UAV developed by Ascending Technologies. Photo credits: TRADR

The University of Oulu will host a summer school on heterogeneity in Robotic Systems this August in Oulu, Finland, where the latest advances and developments in the field of European research within this area will be presented.

The euRathlon/TRADR summer school 2016 will take place from 22-26 August and will provide participants with both theoretical and practical insight in multi-domain (ground, marine and aerial) real robotic systems for deployment in disaster response scenarios.  The trend in this area is towards multi-robot systems with different platforms, processing powers and operational spaces (ground, water, air) that will be deployed over long periods and several sorties. This raises many challenges including multi-modal heterogeneous mapping, semantic analysis and reasoning, collaborative planning under uncertainty, and the integration of mapping and planning.

The summer school programme has been designed to provide attendees with hands-on experience; they will work on practical tasks using several robots with different sensory equipment.

Three invited speakers will give master classes. The keynote speakers confirmed are:

• Jan Peters  from the Technische Universitaet Darmstadt and Max-Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (Germany),
• Cesar Dario Cadena Lerma from ETH Zurich (Switzerland), and
• Matthijs Spann from TU Delf (The Netherlands).

The intended audience of the summer school is undergraduate students, Master students, PhD students, postdoc students, researchers from universities/organisations and engineers from industry companies around the world. The summer school will provide an opportunity for attendees to deepen their understanding of heterogeneous robotics systems and share ideas and experiences. Participants can optionally present a paper/poster during the summer school.

Participants of euRathlon/SHERPA 2015 summer school during the hands-on experience with domain-specific simulators. Photo credits: euRathlon

During their stay in Oulu, participants will extend their knowledge by learning about the latest advances in multi-domain real robotic systems for deployment in disaster response scenarios.

In addition to improving their knowledge in field robotics, the event constitutes a great opportunity to meet professionals and specialists with common interests and can serve to create new teams willing to participate in the ERL Emergency competition in 2017.

The call for participation in the summer school is now open and full information is available on http://www.eurathlon.eu/index.php/workshop/summerschool2016/

The summer school is jointly organised by EURATHLON and TRADR research projects funded by the Seventh Framework Programme and the Horizon 2020 Programme of the European Commission, respectively.

Participants of euRathlon/SHERPA 2015 summer school test the USV on the lake in Oulu. Photo credits: euRathlon

euRathlon is an outdoor multi-domain robotic competition inspired by the 2011 Fukushima accident. The euRathlon Challenges requires teams of land, underwater and flying robots to work together to survey the scene, collect environmental data, and identify critical hazards. After three successful years, euRathlon takes a step further under the RockEU2 EU-Horizon 2020 project.  RockEU2 builds on the success of the RockEU FP7 coordination action, together with the expertise in robotics competitions generated within euRathlon, RoCKIn and EuRoC EU-FP7 projects. The approach to robot competitions will be transitional and experimental. RockEU2 traces the first steps of a novel model for competitions: the European Robotics League (ERL). The ERL model will be tested for viability alongside its implementation during the next two years, in which euRathlon will become ERL Emergency Robots.

Watch the video resume of the euRathlon 2015 Grand Challenge:

TRADR is a research project. It focuses on long-term human-robot teaming for robot-assisted disaster response and addresses the scientific challenges arising from making the experience of a human-robot disaster response team persistent over multiple sorties during a prolonged mission. Using a proven-in-practice user-centric design methodology, TRADR develops novel science and technology for human-robot emergency teams.

Ground robots used in survey and rescue missions by TRADR. Photo credit: TRADR.

Different types of robots collaborate with human team members to explore the environment, and gather physical samples. Throughout this collaborative effort, TRADR enables the team to gradually develop its understanding of the disaster area over multiple synchronous and asynchronous sorties (persistent environment models), to improve team members’ understanding of how to work in the area (persistent multi-robot action models), and to improve team-work (persistent human-robot teaming).

