agROBOfood is an EU funded project aiming to build a European ecosystem for the effective adoption of robotic technologies in the agri food sector. They will host an online conference “Visioning the Future of Agri-Food Robotics” from 29th June – 1st July with four different panels. ESMERA will be represented by Dr. Michalos of the Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems and Automation (LMS), University of Patras in the session: “Reflections on the positioning of the existing DIH networks in relation to the Digital Europe Programme”.

Registration is free on Eventbrite (register here) – we hope to see you there!

You can read the June 2021 edition here. If you haven’t already, sign up to receive the newsletter at esmera-project.eu/newsletter

It will allow our many stakeholders to stay up-to-date on the exciting robotics projects across different sectors which our experiments are developing. If you are in the industry or an investor and want to get in touch with the experiment teams, please visit our contact site: esmera-project.eu/contact.

Happy reading!

The selected experiments are: AeroWind, FLOX-rover, MoCAAS, NeRO, PRySM, ROMERO, ROVER4RT, SA3IR, SUSPICION, Web2Print.

Read the full press release here: ESMERA_SOCE_11 /05/21_Press release

Interested in learning more about how the ESMERA-SOCE teams are providing real-world, working, robotic solutions? Watch all the team’s videos on YouTube

Independent experts of the respective domains had selected them out of the 12 experiments which provided a “Proof of Concept” initially. The external evaluators identified these experiments based on their potential to bring products on the market and to achieve highest impact. In the area of manufacturing, the REFLECT experiment addresses the challenge of developing flexible and highly dexterous equipment, while WIRECOBOTS aims at improving the current assembly process of wire harnesses by introducing collaborative robots.  MINOTAUR-R (Energy) develops an autonomous robot capable of overcoming the weaknesses of the current applied methods and technologies in nuclear waste sorting applications. The Nix system, equally active in the application area “Energy”  focuses on modularity/adaptability to different robot platforms, together with environmental protection according to IP67 and ATEX certifiability requirements. Last but no least COBOLLEAGUE (applications for the construction sector)  develops a highly modular collaborative autonomous ground robot equipped with a gravity-compensated mechanism for the autonomous transportation of heavy parts and collaborative handling of heavy tools in construction sites.

Do not miss the show of their final results and register now via Eventbrite here.

For watching the full interview on YouTube, use this link.

First of all, congratulations. Minotaur-R is one of the experiments already in the second phase, working on the final business plans and the Go-to-Market-Strategy. So, would you in general say that the development is going well?

Actually, yes. We have already achieved all the technical milestones. And we are in the process of assembling the final hardware now. There have been some significant challenges during the process, especially trying to keep the overall costs for the solution low. But now, the product is almost complete.

What is Minotaur-R about, what is the challenge you would like to solve?

It is a nuclear waste sorting challenge. Our robot identifies and picks highly radioactive Magnox springs, which are scattered among other radioactive nuclear debris of low or medium radioactivity.

Have you been able to test Minotaur-R in realistic environments?

To test it in real-life environments has not been in the scope of the challenge, of course. But in Phase II we have followed the challenge providers´ instructions to come as close to the real life environment as possible. And our new system is double the size and can cope with a much more challenging type of debris.

We had to rebuild our AI based vision system, which now works independent on lighting. And it can detect springs with down to only 20% of the spring not covered by the debris. It is a totally new system in Phase II.

That sounds good. ESMERA has already started in 2018. What made you apply for the project in the first place?

We are always looking for new challenges and ways to apply our technologies. We were already active in the area of sorting, picking and vision, so this was an opportunity to apply our expertise in the field and the market.

ESMERA is a Horizon 2020 project, what would you consider advantages and disadvantages to be part in such a project?

If you are a Start-Up, go for it! We had very good support from our mentors and we succeeded in our goals. Inside an EU project you get the means to fulfil your vision, get help and support from mentors and access to new fields, new organizations and people, which is always relevant and interesting.

You need to work within the framework of the program and there is a bit of bureaucracy involved, but you go through a learning curve and the competence centers help you, so that is just fine.

We are already almost done. The second phase ends in December. What are your expectations for Minotaur-R after the ESMERA project will have ended?

Inside the project we have developed streams of technologies. And we intend to apply them to the waste sorting sector in general, not only the nuclear waste sector. Our deep learning AI vision system is a breakthrough in itself. And we have a green application already in mind. So we have a lot of plans.

How did you come up with the name Minotaur-R in the first place?

Originally, the Minotaur is from the Greek mythology. But Minotaur-R is actually an acronym standing for “Magnox Springs Sorting with Autonomous Robot in Radioactive Environments”. It is a catching name and makes sense from the marketing perspective.

Due to Covid-19, the whole 2020 somehow did not go according to plan. Did it have an impact on your development and progress, as well?

Initially we had some setbacks, mostly when we needed to order hardware. So we split our development and did the software first, since we could do it from home. This is why we are now in the final development phase.

Thank you very much for the interview and good luck with Minotaur-R also after the ESMERA project.

Due to the Covid-19 restrictions for travel and especially larger group assemblies such as trade fairs and conferences, the Global Robot Expo, initially planned for April 2020 in Madrid, moved to virtual. The ESMERA team was present with two booths directly next to each other presenting some of our experiments. REFLECT, Wire Cobots, Nix, equals, Rover4RT and iRTA attended the virtual event. Interested contacts could get to know our experiments by watching their images and videos on our booth´s screens or meeting representatives by their avatars “in person”.