Tekniker, Mr. Ruiz;
WP3: Design & construction of a novel Mini-RoboMach toolkit: UNOTT, Dr Raffles;
WP4: Development of MiRoR intelligent control system: IPA, Mr. Pfeiffer;
WP5: Performance Predictor (PP) as MiRoR virtual test bench: ETHZ, Dr. Kunz
WP6: Demonstration of MiRoR system: Rolls-Royce, Dr. Kell
WP7: Dissemination – Training – Exploitation: ACCIONA, Mr. Palomino
Objectives
To realise the MiRoR concept, the following major objectives need to be met:
1. Develop a novel concept of a miniaturised robotised machine, Mini-RoboMach, with unique dual walking and/or snaking & multi-axis processing systems to address a niche industrial domain, i.e. holistic in-situ repair and maintenance of large/intricate installations.
2. Develop, for the first time, an intelligent control system for robotised machines, e.g. Mini-RoboMach, specialised in performing in-situ repair/maintenance works; the MiRoR intelligent controller will be equipped with following key abilities:
• Self-positioning – to enable walk and/or snake-in navigation to/from working place; precise calibration of end-effectors (e.g. inspection/processing tools) relative to the required feature; inter-job (re)positioning to find the “best” Mini-RoboMach position for each treatment (e.g. an inspection needs different Mini-RoboMach setup from that of a cutting operation). This ability is realised by: (a) feature extraction methods; (b) data fusion of extracted features with CAD data; (c) navigation algorithms (path planning, obstacle avoidance, etc).
• Reasoning – to enable the decision to access the working area in walking and/or snaking-in modes; learn from previous experiences so that in repetitive working scenarios Mini-RoboMach requires less setting/processing times; check and correct current/previous actions (e.g. deposit material – check – redeposit – check) so that the treatments are within the requirements. This ability is realised by use of: (a) reasoning methods based on knowledge databases; (b) feedback from user in the loop; (c) inference engines.
• Planning – to enable scheduling of task successions (e.g. inspection - material deposition - inspection - material removal - inspection, etc); optimisation of Mini-RoboMach path to different interventions places within the treated installations; schedule change of end-effectors (e.g. cutting tools). This ability will be realised by use of evaluation and integration of known algorithms (e.g. MES systems).
• Adaptation – to enable online adjustments of operating parameters for developing a self-protection ability of Mini-RoboMach in case it encounters harmful conditions; adapt the configuration of Mini-RoboMach platform to increase the stiffness of the system so that the operations are performed in “best possible” conditions. This will be achieved by use of: (a) situation awareness by use-case dependent sensor equipment and classification as input for reasoning; (b) situation dependent graceful degradation vs. safe fall-back strategies; (c) deviation (robot setup/position and CAD data vs. real world) and failure detection.
3. Develop a unique virtual test bench for the hardware (e.g. Mini-RoboMach) and software (intelligent controller) of MiRoR so that its robustness and capability to work unsupervised within required harsh/remote workspaces can pre-assessed and corrected before its effective utilisation.
i) Virtual “physical testing” of Mini-RoboMach involves:
1) kinematic verifications – to check that working envelope of the “as designed” Mini-RoboMach matches the working volume of the required workspace where the in-situ treatments are performed.
2) static and dynamic tests – to verify if the designed solutions can cope with the payloads and possible vibrations; note that Mini-RoboMach could be affected not only by internally generated vibrations (e.g. cutting forces) but also by those transmitted (from other working assemblies) through the structure being repaired /maintained; examples of such situations: in-situ repair/maintenance on a ship while engines run.
3) thermal tests – check the influence of temperature variations on the accuracy and the overall performance of Mini-RoboMach; its design should enable heat dissipation from drives, tools, etc. To enable these series of tests, MiRoR will develop/adapt from existing packages (e.g. ABAQUS, ANSYS) a series of diagnosis tools.
ii) “Intelligence testing” of the MiRoR controller evaluates: (1) navigation adaptability (e.g. virtual reaction of Mini-RoboMach to avoid obstacles); (2) inference ability (e.g. how the system plans succession of works at different locations and employs available setups – walk and/or snake in). The “intelligence” testing is of key importance to ensure that the system is not underperforming/lost within an installation due to decisional errors.
4. Demonstrate the MiRoR concept by performing in-situ holistic repair/maintenance works (e.g. inspection and processing – material deposition, removal) on high investment, large and/or intricate industrial installations. With its intelligence-guided Mini-RoboMach, MiRoR will increase the efficiency and robustness of performing holistic in-situ post-production treatments of a wide range of industrial equipment while requiring limited human intervention.
These objectives are achieved through interlinked four technical work packages (WP2-WP6) supported by management (WP1) and dissemination activities (WP7).
Project Results:
Work-package (WP 1) - Project Management
Summary of the WP:
Project Management ensures that the project objectives and deliverables are fulfilled within the contractual time, budget and quality standards. WP1 has the following, but not limited, main objectives: establish MiRoR administration system and prepare the project reports for submission to EC.
This WP only covers financial and administrative management of the project. Research quality/risk management, monitoring of the progress of the project and any other type of scientific coordination/management (including organisation of regular project meetings or equivalent, preparation of the scientific part of the reports, etc) are scientific coordination and the related costs will be considered under the corresponding scientific WPs.
Work-package (WP 2) - Architecture of MiRoR Platform
Summary of the WP:
WP2 provides the architectural framework on which models (Performance Predictor), software (e.g. specific CAM for novel – walking/snaking – robotics), design (e.g. CAD of Mini-RoboMach) and hardware (e.g. elements of Mini-RoboMach, control and sensing elements) are interrelated and integrated enabling the delivery of the project outputs. As MiRoR integrates multiple aspects in modelling, design, manufacture, simulation and control of innovative mechatronics/robotic systems, i.e. autonomous & intelligent Mini-RoboMach, the MiRoR platform has to deal with a level of integration detail that poses significant research and engineering challenges.