Watch the video of TRADR Joint exercise in Dortmund, Germany:

Torre del Sale, Piombino, was the location chosen for simulating the euRathlon’s Fukushima-like disaster. Photo Credit: euRathlon

Inspired by the 2011 Fukushima accident, the euRathlon competition is the first outdoor competition where teams of land, sea and air robots must cooperate in a realistic disaster-response scenario. Following participation in the trials and sub-challenges, six multi-domain teams attempted the Grand Challenge, where they were required to locate missing workers, map a building and identify critical hazards, and inspect land and underwater pipes and stem a leak, all within 100 minutes. Watch the Grand Challenge video recaps and find out the winning teams …

An example ‘Object of Potential Interest’, or OPI, the unblocked entrance was represented by a green rectangle. Photo credit: Joshua Davidson

ENSTA Bretagne Team 1 looking under water for a possible missing worker. Photo credit: euRathlon

The Grand Challenge

The seven partners of euRathlon consortium worked together for more than two years to design this unique disaster-response scenario, which comprised three realistic mission goals:

• Mission-A: Search for missing workers – Robots had to search for two missing workers represented by mannequins dressed in orange suits, which could be inside the building, outside the building, floating on the sea surface near the coast, or trapped underwater. Teams received bonus points if a worker was found during the first 30 minutes of the Grand Challenge, because in a real scenario the probability of finding a missing person alive decreases rapidly with time.
• Mission-B: Reconnaissance and environmental survey of a building – Robots had to inspect a building to evaluate damage (represented by markers) and find a safe path to a machine room where valves were located. This required robots to reconnoitre the area, create a map of the building and the outdoor area surrounding it, and locate there the objects of potential interest (OPIs) in order to provide situational awareness to the team.
• Mission-C: Pipe inspection and stemming a leak – Robots had to localise four pipe sections on land, localize another four matching pipes underwater, look for damage to the land pipes and identify a contaminant leak (represented by a marker), reach the valves in the machine room and underwater, and close the correct valves in a synchronised process.

Schematic representation of the distribution of piping sections and valves and their correspondence. Credit: euRathlon

Example of pipe distribution. Source: Google Maps.

The Grand Challenge was successfully met if all the three missions were accomplished within 100 minutes. Strategy was important, as teams were given significant leeway:

• Teams were free to tackle the mission goals in parallel or in sequence, and to choose the order.
• Teams were free to choose which types of robots to deploy, as well as how and when to deploy them.
• A team’s robots could communicate directly, or via their operators at the control station.

Taking place over two days, Grand Challenge was designed to encourage and reward cooperation between ground, marine and aerial robots, while allowing maximum flexibility in participation and innovation. Half of the teams were multi-domain partnerships and the other half full multi-domain teams.

Day One participants:

• Cobham (land) + Universitat de Girona (sea) + ISEP/INESC TEC (air)
• ENSTA Bretagne Team 1 (land, sea, air)
• ENSTA Bretagne Team 2 (land, sea, air)

Day Two participants:

• Bebot (land, air) + AUV Team TomKyle (sea)
• B.R.A.I.N Robots (land) + UNIFI (sea, air)
• ICARUS (land, sea, air)

Watch the video recaps:

The Award Ceremony

After the runs were complete, the judges retired to analyse the data provided by the teams throughout the competition and reach a verdict. The awards ceremony took place at the gardens of Giardini Pro Patria, Piombino.

Alan Winfield, euRathlon project coordinator, welcomed everyone and opened the ceremony. Then followed short speeches by Deputy Mayor Stefano Ferrini, and CMRE Deputy Director Andrew Pickup.

Gabriele Ferri, Director of euRathlon 2015, thanked René Garello, representative of the IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society, for their platinum sponsorship with a special focus on marine robotics. He also thanked the silver sponsors Enel, ECmanaged, Evologics, SBG-Systems and Texas Instruments, and Satoshi Tadokoro, IEEE RAS representative, for supporting the competition with the IEEE RAS Technical Committee (TC) on Safety, Security and Rescue Robotics (SSRR) special prizes for autonomy and multi-robot collaboration.

