The GRVC Robotics Laboratory of the Higher Technical School of Engineering of the University of Seville , directed by Aníbal Ollero, organizes the closing of the AERIAL-CORE project (AERIAL COgnitive integrated multi-task Robotic system with Extended operation range and safety). After four years of research in which more than 15 international institutions have participated, this initiative will culminate with a final review on October 26 and 27 at the ATLAS Center in Villacarrillo (Jaén) where, in addition to presenting the results obtained in academic terms , an external demonstration of the robots will be carried out through tests such as mapping, interaction between multiple devices, manipulation of tools and checking of high voltage lines, among others.

AERIAL-CORE was born in 2019 with the objective of developing a robotic, cognitive, aerial and integrated system to collaborate with human operators in the inspection and maintenance activities of large infrastructures, reducing costs and improving workplace safety. To date, it has not only implemented this technology, but has produced more than 200 academic publications and has hosted 20 doctoral theses and, in its third and final period alone, it has obtained 13 awards and registered 5 patents. Within this project, workshops and presentations have been held at prestigious conferences such as ICRA, IROS and ICUAS in several of their annual editions, as well as in research centers around the world such as the Beijing Institute of Virtual Technology, the National Research Program of Singapore , the INRIA in France, the KAIST in Korea, or the Gordon Research Conference Robotics and the L4DC in the United States, consolidating the project as a success.

More about AERIAL-CORE

With funding of more than 8,500,000 million euros, AERIAL-CORE has been developing since 2019 devices such as aerial robots with the capacity to inspect infrastructures with great precision (subcentimeter) and at long distances (several kilometers), among other actions. Project researchers have also applied cognitive functions to the devices to combine hovering and long-term endurance for local observations of infrastructure, manipulation with force interactions, and collaboration of robots with humans.

During these four years, AERIAL-CORE has already demonstrated advances such as autonomous tracking of a power line, mapping of vegetation near the line, bio-inspired aerial robotic platforms, landing on conductors and manipulation for their maintenance, including installation of clip-type and helical diverters or conductor separators, among others.

All this research, which ends in 2023, has been carried out in a consortium coordinated by the University of Seville and also formed by the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, the CREATE Consortium, the Andalusian Foundation for Aerospace Development (FADA), the University of Zurich, Czech Technical University in Prague, University of Zagreb, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH), Terabee Designs, FuVeX, Donecle SAS, University of Southern Denmark (SDU), E-Distribution, Vertical Engineering Solutions and the University from Twente.