Summary of all major breakthroughs and innovations:
• Conceptual definition of MiRoR platform
• MiRoR unifying software components
• Validation of unitary MiRoR platform
Work-package (WP 3) - Design & construction of a novel Mini-RoboMach toolkit
Summary of the WP:
Innovative design and construction of miniature robotised machines (Mini-RoboMach) toolkit with its walk and snake-in robotic solutions, end-effectors and ancillaries; the design solutions adopted for Mini-RoboMach will be such that “internal standardisation” of its main modules can be adopted leading to easy scalability and reconfigurability of the concept. At the end of WP3, Mini-RoboMach will be ready to be equipped with the MiRoR Intelligent Controller (from WP4).
Summary of all major breakthroughs and innovations:
• Design and construct a novel free-leg parallel kinematic platform with dual functionality, i.e. walk & multi-axis movement of end-effectors.
• Design and construct an innovative semi-rigid robotic arm with dual functionality, i.e. snake-in dense structures & multi-axis movement of light weight end-effectors.
• Adopt and develop end-effectors and ancillary equipment (e.g. tooling magazine) to work in conjunction with the mechatronic solutions previously described.
• Integration of the above elements into a hybrid (walk and/or snake) scalable and easy reconfigurable Mini-RoboMach toolkit.
Work-package (WP 4) - Development of MiRoR intelligent control system
Summary of the WP:
To exploit the advantages offered by the innovative design of the robotised machines (WP3) by developing a multi-thread intelligent control system for MiRoR platform and thus to enable Mini-RoboMach act as an autonomous and self-reasoning/planning agent in its task of performing holistic in-situ repair/maintenance operations of industrial installations.
Summary of all major breakthroughs and innovations:
• Self-positioning will enable Mini-RoboMach to perform autonomous tasks such as: (i) navigation to/from work place; (ii) (re)calibration on features to the treated; (iii) inter-job positioning of Mini-RoboMach to ensure optimal access of the end-effectors (e.g. tooling) at each processing step/phase.
• Planning will enable MiRoR system to select: (i) succession of tasks performed by Mini-RoboMach; (ii) optimal path finder for Mini-RoboMach inside the work place; (iii) planning of Mini-RoboMach end-effectors to enable fluency of the operations.
• Reasoning will enable MiRoR controller to support the decision on the selection of the working mode(s) of Mini-RoboMach
• Cognitive system adaptation refers to the ability of the controller to support: (i) decisions for self-protection of the hardware when hazardous conditions could appear in the working zone of the Mini-RoboMach; (ii) decide on changing the structural setup of Mini-RoboMach (i.e. legs of FreeHex) so that its (pseudo)optimal stiffness is achieved for critical operations.
Work-package (WP 5) - Performance Predictor (PP) as MiRoR virtual test bench
Summary of the WP:
To develop a virtual test bench for the evaluation of the Mini-RoboMach design solutions and the MiRoR intelligence-driven abilities to predict its functional/reasoning capabilities and to enable corrective actions on the concepts before being built. This refers to the need of virtual testing of MiRoR system before it goes into any real applications (during/after the project) to ensure the required performance in the set industrial conditions; very time when a new treatment is needed by an end-user, the Performance Predictor will be run, for different hardware/software configurations of MiRoR, to ensure that an “optimal” system configuration is chosen for the particular conditions of the required job.
Summary of all major breakthroughs and innovations:
• Development/adaptation of appropriate simulation tools for virtual testing of the “physical” capabilities of Mino-RoboMach to enable modifications, scaling and/or reconfiguration of its design (feedback to WP3) so that it can cope with technical requirements imposed by specific families of in-situ treatment works (specified in WP2).
• Development/adaptation of simulation tools for virtual testing of the intelligence-driven abilities of MiRoR controller to support the evolution of Mini-RoboMach as a “self-sufficient” and autonomous-reasoning system capable of performing in-situ post-production treatments with minimum human intervention; this will enable taking corrective actions on the features of the MiRoR intelligent controller (feedback to WP4) so that it fulfils the specified automation requirements (specified in WP2).
• Unification of simulation tools into a unitary Performance Predictor package and its embedment into the MiRoR platform (link to WP2).
Work-package (WP 6) - Demonstration of MiRoR system
Summary of the WP:
Demonstrate the MiRoR system by performing multi-task post-production (e.g. maintenance/ repair) works in-situ large/dense installations by the use of novel, scalable and easily adaptable autonomous miniature robotised machines, i.e. Mini-RoboMach. The demonstrations will be carried out at the following evolving Complexity Levels: (1) try-out Mini-RoboMach; (2) artificial working environments; (3) unified mock-up test-bed for the industrial environments. Thus, WP6 will have its demonstration objectives structured at the following Capability Levels:
Demonstrate MiRoR as intelligent & autonomous system in its three evolving working setups:
D1: Walking-in and multi-axis positioning of end-effectors
D2: Snaking-in, selective stiffening and multi-axis positioning of end-effectors
D3: Walking and snaking-in and combined (D1 & D2) multi-axis positioning of end-effectors
Demonstrate the capability of MiRoR system to tackle multi-task in-situ operations on a combined mock-up reflecting various industrial scenarios (aerospace, energy, construction, offshore) and demanding working (e.g. crammed) environments:
-On-wing/ship inspection and repair of dense structures – gas turbine engines (Rolls-Royce).
-In-situ inspection and repair of large installations – power plants (Rolls-Royce).
-Supervision and maintenance of construction equipment operating in harsh environment – manufacturing plant of large composite beams (ACCIONA).
-Inspection and maintenance of offshore oil/gas platforms – repairs of mechanical structures (Petrom)
Work-package (WP 7) - Dissemination - Training - Exploitation
Summary of the WP:
As MiRoR aims to make a breakthrough in the field of (miniature) robotised machines for post-production treatments, the Consortium will have a significant material of interest for both the scientific and engineering communities to make a real impact in the EU and worldwide environments. Thus, the objectives of WP7 are the following:
• To actively disseminate the on-going research and engineering results of MiRoR to industry/ technology users via workshops/conferences, publications in scientific/engineering journals, brokerage sessions, communications to Groups of Interests/Associations (e.g. robotic, maintenance).