Winner of euRathlon 2015 Grand Challenge: Team Cobham (Land)+Universitat de Girona (Sea) + INESP/INESC TEC (Air). Photo credit: euRathlon

euRathlon 2015 winners

Grand Challenge

• 1st prize: Cobham + Universitat de Girona + ISEP/INESC TEC
• 2nd equal: ICARUS
• 2nd equal: Bebot + AUV Team TomKyle
• 3rd prize: ENSTA Bretagne Team 1

Land + Air sub-challenge

• 1st prize: Cobham + ISEP/INESC TEC

Sea + Land sub-challenge

• 1st prize: Cobham + Universitat de Girona

Best euRathlon SSRR Autonomy Award, given by IEEE RAS TC on Safety, Security and Rescue Robotics

• Winner: ICARUS
• Finalists: ICARUS, Universitat de Girona, ENSTA Bretagne Team 1

Best euRathlon MRS Multi-Robot Coordination Award, given by IEEE RAS TC on Multi-Robot Systems

• Winner: ICARUS
• Finalists: ICARUS, BeBot+AUV Team TomKyle, Universitat de Girona+Cobham

Texas Instruments Special Prizes for Innovation

• Winner (Land): Bebot
• Winner (Sea): Universitat de Girona
• Winner (Air): ICARUS

Marine Trials Prize (Students prize)

• 1st: Universitat de Girona
• 2nd: ENSTA Bretagne Team 1
• 3rd: AUGA

See you all at euRathlon 2017!

Group photo of euRathlon 2015 participants. Photo credit: euRathlon

DRC-HUBO robot from Team KAIST, winner of DARPA Robotics Challenge 2015, drops in for a visit on Day Four of eutRathlon 2015. Photo credit: euRathlon

Weather conditions challenged the teams participating on the second day of euRathlon 2015 two-domain sub-challenges. The morning started with the remaining team that had yet to participate in the land and air scenario (L+A). In the afternoon the strong wind made flying aerial robots difficulty, and to some extent, unsafe for spectators. As a result, the judges decided to cancel the sea and air (S+A) scenario scheduled for the afternoon, and allowed the land and sea robots to practise for the next day’s Grand Challenge. Find out the winners of the euRathlon 2015 sub-challenges …

Sub-Challenge (L+A): Survey the building and search for a missing worker

A minimum of one land robot and one aerial robot was required to participate in this scenario.

The robots had to perform a reconnaissance mission of the building and the land surrounding it. A schematic map of the building was given to the teams at the beginning of the sub-challenge. Entrances, corridors, rooms, and the machine room were shown on the map. However, it did not have detailed dimensions and the teams were told that it may or may not be up to date. Teams needed to be aware that an earthquake and tsunami had probably damaged part of the external and internal structure of the building, blocking some paths and entrances.

The team had to look for damage to the building, locate an unobstructed entrance, and at the same time find a safe path to the building and to the machine room for their land robot. Additionally, the robots had to find a missing worker (represented by a mannequin), who was located either inside or outside the building. If the worker was found during the first 30 minutes of the sub-challenge scenario, it improved the team’s chances of rescuing the worker alive.

Teams had 45 minutes to create a map of the interior of the building and its surroundings, and locate objects of potential interest, in this case blocked/unblocked entrances and corridors, damage, and the missing worker.

The multi-domain teams that participated in this second day of land and sea sub-challenges were:

• B.R.A.I.N. Robots (Land) + UNIFI (Sea & Air)
• ENSTA Bretagne Team 1 (Land, Sea & Air)
• ICARUS

One of ICARUS team’s multirotor (ICARUS EU-FP7 project). Photo credit: euRathlon

Caption: One of ICARUS team’s multirotor (ICARUS EU-FP7 project). Photo Credits: euRathlon

Sub-Challenge (S+A): Pipe inspection and search for a worker

A minimum of one marine robot and one aerial robot was required to participate in this scenario. Ground robots were not allowed in this sub-challenge.

In this scenario aerial robots had to inspect and map the beach area surrounding the building, and sea robots had to inspect and map the Enel-harbour area. They had to search for damage and leaks in the four pipe sections on land and the four pipe sections underwater, represented by different markers. The piping sections consisted of cylindrical yellow shapes on land and underwater, and each of the pipes on land was logically connected to one underwater (and vice-versa).

Robots also had to look for a missing worker represented by a mannequin dressed in bright orange. The worker could be located on the land outside the building or at the sea (at the surface near the shore or trapped underwater) in a supine or prone position.

Schematic representation of the piping structures for the Sea & Air Sub-Challenge. Credit: euRathlon

This scenario was cancelled due to poor weather conditions that could compromise safety for the aerial robots.

