Unibo Team Leader: Prof. Lorenzo Marconi, Dip. di Ingegneria dell'Energia Elettrica e dell'Informazione "Guglielmo Marconi" – DEI
The goal of the AIRobots project is to develop a new generation of aerial service robots capable to support human beings in all those activities which require the ability to interact actively and safely with environments not constrained on ground but, indeed, freely in air. The step forward with respect to the "classical" field of aerial robotics is to realize aerial vehicles able to accomplish a large variety of applications, such as inspection of buildings and large infrastructures, sample picking, aerial remote manipulation, etc.
The starting point is an aerial platform whose aeromechanical configuration allows the vehicle to interact with the environment in a non-destructive way and to hover close to operating points. Rotary-wing aerial vehicles with shrouded propellers represent the basic airframes which will be then equipped with appropriate robotic end-effectors and sensors in order to transform the aerial platform into an aerial service robot, a system able to fly and to achieve robotic tasks.
Advanced automatic control algorithms will be conceived to govern the aerial platform which will be remotely supervised by the operator with the use of haptic devices. Particular emphasis will be given to develop advanced human-in-the-loop and autonomous navigation control strategies relying upon a cooperative and adaptive interaction between the on-board automatic control and the remote operator. Force and visual feedback strategies will be investigated in order to transform the aerial platform in a "flying hand" suitable for aerial manipulation.
The consortium is composed by four academic groups (University of Bologna-Italy, ETH Zurich-Switzerland, University of Naples Federico II-Italy, University of Twente-The Netherlands) and an SME, ALSTOM Inspection Robotics, with the role of end-user and evaluator of the project outcomes for the specific application of robotic inspection of power plants.
Prototypes of aerial service robots will be developed within AIRobots and tested on experimental setups which will be constructed in order to reproduce typical industrial scenarios, envisaged by ALSTOM Inspection Robotics, in which aerial inspection robotic can be beneficial. The prototypes will be specifically tested on tasks such as docking and undocking from structures, cleaning, inspection and repairing of infrastructures, payload lifting, and others operations requiring safe
interaction between the aerial platform and the environment.
Coordinatore
ALMA MATER STUDIORUM-UNIVERSITA' DI BOLOGNA
- Dip. di Ingegneria dell'Energia Elettrica e dell'Informazione
- Resp. Scientifico: Prof. Lorenzo Marconi
Other participants
ALSTOM INSPECTION ROBOTICS AG (Switzerland)
EIDGENÖSSISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE ZÜRICH (Switzerland)
UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI NAPOLI"FEDERICO II" (Italy)
UNIVERSITEIT TWENTE (The Netherlands)
Start date 01/02/2010
End date 31/01/2013
Duration 36 months
Project cost 3.614.006 EURO
Project Funding 2.616.000 EURO
Subprogramme Area Cognitive Systems and Robotics
Contract type Collaborative project