• To carry out training activities on MiRoR capabilities for both specialists and general users to enable a new class of processing technology, i.e. robotised machines/tooling for in-situ treatments of industrial installations, on which EU lacks strength.
• To continuously exploit the MiRoR results by transferring them, in accordance with the project IPR stipulations, into a broad EU engineering environment.
Summary of dissemination activities:
1) Workshops
During the project, two different workshops have been organized in order to present the results of MIROR project both to the general public, including both industry and academic entities. These workshops have been held within different international robotic conferences and during their preparation it has been taken into consideration the confidentiality of the results presented.
The first workshop for disseminating the results obtained in MiRoR project was held at Padova on July 15th 2014, integrated in the 13rd annual IAS conference. This workshop was organized together with the cluster of projects funded under the FoF 2011 call topic: “Robots for automation of post-production and other auxiliary processes”: Mainbot, Cablebot and Thermobot. The main objective of the meeting was to look for synergies and potential collaboration activities among the aforementioned projects and discuss about common problems and risks arisen during their development.
From MIROR side, five presentations were performed detailing the different subsystems in which the platform is composed:
- Presentation of the project (UNOTT).
- Design of a Walking Hexapod (IK4-Tekniker/UNOTT).
- Design of a novel semi-rigid snake arm robot. Innovative tip following and machining algorithms (UNOTT).
- The Unifying MiRoR Software: networking ROS over multiple platforms (IPA).
- Physics and Sensor Simulation in Robotics (ETHZ).
With regards to the second workshop, it was allocated within the IROS 2015 conference, in Hamburg (Germany), on September 28th 2015. This session was focused on detailing the different technical results achieved in the project and providing the point of view from the industry about the solutions obtained. The session was coordinated by Manuel Palomino (Acciona) and most of the partners of the consortium were involved by presenting their contributions to the project:
- Introduction and overview of the MiRoR platform (UNOTT).
- Walking Hexapod: development & validation (IK4-Tekniker).
- Design and validation of a continuum robot with repair capabilities (UNOTT).
- The MiRoR high level controller and its capabilities (IPA).
- The MiRoR performance predictor and its capabilities (ETHZ).
- Applications and demonstration of MiRoR system (RR, ACCIONA).
After those presentations, a round table was organized in order to summarize the results obtained from the project and discuss about the problems encountered and the lessons learnt while performing the works. Finally, a set of images and videos were presented demonstrating the performance of the robots and the different modules they are composed by.
2) Website
All partners have actively contributed to the dissemination of MiRoR project results. For example, five project partners (UNOTT, IPA, Tekniker, ETHZ and Acciona) have included information about MiRoR project on their website:
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/miror/about.aspx
http://www.tekniker.es/en/noticias/144/autonomous-robot-for-repairs-in-hazardous-environments
http://www.acciona-infrastructure.com/innovation/the-ict-and-3d-automation/miror.aspx?pag=&desde=8936
In addition, CORDIS presents the main project details:
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/284959
3) organisation and participation in scientific /engineering gatherings (e.g. conferences, workshops, fairs) as well as academic/professional publications
8 papers have been published (related to modelling of robot design and control) in journal;
3 conference papers;
5 open presentations to scientific gatherings have been delivered on the MiRoR scope and topic.
Summary of the training activities:
The purpose of the training programme is to deliver the knowledge in:
• Basic principles of MiRoR robotics platform
• Learn the MiRoR hardware
• Understanding and using MiRoR control program, including low- and high-level controller
• Understanding and using MiRoR performance predictor
Training session organized during the final MiRoR meeting in Nottingham at UNOTT facilities including live demonstrations of the different robots equipped with a series of end-effectors. Operators and personnel from different industrial companies such as Rolls Royce, Acciona and EON were involved in these activities. The MiRoR training session was organized, 20th January 2016 in Nottingham, UK.
Potential Impact:
Potential impact and main dissemination activities and exploitation results
Potential impacts
Impact at European dimension – societal objectives and EU policies
i) Contribution to European societal objectives
• Improvement the quality of life of EU citizens
- Sustain the increasing needs of energy, transportation and infrastructure. MiRoR will support these quality life enablers in two main ways: (1) timely in-situ treatments of key installations to improve their functionality and lower overall service costs; (2) avoid building new amenities at inherent added cost.
- Mitigate the risks of environmental hazards and improve health & safety of general public. MiRoR system could be the “sine-qua-non” tool to perform urgent in-situ treatments to critical safety installations (e.g. power/chemical plants, sewage systems) or for decommissioning works.
- Improve customer satisfaction by performing in-situ treatments to reduce down-times on amenities that affect citizens’ lives, e.g. on-time operational aircrafts make happy customers and avoid busy flight traffics; avoidance of cuts in services (power/water supply); preservation of EU building heritage.
• Improvement of employment, training and education
MiRoR will increase EU business opportunities for both end-users and manufacturers of future MiRoR systems; hence, EU will take advantage of the fast-emerging business (see p.66) of in-situ repair/ maintenance, support the increase of highly trained workforce and strengthen EU position of as knowledge-intensive industry. Supporting a new technology, MiRoR will contribute to the attraction of young graduates to the engineering sector; an enabler of European economic growth. Additionally, MiRoR will attract more candidates to vocational engineering programs addressing the workforce need for the emerging engineering sector. Thus, higher engineering knowledge will be gathered in the EU.
ii) Contribution to European policies
Recent EU/global data indicate that maintaining in working conditions of key assets is considered among the strategic ways in supporting the EU economic growth and its industrial world leadership.
“...during the next decades the application of nuclear energy to produce electricity will develop along two lines. One line will follow research to extend the lifetime of existing nuclear plants already in use...”