WALK-MAN and DRC-HUBO humanoid robots exhibition

A large audience of people of different ages came to Tor del Sale, Piombino, to see the exhibition of WALK-MAN and DRC-HUBO robots. These two humanoid robots participated recently in the DARPA Robotics Challenge in Los Angeles (USA). This was the first time they did a demonstration together in Europe. WALK-MAN is the robot developed by the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) and the Research Centre “E. Piaggio” from Pisa as part of an EU-FP7 project with the same name. DRC-HUBO, the winner of the DARPA Robotics Challenge 2015, is developed by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). The DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) is a competition of robot systems and software teams with the aim to develop robots capable of assisting humans in responding to natural and man-made disasters. Team KAIST and Team WALK-MAN showed how their robots walked, close a gate valve and could go up and down steps.

WALK-MAN robot closing a valve during the exhibition. Photo credit: euRathlon

Winners of euRathlon 2015 Two Domain Sub-Challenges

The winners of euRathlon 2015 two-domain sub-challenges were:

• Sub-Challenge (Land +Air) : Survey the building and search for a missing worker:
  – 1^st Cobham (Land)+ ISEP/INESC (Air)
  – 2^nd ICARUS (Land, Sea & Air)

• Sub-Challenge (Land & Sea) : Stem the leak:
  – 1^st Cobham (Land)+ Universitat de Girona (Sea)
  – 2^nd ICARUS (Land, Sea & Air)
  – 3^rd AUV Team TomKyle (Sea) + Bebot (Land, Air)
  – 4^th UNIFI (Air & Sea) + B.R.A.I.M. Robots (Land)

• Sub-Challenge (Sea + Air): Pipe inspection and search for a worker:
  Cancelled

Don’t miss tomorrow Day Five recap, the Grand Challenge starts!

 Missed coverage of some of the earlier challenges? Find it here.  

Robot Monique (B.R.A.I.N Robots) and the Enel Power Plant in Tor del Sale, Piombino. Photo Credits: Klemen Istenic

The first day of euRathlon 2015 two-domain sub-challenges started with the land and air (L+A) combined scenario, followed in the afternoon by the sea and land (S+L), where robots had to search for missing workers and leaks, inspect the building and close valves on land and underwater. Only ten teams passed to this second round of the competition, creating a total of 6 multi-domain teams — find out the winners of these trials and watch the video recap …

The Sub-Challenges

In euRathlon competition, the sub-challenges are referred to as the combined scenarios. They are two-domain scenarios, each a combination of two trials.

There are a total of three sub-challenges: land and sea (L+S), sea and air (S+A) and land and air (L+A). In the sub-challenges the main goal is cooperation between the two domains. Cooperation and autonomy are rewarded through the scoring schema.

Sub-Challenge (L+A): Survey the building and search for a missing worker

A minimum of one land robot and one aerial robot was required to participate in this scenario.

The robots had to perform a reconnaissance mission of the building and the land surrounding it. A schematic map of the building was given to the teams at the beginning of the sub-Challenge. Entrances, corridors, rooms, and the machine room were shown on the map. However, it did not have detailed dimensions and the teams were told that it may or may not be up to date. Teams needed to be aware that an earthquake and tsunami had probably damaged part of the external and internal structure of the building, blocking some paths and entrances.

The team had to look for damage to the building, locate an unobstructed entrance, and at the same time find a safe path to the building and to the machine room for their land robot. Additionally, the robots had to find a missing worker (represented by a mannequin), who was located either inside or outside the building. If the worker was found during the first 30 minutes of the sub-challenge scenario, it improved the team’s chances of rescuing the worker alive.

Teams had 45 minutes to create a map of the interior of the building and its surroundings, and locate objects of potential interest, in this case blocked/unblocked entrances and corridors, damage, and the missing worker.

Of the total of 6 multi-domain teams, only three teams participated in this first day of land and sea sub-challenges. The teams were:

• AUV Tomkyle (Sea) + Bebot (Land & Air)
• Cobham (Land) + Universitat de Girona (Sea) + ISEP/INESC (Air)
• ENSTA Bretagne Team 2 (Land, Sea & Air)

The rest of teams were scheduled for the next day.

Air Team UNIFI (University of Florence) partners with land team B.R.A.I.N Robots. Photo Credits: euRathlon

Sub-Challenge (L+S): Stem the leak

A minimum of one land robot and one marine robot was required to participate in this scenario. Aerial robots were not allowed in this sub-challenge.

Land and sea robots started from the premise that they had already reached the building and the pipes area underwater, respectively. The main tasks were to find the leaking pipes and close the correct valves underwater and on land to stop the leak. Special care had to be taken, as closing an incorrect valve could cause a reduction of the amount of water provided for cooling the reactor in the scenario, causing the team to incur a penalty.

Land and marine robots had to cooperate to map the area and discover the correct valves. Once the leak on land was found the ground robot had to communicate the number of that pipe to the sea robot, so that it could follow that pipe underwater and close the corresponding valve. In the case of the marine robot, it had to communicate the number of the leaking underwater pipe to the land robot so that it could close the corresponding valve. A schematic of the connections was given to the teams. The robots could not close the valves until the two correct pair were found, as the process of closing them had to be synchronised.

Schematic representation of the distribution of piping sections and valves and their correspondence for Sub-Challenge L+S. Photo credits: euRathlon

In this sub-challenge, it was known that the pipes on land close to the shore were not damaged or leaking, so no inspection of them by the land robots was required.

Only four multi-domain teams decided to participate in this L+S sub-challenge. They were:

• AUV TomKyle (Sea) +Bebot (Land & Air)
• Cobham (Land)+Universitat de Girona (Sea)+ISEP/INESC (Air)
• ICARUS (Land, Sea & Air)
• B.R.A.I.N. Robots (Land )+ UNIFI (Sea & Air)

Team Universitat de Girona (partner in this sub-challenge with Cobham) closing the valve underwater. Photo credits: euRathlon

Robot-era project exhibition

A big crowd of people attended the robotics exhibition of Robot-Era project (Scuola Sant’Anna di Pisa) at Piazza Bovio, in the main square of Piombino city. Robot-Era is an EU-funded project that focuses on the development, implementation and demonstration of feasibility of robots for assisted living. One of it aims is to improve the quality of life and efficiency of care for the elderly people.

: The three assistance living robots of Robot-Era project ready to welcome the public. Photo credits: euRathlon

Winners of euRathlon 2015 Trials (A2, S2, L2).

The winners of the second euRathlon 2015 trials were:

• Land Trial (L2): Mobile manipulation (valve closing):
  – 1^st Cobham
  – shared 2^nd ICARUS / Bebot
  – 4^th SARRUS
  – 5^th ENSTA Bretagne Team 1

• Sea Trial (S2): Leak localisation and valve closing:
  – 1^st Universitat de Girona
  – 2^nd ENSTA Bretagne Team 1
  – 3^rd AUGA
  – shared 4^th OUBOT / AUV Team TomKyle

• Air Trial (A2): Aerial reconnaissance inside a building:
  – 1^st ENSTA Bretagne Team 1
  – 2^nd ENSTA Bretagne Team 2 

Don’t miss tomorrow Day Four recap of the second set of sub-challenges and the exhibition of the DRC-HUBO KAIST and WALK-MAN Humanoid robots!

Missed coverage of some of the earlier challenges? Find it here.  

Sea scenarios take place in the harbour of the Enel power plant, Piombino, Italy. Image: euRathlon

Inspired by the 2011 Fukushima accident, euRathlon is a civilian outdoor robotics competition focused on realistic cooperative disaster response scenarios. On the second day of single-domain trials, the land, sea and air robots faced three new challenges. Sea robots had to search for a leak and close a valve, while land robots had to inspect the inside of the building and close the valves in the machine room. Aerial robots had to inspect the building and look for a safe path to the machine room for a land robot. The winners of the first euRathlon 2015 trials were unveiled and a series of robotics talks took place at Piombino Castle.

Watch the Day Two recap video here:

Sea Trial (S2): Leak localisation and valve closing

In this second trial, the marine robots had to localise a leaking underwater pipe and close the valve associated to it. The leak was represented by a plume of orange buoys and an orange rectangular marker on one of the four yellow pipes. Once the leaking pipe was found, the robot had to follow it to reach the underwater structure where the valve was mounted. Finally, the robot had to close the valve to stop the hypothetical leak.