“We estimate the current size of the global maintenance, repair and overhaul market to be $46 billion, and expect the market to grow by an average of 7.2% annually through 2013, to $65 billion”
“The global maintenance, repair and overhaul market (A/N: of wind turbines) is expected to be nearly $9 billion in 2013 growing at an annual rate of 18% from 2008-2013.”
An efficient way to address these trends is to perform the post-production using of robotised systems.
“EU deserves a strong and visionary Strategic Research Agenda in robotics to tackle the main challenges expressed in the Lisbon strategy: (i) boosting competitiveness and growth by generating break-through innovations in robotics; (ii) maintaining EU manufacturing robotics in a leading position, and developing new companies and supply networks to meet the technology needs...”
The MiRoR technological breakthroughs will put EU in a leading position in the following fields:
• EU will have a system of unmatched performance, i.e. MiRoR, to perform holistic in-situ post-production treatments on capital intensive/strategic assets to improve their service lives/efficiencies.
• MiRoR will enable in-situ treatment of installations at no/reduced human interventions works even in hazardous environments; hence, EU will be technology leader in unmanned in-situ treatments.
• The EU service companies using the MiRoR system to performing in-situ post-production operations are likely to become leaders in this field and increase their business opportunities round the world.
• MiRoR will stimulate the creation of an EU knowledge hub in this field robotised machines offering with great market potential for both manufacturers and systems integrators.
Main dissemination activities and exploitation of results
It should be noted that the MIROR platform, and specifically the Walking Hexapod, should not be considered as a regular walking robot but as a walking machine-tool, capable to perform machining operations with a high level of stiffness and accuracy. Taking into account the positive feedback received from the industry during the training session held in Nottingham in the final meeting and the end users of the project, future work from the robot integrators (Tekniker and University of Nottingham) will be focused on adding new features and improving the capabilities of the robots in order to reach as many new potential applications as possible. Service providers (Fraunhofer IPA and ETHZ) will be involved in the developments when required to implement these modifications/improvements.
With regards to the continuum robot, the mechanical backlash is an important problem that requires future investigation in order to increase the accuracy of the system. Therefore, the mechanical transmission based on spools/cables has to be redesigned in order to improve the accuracy of the system. In addition, the actual system doesn’t have sensors that can provide a feedback of the pose of the sections due to the restrictions of the size of the actuation pack and the restrictions of the diameters of each disc. Therefore, the actuation pack should increase the dimension to allocate more electronics to process different signals from other sensors and the flexible sections should be redesigned to allocate more sensors.
According to Rolls-Royce expertise, currently the Snake Robot is too large in terms of outer diameter, and would be more beneficial to them if it were twice as long. The current system cannot perform anything that a person with standard tooling cannot do. But it certainly shows the potential of the system and with some development would be able to perform repairs and inspections in an automated fashion – which was the RR intent of the MiRoR project. The system needs to be more robust in terms of its overall reliability. It currently is a prototype and does not work exactly as intended, more development needs to be carried out. The kinematics of the last 3 stages of the snake robot are controlled well enough to perform real work (i.e. blend repairs) either, so this needs significant improvement.
From the end user’s point of view (Rolls-Royce, Acciona and OMV), an internal dissemination of the results of the project will be performed and alternatives for implementing the technology within their processes will be further evaluated. For example, Acciona will look for other potential applications of both robots (and also of the integrated platform) in the different businesses within Acciona Group (water treatment, energy efficiency and generation, facility services, construction...).
As discussed in the final meeting held in Nottingham, in case of a concrete commercialization opportunity emerging, either from a partner or from the project of from an external entity, the consortium will proceed according to the conditions established in the Consortium Agreement. If necessary, additional meetings will be organized to solve any problematic that may arise.
List of Websites:
http://www.miror.eu/
Dragos Axinte, PhD, CEng, FIMechE
Professor in Manufacturing Engineering
Director - Rolls-Royce UTC in Manufacturing Technology
University of Nottingham,
School of M3, Coates Building,
Nottingham, NG7 2RD
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)1159514117
Background and motivation
Conventionally the robotic and machine tools manufacturing industries have focussed their technological developments towards brand-new products and/or jobs with repetitive specifications; however, it seems that very little attention has been paid to the development of necessary tooling/automation solutions for post-production works such as maintenance and repair.
Some key industrial sectors rely on post-production treatments (such as inspection, maintenance, repair etc.) to sustain their business. Whilst they are not always in the public eye, they are of critical importance to the public wellbeing. For example:
• Imperious need for safe running of complex installations (e.g. nuclear power plants), highly engineered products (e.g. aero-engines) or equipment for construction (e.g. manufacture of safety critical beams).
• Cost penalties associated with possible down-times of equipment (e.g. shut down of power plants, offshore oil rigs) that provide critical inputs (e.g. gas, electricity, oil) to wide range of industries.
• Concerns on health and safety when post-production operations are performed on some installations (e.g. works at heights, underwater, chemical exposure, restrained spaces, explosive environments).
• Need to make “against the clock” treatments on industrial equipment under constrained/dangerous environments (e.g. works on submersed installations or offshore rigs to avoid ecological damages).
Usually, in-situ repair/maintenance works are performed using “job-customized” devices that lack flexibility while requiring significant resources for their setup and operation; this is because the industry is predominantly employing conventional tooling designs (e.g. inspired from the large machine tool systems) thus, having limited functional flexibility. In this context, considering the development of ever-more sophisticated industrial installations, the ability of these conventional (i.e. “job-customized”) in-situ repair/maintenance tooling to cope with the variety of job requirements in even more hostile environments (e.g. nuclear, underwater, high temperatures, restrained spaces) is likely to be questionable.
All these could be addressed through the use of robotics to address (pseudo)repetitive operations, improved accuracies, health and safety, flexibility, reduced cycles times, versatility through “adjust and trim” of the setups to fit the required applications.
In such instances, the lack of appropriate tooling systems to perform holistic post-productions operations (e.g. inspection & maintenance & repair) in a versatile manner to cover a large field of applications not only results in insufficient exploitation of the existing installations but also hinders the development of new and ever-more sophisticated technologies (e.g. energy, aerospace, construction) on which Europe has strategic interest to excel.
Project Context and Objectives:
MiRoR approach
MiRoR aims to develop a fundamentally novel concept of a miniaturised robotic machine system that equipped with intelligence-driven abilities will be demonstrated for holistic in-situ repair and maintenance of specific families of applications with minimal human intervention. This will be addressed by adopting two complementary miniature robotised machine (Mini-RoboMach) approaches:
i) “walking-in” Mini-RoboMach placed inside working environment – more suitable for wider workspaces and multi-task operations
ii) “snaking-in” Mini-RoboMach accessing working environment in invasive manner – suitable for crammed /dense workspaces
The complementarity of the approach means that a hybrid configuration of Mini-RoboMach, i.e. “walk & snake-in” called in the following “scorpion”, can address combined working environments.
In MiRoR approach, the innovative concept of Mini-RoboMach consists of a hybrid system that has:
i) a novel “free-leg” (i.e. without base platform) parallel kinematic configuration utilised for providing both “walking-in” positioning capability and 6-axis movement for performing post-production operations (e.g. repair, maintenance) over larger workspaces volumes;
ii) an original stiffness-controlled flexible-arm robot for enabling “snaking-in” capability in dense structures as well as the 6-axis movement to utilise end-effectors for post-production operations (e.g. inspection, repair, maintenance, etc) in very confined/dense workspaces.
Supported by MiRoR intelligent controlled, Mini-RoboMach will be able to (self)configure in its main operation (i.e. walk, snake, “scorpion”) modes upon the conditions found in the working environments. Moreover, due to its unique design solution/configuration the Mini-RoboMach concept is easily scalable and reconfigurable, features that allows it to respond to the needs of a wide range of post-production operations and working environments.
List of work package (WP) and partners responsible (WPL= WP leader)
WP1: Project Management: Coord- UNOTT, Prof. Axinte;
WP2: Architecture of MiRoR Platform: Tekniker, Mr. Ruiz;
WP3: Design & construction of a novel Mini-RoboMach toolkit: UNOTT, Dr Raffles;
WP4: Development of MiRoR intelligent control system: IPA, Mr. Pfeiffer;
WP5: Performance Predictor (PP) as MiRoR virtual test bench: ETHZ, Dr. Kunz
WP6: Demonstration of MiRoR system: Rolls-Royce, Dr. Kell
WP7: Dissemination – Training – Exploitation: ACCIONA, Mr. Palomino
Objectives
To realise the MiRoR concept, the following major objectives need to be met:
1. Develop a novel concept of a miniaturised robotised machine, Mini-RoboMach, with unique dual walking and/or snaking & multi-axis processing systems to address a niche industrial domain, i.e. holistic in-situ repair and maintenance of large/intricate installations.
2. Develop, for the first time, an intelligent control system for robotised machines, e.g. Mini-RoboMach, specialised in performing in-situ repair/maintenance works; the MiRoR intelligent controller will be equipped with following key abilities:
• Self-positioning – to enable walk and/or snake-in navigation to/from working place; precise calibration of end-effectors (e.g. inspection/processing tools) relative to the required feature; inter-job (re)positioning to find the “best” Mini-RoboMach position for each treatment (e.g. an inspection needs different Mini-RoboMach setup from that of a cutting operation). This ability is realised by: (a) feature extraction methods; (b) data fusion of extracted features with CAD data; (c) navigation algorithms (path planning, obstacle avoidance, etc).
• Reasoning – to enable the decision to access the working area in walking and/or snaking-in modes; learn from previous experiences so that in repetitive working scenarios Mini-RoboMach requires less setting/processing times; check and correct current/previous actions (e.g. deposit material – check – redeposit – check) so that the treatments are within the requirements. This ability is realised by use of: (a) reasoning methods based on knowledge databases; (b) feedback from user in the loop; (c) inference engines.
• Planning – to enable scheduling of task successions (e.g. inspection - material deposition - inspection - material removal - inspection, etc); optimisation of Mini-RoboMach path to different interventions places within the treated installations; schedule change of end-effectors (e.g. cutting tools). This ability will be realised by use of evaluation and integration of known algorithms (e.g. MES systems).
• Adaptation – to enable online adjustments of operating parameters for developing a self-protection ability of Mini-RoboMach in case it encounters harmful conditions; adapt the configuration of Mini-RoboMach platform to increase the stiffness of the system so that the operations are performed in “best possible” conditions. This will be achieved by use of: (a) situation awareness by use-case dependent sensor equipment and classification as input for reasoning; (b) situation dependent graceful degradation vs. safe fall-back strategies; (c) deviation (robot setup/position and CAD data vs. real world) and failure detection.
3. Develop a unique virtual test bench for the hardware (e.g. Mini-RoboMach) and software (intelligent controller) of MiRoR so that its robustness and capability to work unsupervised within required harsh/remote workspaces can pre-assessed and corrected before its effective utilisation.
i) Virtual “physical testing” of Mini-RoboMach involves:
1) kinematic verifications – to check that working envelope of the “as designed” Mini-RoboMach matches the working volume of the required workspace where the in-situ treatments are performed.
2) static and dynamic tests – to verify if the designed solutions can cope with the payloads and possible vibrations; note that Mini-RoboMach could be affected not only by internally generated vibrations (e.g. cutting forces) but also by those transmitted (from other working assemblies) through the structure being repaired /maintained; examples of such situations: in-situ repair/maintenance on a ship while engines run.
3) thermal tests – check the influence of temperature variations on the accuracy and the overall performance of Mini-RoboMach; its design should enable heat dissipation from drives, tools, etc. To enable these series of tests, MiRoR will develop/adapt from existing packages (e.g. ABAQUS, ANSYS) a series of diagnosis tools.
ii) “Intelligence testing” of the MiRoR controller evaluates: (1) navigation adaptability (e.g. virtual reaction of Mini-RoboMach to avoid obstacles); (2) inference ability (e.g. how the system plans succession of works at different locations and employs available setups – walk and/or snake in). The “intelligence” testing is of key importance to ensure that the system is not underperforming/lost within an installation due to decisional errors.