As in previous days, the teams had to work under poor water visibility conditions, making it harder to find the leak and close the valve. Teams were only allowed to tele-operate their AUVs (Autonomous Underwater Vehicles) for closing the valve.

Eleven teams participated in this sea trial, competing in parallel in two different areas. The teams were AUV Team TomKyle, Robdos Team , ENSTA Bretagne Team 1, ENSTA Bretagne Team 2, Team Nessie, Universitat de Girona , AUGA, AVORA, UNIFI, ICARUS and OUBOT.

AUV Team Tomkyle (University of Applied Sciences Kiel) preparing for the second sea trial. Photo credits: euRathlon

Land Trial (L2): Mobile Manipulation (valves closing)

In the mobile manipulation land trial, the robots had to reach the machine room inside the building. Inside the machine room there were 4 valves, a canister containing water that simulated contaminated material and a barrel. The land robots had to close a minimum of one valve. They were also required to pick up the canister containing the “hazardous” substance, move it into the barrel, and then cover the barrel with a lid.

The seven teams that participated in this trial were Bebot, B.R.A.I.N. Robots, ENSTA Bretagne Team 1, ENSTA Bretagne Team 2, Cobham, ICARUS and SARRUS.

Team Bebot (Bern University of Applied Sciences) setting things up before starting the second land trial . Image: euRathlon

Air Trial (A2): Aerial reconnaissance inside a building

In the second air trial, aerial robots performed a reconnaissance mission of the building in order to increase the situational awareness of the emergency response team. For this purpose, the robots had to enter the building and find a safe path to the machine room for a land robot. The UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) had to create a map and localise objects of potential interest (OPIs) that marked obstacles and blocked paths that would limit access for a ground robot.

Due to the complexity of flying inside a building (which also limits the size of the UAV), only three teams participated: ENSTA Bretagne Team 1, ENSTA Bretagne Team 2 and ICARUS. This last team opted for inspecting the inside of the building through the windows using a thermal camera.

ENSTA Bretagne Team 2 performing the aerial reconnaissance inside the building. Image: euRathlon

Robotics talks

As part of euRathlon 2015, a series of robotics talks took place in the evening at Piombino Castle. On Sunday, Prof Alan Winfield (UWE Bristol, Bristol Robotics Laboratory), Dr Anne Bajart (EU Commission Project Officer) and Dr Gabriele Ferri (CMRE) presented the euRathlon project to the audience. This introduction was followed by a talk on robotics for underwater archaeology by archaeologist Pamela Gambogi (Soprintendenza dei Beni Archeologici della Toscana) and Prof Andrea Caiti (ISME, University of Pisa). Monday’s talks also featured another group of exceptional speakers: Prof Paolo Dario (Scuola Sant’Anna of Pisa) presented the Robot-Era project and the Biorobotics Institute and Dr Nikos Tsagaraskis (IIT, Genova) talked about the WALK-MAN project and their experience participating in the DARPA Robotics Challenge with their humanoid robot.

Prof Paolo Dario (Scuola Sant’Anna of Pisa) presenting on the Biorobotics Institute. Image: euRathlon

Winners of euRathlon 2015 Trials (A1, S1, L1)

The winners of the first euRathlon 2015 trials were:

• Land Trial (L1): Reconnaissance in urban structure. Shared 1st place – Bebot / Cobham, 3rd – SARRUS

• Sea Trial (S1): Navigation and environmental survey. 1st – Universitat de Girona, 2nd – ENSTA Bretagne Team 1, 3rd – AUGA, 4th – ICARUS, 5th – AUV Team TomKyle

• Air Trial (A1): Aerial detection and mapping. 1st – ICARUS, 2nd – ISEP/INESC TEC, shared 3rd – ENSTA Bretagne Team 1 / ENSTA Bretagne Team 2

Don’t miss tomorrow’s Day Three recap for the results of the second day of trials and the start of the two-domain Sub-Challenges!

Missed coverage of some of the earlier challenges? Find it here.  

[Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly noted the order of the Sea Trial Winners.]