4. Demonstrate the MiRoR concept by performing in-situ holistic repair/maintenance works (e.g. inspection and processing – material deposition, removal) on high investment, large and/or intricate industrial installations. With its intelligence-guided Mini-RoboMach, MiRoR will increase the efficiency and robustness of performing holistic in-situ post-production treatments of a wide range of industrial equipment while requiring limited human intervention.
These objectives are achieved through interlinked four technical work packages (WP2-WP6) supported by management (WP1) and dissemination activities (WP7).
Project Results:
Work-package (WP 1) - Project Management
Summary of the WP:
Project Management ensures that the project objectives and deliverables are fulfilled within the contractual time, budget and quality standards. WP1 has the following, but not limited, main objectives: establish MiRoR administration system and prepare the project reports for submission to EC.
This WP only covers financial and administrative management of the project. Research quality/risk management, monitoring of the progress of the project and any other type of scientific coordination/management (including organisation of regular project meetings or equivalent, preparation of the scientific part of the reports, etc) are scientific coordination and the related costs will be considered under the corresponding scientific WPs.
Work-package (WP 2) - Architecture of MiRoR Platform
Summary of the WP:
WP2 provides the architectural framework on which models (Performance Predictor), software (e.g. specific CAM for novel – walking/snaking – robotics), design (e.g. CAD of Mini-RoboMach) and hardware (e.g. elements of Mini-RoboMach, control and sensing elements) are interrelated and integrated enabling the delivery of the project outputs. As MiRoR integrates multiple aspects in modelling, design, manufacture, simulation and control of innovative mechatronics/robotic systems, i.e. autonomous & intelligent Mini-RoboMach, the MiRoR platform has to deal with a level of integration detail that poses significant research and engineering challenges.
Summary of all major breakthroughs and innovations:
• Conceptual definition of MiRoR platform
• MiRoR unifying software components
• Validation of unitary MiRoR platform
Work-package (WP 3) - Design & construction of a novel Mini-RoboMach toolkit
Summary of the WP:
Innovative design and construction of miniature robotised machines (Mini-RoboMach) toolkit with its walk and snake-in robotic solutions, end-effectors and ancillaries; the design solutions adopted for Mini-RoboMach will be such that “internal standardisation” of its main modules can be adopted leading to easy scalability and reconfigurability of the concept. At the end of WP3, Mini-RoboMach will be ready to be equipped with the MiRoR Intelligent Controller (from WP4).
Summary of all major breakthroughs and innovations:
• Design and construct a novel free-leg parallel kinematic platform with dual functionality, i.e. walk & multi-axis movement of end-effectors.
• Design and construct an innovative semi-rigid robotic arm with dual functionality, i.e. snake-in dense structures & multi-axis movement of light weight end-effectors.
• Adopt and develop end-effectors and ancillary equipment (e.g. tooling magazine) to work in conjunction with the mechatronic solutions previously described.
• Integration of the above elements into a hybrid (walk and/or snake) scalable and easy reconfigurable Mini-RoboMach toolkit.
Work-package (WP 4) - Development of MiRoR intelligent control system
Summary of the WP:
To exploit the advantages offered by the innovative design of the robotised machines (WP3) by developing a multi-thread intelligent control system for MiRoR platform and thus to enable Mini-RoboMach act as an autonomous and self-reasoning/planning agent in its task of performing holistic in-situ repair/maintenance operations of industrial installations.
Summary of all major breakthroughs and innovations:
• Self-positioning will enable Mini-RoboMach to perform autonomous tasks such as: (i) navigation to/from work place; (ii) (re)calibration on features to the treated; (iii) inter-job positioning of Mini-RoboMach to ensure optimal access of the end-effectors (e.g. tooling) at each processing step/phase.
• Planning will enable MiRoR system to select: (i) succession of tasks performed by Mini-RoboMach; (ii) optimal path finder for Mini-RoboMach inside the work place; (iii) planning of Mini-RoboMach end-effectors to enable fluency of the operations.
• Reasoning will enable MiRoR controller to support the decision on the selection of the working mode(s) of Mini-RoboMach
• Cognitive system adaptation refers to the ability of the controller to support: (i) decisions for self-protection of the hardware when hazardous conditions could appear in the working zone of the Mini-RoboMach; (ii) decide on changing the structural setup of Mini-RoboMach (i.e. legs of FreeHex) so that its (pseudo)optimal stiffness is achieved for critical operations.
Work-package (WP 5) - Performance Predictor (PP) as MiRoR virtual test bench
Summary of the WP:
To develop a virtual test bench for the evaluation of the Mini-RoboMach design solutions and the MiRoR intelligence-driven abilities to predict its functional/reasoning capabilities and to enable corrective actions on the concepts before being built. This refers to the need of virtual testing of MiRoR system before it goes into any real applications (during/after the project) to ensure the required performance in the set industrial conditions; very time when a new treatment is needed by an end-user, the Performance Predictor will be run, for different hardware/software configurations of MiRoR, to ensure that an “optimal” system configuration is chosen for the particular conditions of the required job.
Summary of all major breakthroughs and innovations:
• Development/adaptation of appropriate simulation tools for virtual testing of the “physical” capabilities of Mino-RoboMach to enable modifications, scaling and/or reconfiguration of its design (feedback to WP3) so that it can cope with technical requirements imposed by specific families of in-situ treatment works (specified in WP2).
• Development/adaptation of simulation tools for virtual testing of the intelligence-driven abilities of MiRoR controller to support the evolution of Mini-RoboMach as a “self-sufficient” and autonomous-reasoning system capable of performing in-situ post-production treatments with minimum human intervention; this will enable taking corrective actions on the features of the MiRoR intelligent controller (feedback to WP4) so that it fulfils the specified automation requirements (specified in WP2).
• Unification of simulation tools into a unitary Performance Predictor package and its embedment into the MiRoR platform (link to WP2).
Work-package (WP 6) - Demonstration of MiRoR system
Summary of the WP:
Demonstrate the MiRoR system by performing multi-task post-production (e.g. maintenance/ repair) works in-situ large/dense installations by the use of novel, scalable and easily adaptable autonomous miniature robotised machines, i.e. Mini-RoboMach. The demonstrations will be carried out at the following evolving Complexity Levels: (1) try-out Mini-RoboMach; (2) artificial working environments; (3) unified mock-up test-bed for the industrial environments. Thus, WP6 will have its demonstration objectives structured at the following Capability Levels:
Demonstrate MiRoR as intelligent & autonomous system in its three evolving working setups:
D1: Walking-in and multi-axis positioning of end-effectors
D2: Snaking-in, selective stiffening and multi-axis positioning of end-effectors
D3: Walking and snaking-in and combined (D1 & D2) multi-axis positioning of end-effectors
Demonstrate the capability of MiRoR system to tackle multi-task in-situ operations on a combined mock-up reflecting various industrial scenarios (aerospace, energy, construction, offshore) and demanding working (e.g. crammed) environments:
-On-wing/ship inspection and repair of dense structures – gas turbine engines (Rolls-Royce).
-In-situ inspection and repair of large installations – power plants (Rolls-Royce).
-Supervision and maintenance of construction equipment operating in harsh environment – manufacturing plant of large composite beams (ACCIONA).
-Inspection and maintenance of offshore oil/gas platforms – repairs of mechanical structures (Petrom)
Work-package (WP 7) - Dissemination - Training - Exploitation
Summary of the WP:
As MiRoR aims to make a breakthrough in the field of (miniature) robotised machines for post-production treatments, the Consortium will have a significant material of interest for both the scientific and engineering communities to make a real impact in the EU and worldwide environments. Thus, the objectives of WP7 are the following:
• To actively disseminate the on-going research and engineering results of MiRoR to industry/ technology users via workshops/conferences, publications in scientific/engineering journals, brokerage sessions, communications to Groups of Interests/Associations (e.g. robotic, maintenance).
• To carry out training activities on MiRoR capabilities for both specialists and general users to enable a new class of processing technology, i.e. robotised machines/tooling for in-situ treatments of industrial installations, on which EU lacks strength.
• To continuously exploit the MiRoR results by transferring them, in accordance with the project IPR stipulations, into a broad EU engineering environment.
Summary of dissemination activities:
1) Workshops
During the project, two different workshops have been organized in order to present the results of MIROR project both to the general public, including both industry and academic entities. These workshops have been held within different international robotic conferences and during their preparation it has been taken into consideration the confidentiality of the results presented.
The first workshop for disseminating the results obtained in MiRoR project was held at Padova on July 15th 2014, integrated in the 13rd annual IAS conference. This workshop was organized together with the cluster of projects funded under the FoF 2011 call topic: “Robots for automation of post-production and other auxiliary processes”: Mainbot, Cablebot and Thermobot. The main objective of the meeting was to look for synergies and potential collaboration activities among the aforementioned projects and discuss about common problems and risks arisen during their development.
From MIROR side, five presentations were performed detailing the different subsystems in which the platform is composed:
- Presentation of the project (UNOTT).
- Design of a Walking Hexapod (IK4-Tekniker/UNOTT).
- Design of a novel semi-rigid snake arm robot. Innovative tip following and machining algorithms (UNOTT).
- The Unifying MiRoR Software: networking ROS over multiple platforms (IPA).
- Physics and Sensor Simulation in Robotics (ETHZ).
With regards to the second workshop, it was allocated within the IROS 2015 conference, in Hamburg (Germany), on September 28th 2015. This session was focused on detailing the different technical results achieved in the project and providing the point of view from the industry about the solutions obtained. The session was coordinated by Manuel Palomino (Acciona) and most of the partners of the consortium were involved by presenting their contributions to the project:
- Introduction and overview of the MiRoR platform (UNOTT).
- Walking Hexapod: development & validation (IK4-Tekniker).
- Design and validation of a continuum robot with repair capabilities (UNOTT).
- The MiRoR high level controller and its capabilities (IPA).
- The MiRoR performance predictor and its capabilities (ETHZ).
- Applications and demonstration of MiRoR system (RR, ACCIONA).
After those presentations, a round table was organized in order to summarize the results obtained from the project and discuss about the problems encountered and the lessons learnt while performing the works. Finally, a set of images and videos were presented demonstrating the performance of the robots and the different modules they are composed by.
2) Website
All partners have actively contributed to the dissemination of MiRoR project results. For example, five project partners (UNOTT, IPA, Tekniker, ETHZ and Acciona) have included information about MiRoR project on their website:
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/miror/about.aspx
http://www.tekniker.es/en/noticias/144/autonomous-robot-for-repairs-in-hazardous-environments
http://www.acciona-infrastructure.com/innovation/the-ict-and-3d-automation/miror.aspx?pag=&desde=8936
In addition, CORDIS presents the main project details:
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/284959
3) organisation and participation in scientific /engineering gatherings (e.g. conferences, workshops, fairs) as well as academic/professional publications
8 papers have been published (related to modelling of robot design and control) in journal;
3 conference papers;
5 open presentations to scientific gatherings have been delivered on the MiRoR scope and topic.
Summary of the training activities:
The purpose of the training programme is to deliver the knowledge in:
• Basic principles of MiRoR robotics platform
• Learn the MiRoR hardware
• Understanding and using MiRoR control program, including low- and high-level controller
• Understanding and using MiRoR performance predictor
Training session organized during the final MiRoR meeting in Nottingham at UNOTT facilities including live demonstrations of the different robots equipped with a series of end-effectors. Operators and personnel from different industrial companies such as Rolls Royce, Acciona and EON were involved in these activities. The MiRoR training session was organized, 20th January 2016 in Nottingham, UK.