Torre del Sale building, Piombino, Italy. Image: eurathlon

Inspired by the 2011 Fukushima accident, euRathlon is a civilian outdoor robotics competition focused on realistic cooperative disaster response scenarios. euRathlon 2015 takes place in the area surrounding the building of Torre del Sale, on the site of the Enel-owned power plant, and 16 teams from ten different countries have travelled to Piombino, Italy, to tackle this unique challenge. In the first day of trials, aerial, ground and marine robots had to deal with the very real conditions of a demanding coastal environment. Watch the Day One recap video.

The Opening

The mayor of the city of Piombino, Massimo Giuliani, gave a warm welcome to all the attendees, followed by the Enel engineer Antongiulio Bertoncini, Dr Anne Bajart (the project’s European Commission officer), Professor Alan Winfield (euRathlon project Coordinator) and Dr Gabriele Ferri (Head of the euRathlon 2015 robotics competition).

The Trials

The euRathlon 2015 scenarios are arranged in increasing order of complexity, with the trials first, followed by the sub-challenges and finally the Grand Challenge.

Trials are single-domain scenarios designed to encourage the participation of teams that may not have the time, resources and/or experience to directly address the euRathlon Grand Challenge. But, at the same time, they serve as a warm up for the multi-domain (land, sea and air) teams. There are a total of six trials divided into two land trials (L1, L2), two sea trials (S1, S2) and two air trials (A1, A2).

Land Trial (L1): Reconnaissance in Urban Structure

For the first of the two land trials the competitors’ robots were required to approach, inspect and map a ruined building. The land robots had to navigate across a beach filled with obstacles such as wood debris, vegetation and sand dunes. Once inside the building, robots had to look for mock damage and the entrance to the machine room.

A schematic map of the building was given to the teams at the beginning of the trial. The map didn’t include detailed dimensions of entrances, corridors and rooms. As part of the staging, entrances are randomly blocked as a result of a hypothetical earthquake and tsunami.

The seven teams participating in this land trial were B.R.A.I.N. Robots, Cobham, Bebot, ICARUS, ENSTA Bretagne Team 1, ENSTA Bretagne Team 2 and SARRUS.

The beach natural environment turned out to be a real challenge for the robots and only two teams successfully entered the building.

Team ICARUS (ICARUS EU-FP7) preparing for the land trial. Image: euRathlon

Sea Trial (S1): Navigation and Environmental Survey

The sea trial took place in the Enel-owned plant harbour, where robots were tasked with surveying an area of 15×15 metres in the basin of the dock.

The AUVs (Autonomous Unmanned Vehicles) had to navigate from the launch point to a validation gate, pass through it and search for damage on the seabed, marked by submerged orange buoys.

The 11 teams participating in the sea trial competed in parallel, in two different areas. The teams were OUBOT, AUV Team TomKyle, ENSTA Bretagne Team 2, AVORA, UNIFI, ENSTA Bretagne Team 1, AUGA, Team Nessie, ICARUS, Robdos Team and Universitat de Girona.

Teams had to contend with poor water visibility worsened by the rough sea conditions of the previous days. Although acquiring live video and images of the buoys with the on-board camera was a challenge, most of the teams succeed in the navigation task.

Team OUBOT (Obuda University) after their participation in the sea trial.

Air Trial (A1): Aerial Detection and Mapping

In this first air trial, teams were called on to conduct an aerial inspection to find a safe path from the starting point, for a land robot, to an unblocked entrance of the building.

Specific take-off and landing areas were designated for the UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles).

The robots had to map the area surrounding the building and look for objects of potential interest (OPIs) representing blocked and unblocked entrances.

The six teams that participated in this trial were UNIFI, ICARUS, ENSTA Bretagne Team 1, ENSTA Bretagne Team 2 and ISEP/INESC TEC.

Team UNIFI ( University of Florence) getting ready for the aerial trial. Image: euRathlon

The teams faced variable wind conditions during the day, but that did not stop their robots from taking-off and flying around the building. Most of the teams succeed in surveying the area and finding a safe path for the land robot. 

Watch this space for Day Two: the second set of land, and sea trials!