Potential Impact:
Potential impact and main dissemination activities and exploitation results
Potential impacts
Impact at European dimension – societal objectives and EU policies
i) Contribution to European societal objectives
• Improvement the quality of life of EU citizens
- Sustain the increasing needs of energy, transportation and infrastructure. MiRoR will support these quality life enablers in two main ways: (1) timely in-situ treatments of key installations to improve their functionality and lower overall service costs; (2) avoid building new amenities at inherent added cost.
- Mitigate the risks of environmental hazards and improve health & safety of general public. MiRoR system could be the “sine-qua-non” tool to perform urgent in-situ treatments to critical safety installations (e.g. power/chemical plants, sewage systems) or for decommissioning works.
- Improve customer satisfaction by performing in-situ treatments to reduce down-times on amenities that affect citizens’ lives, e.g. on-time operational aircrafts make happy customers and avoid busy flight traffics; avoidance of cuts in services (power/water supply); preservation of EU building heritage.
• Improvement of employment, training and education
MiRoR will increase EU business opportunities for both end-users and manufacturers of future MiRoR systems; hence, EU will take advantage of the fast-emerging business (see p.66) of in-situ repair/ maintenance, support the increase of highly trained workforce and strengthen EU position of as knowledge-intensive industry. Supporting a new technology, MiRoR will contribute to the attraction of young graduates to the engineering sector; an enabler of European economic growth. Additionally, MiRoR will attract more candidates to vocational engineering programs addressing the workforce need for the emerging engineering sector. Thus, higher engineering knowledge will be gathered in the EU.
ii) Contribution to European policies
Recent EU/global data indicate that maintaining in working conditions of key assets is considered among the strategic ways in supporting the EU economic growth and its industrial world leadership.
“...during the next decades the application of nuclear energy to produce electricity will develop along two lines. One line will follow research to extend the lifetime of existing nuclear plants already in use...”
“We estimate the current size of the global maintenance, repair and overhaul market to be $46 billion, and expect the market to grow by an average of 7.2% annually through 2013, to $65 billion”
“The global maintenance, repair and overhaul market (A/N: of wind turbines) is expected to be nearly $9 billion in 2013 growing at an annual rate of 18% from 2008-2013.”
An efficient way to address these trends is to perform the post-production using of robotised systems.
“EU deserves a strong and visionary Strategic Research Agenda in robotics to tackle the main challenges expressed in the Lisbon strategy: (i) boosting competitiveness and growth by generating break-through innovations in robotics; (ii) maintaining EU manufacturing robotics in a leading position, and developing new companies and supply networks to meet the technology needs...”
The MiRoR technological breakthroughs will put EU in a leading position in the following fields:
• EU will have a system of unmatched performance, i.e. MiRoR, to perform holistic in-situ post-production treatments on capital intensive/strategic assets to improve their service lives/efficiencies.
• MiRoR will enable in-situ treatment of installations at no/reduced human interventions works even in hazardous environments; hence, EU will be technology leader in unmanned in-situ treatments.
• The EU service companies using the MiRoR system to performing in-situ post-production operations are likely to become leaders in this field and increase their business opportunities round the world.
• MiRoR will stimulate the creation of an EU knowledge hub in this field robotised machines offering with great market potential for both manufacturers and systems integrators.
Main dissemination activities and exploitation of results
It should be noted that the MIROR platform, and specifically the Walking Hexapod, should not be considered as a regular walking robot but as a walking machine-tool, capable to perform machining operations with a high level of stiffness and accuracy. Taking into account the positive feedback received from the industry during the training session held in Nottingham in the final meeting and the end users of the project, future work from the robot integrators (Tekniker and University of Nottingham) will be focused on adding new features and improving the capabilities of the robots in order to reach as many new potential applications as possible. Service providers (Fraunhofer IPA and ETHZ) will be involved in the developments when required to implement these modifications/improvements.
With regards to the continuum robot, the mechanical backlash is an important problem that requires future investigation in order to increase the accuracy of the system. Therefore, the mechanical transmission based on spools/cables has to be redesigned in order to improve the accuracy of the system. In addition, the actual system doesn’t have sensors that can provide a feedback of the pose of the sections due to the restrictions of the size of the actuation pack and the restrictions of the diameters of each disc. Therefore, the actuation pack should increase the dimension to allocate more electronics to process different signals from other sensors and the flexible sections should be redesigned to allocate more sensors.
According to Rolls-Royce expertise, currently the Snake Robot is too large in terms of outer diameter, and would be more beneficial to them if it were twice as long. The current system cannot perform anything that a person with standard tooling cannot do. But it certainly shows the potential of the system and with some development would be able to perform repairs and inspections in an automated fashion – which was the RR intent of the MiRoR project. The system needs to be more robust in terms of its overall reliability. It currently is a prototype and does not work exactly as intended, more development needs to be carried out. The kinematics of the last 3 stages of the snake robot are controlled well enough to perform real work (i.e. blend repairs) either, so this needs significant improvement.
From the end user’s point of view (Rolls-Royce, Acciona and OMV), an internal dissemination of the results of the project will be performed and alternatives for implementing the technology within their processes will be further evaluated. For example, Acciona will look for other potential applications of both robots (and also of the integrated platform) in the different businesses within Acciona Group (water treatment, energy efficiency and generation, facility services, construction...).
As discussed in the final meeting held in Nottingham, in case of a concrete commercialization opportunity emerging, either from a partner or from the project of from an external entity, the consortium will proceed according to the conditions established in the Consortium Agreement. If necessary, additional meetings will be organized to solve any problematic that may arise.
List of Websites:
http://www.miror.eu/
Dragos Axinte, PhD, CEng, FIMechE
Professor in Manufacturing Engineering
Director - Rolls-Royce UTC in Manufacturing Technology
University of Nottingham,
School of M3, Coates Building,
Nottingham, NG7 2RD
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)1159514117