The location of euRathlon 2015 competition at Torre del Sale, Piombino, Italy. Photo credits: EURATHLON

On March 11, 2011, a tsunami and earthquake struck Fukushima Dai-ichi energy plant causing a major disaster. Since then emergency services have deployed robots to inspect the area and collect data. Some robot surveys were successful while others failed, underlining the pressing need to advance the state-of-the-art in autonomous robots for disaster response. Further research is necessary, and so is testing in realistic environments. Shinji Kawatsuma, from the Japan Atomic Energy Authority (JAEA), urged in his outstanding talk in euRathlon 2013: “Don’t build robots, build robot systems”. And this is what euRathlon 2015 is all about: testing the capabilities of robot systems in realistic mock emergency-response scenarios.

euRathlon is an outdoor robotics competition funded by the European Union with a focus on realistic cooperative search and rescue response scenarios for land, sea and air robots. Inspired by the 2011 Fukushima accident, the euRathlon 2015 Grand Challenge can only be met when these three domains of robotics are working cooperatively. Previous single-domain euRathlon competitions focussed on land (2013), sea (2014). These, alongside team building workshops, and have been building up to the 2015 Grand Challenge, where the overall aim is to advance the state-of-the-art in heterogeneous teams of autonomous vehicles. Multi-disciplinary and multi-organisational teams of students and engineers will survey the scene, collect data, search for missing workers, identify critical hazards, and more, all in a race against the clock. Of the sixteen teams that have qualified for euRathlon 2015, ten will participate in the Grand Challenge (sea, land and air) creating a total of 6 multi-domain teams.

The scenarios

The euRathlon 2015 Challenge will be held in the area surrounding the Tor del Sale building, and in the Enel-owned thermal power plant sheltered harbour.

Although competing robots will face mock scenarios, the environmental conditions and difficulties are intended to be as realistic as reasonably possible, and the success criteria will reflect straightforward end-user priorities such as task completion and minimal intervention with the robots.

Three different types of scenarios have been defined:

• The Grand Challenge: a three-domain air, land and sea scenario, which comprises three missions.
• Sub-Challenge: two-domain scenarios; each is a combination of two trials.
• Trial: single-domain scenarios.

The scenarios will begin with the six Trials (2 land, 2 sea and 2 air), move on to the three Sub-Challenges (land + air, sea + air, land + sea), and finish with the Grand Challenge. The euRathlon Grand Challenge main goal is task fulfilment, but autonomy and cooperation between domains are also essential for achieving the mission objectives – to search for missing workers, conduct an environmental survey, and stem a leak – within the allocated time.

Drafts of the scenarios, competition rules and the scoring/benchmarking schema were published in advance for teams to comment. However, detailed descriptions of the scenario setups, for instance the location of blocked doors or missing workers, have not been given to teams because such details would not be known ahead of time in a real life scenario.

euRathlon 2015 Grand Challenge schematic. Credits: EURATHLON

The teams

As in previous euRathlon events, teams were required to undertake a qualifying process to prove that their vehicle(s) would be able to cope with the scenarios. The teams were asked to write a Scenario Application Paper (SAP) for each of the scenarios they were planning to enter. In the SAPs they describe their robot(s) and explain how they plan to address the technical challenges for each specific scenario. A technical advisory board reviewed the SAPs and checked that the proposed solutions were realistic.

The 16 teams participating in the euRathlon 2015 Challenge are:

1. AUGA – Team AUGA (or “water” in Galego) is from ACSM (Advanced Crew and Ship Management), a company that will participate in the sea trials with one of the SPARUS II AUVs that were loaned to less experienced teams by the euRathlon organisation.
2. AVORA – The AVORA team is from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, which will participate in the sea trials with their robot, Charle.
3. AUV Team Tom Kyle – AUV Team Tom Kyle is from the University of Applied Sciences of Kiel, Germany, which will participate in the sea trials with their robot Robbe 131 and will partner with Bebot team for the Sub-challenges and Grand Challenge.
4. Bebot Team – Bebot is a two-domain team from the University of Applied Sciences of Bern, Switzerland. They will participate in the competition with their robots Bebot (land) and Bee (Air), and will partner with AUV Team Tom Kyle to participate in the Grand Challenge.
5. B.R.A.I.N. Robots –  B.R.A.I.N. Robots e.V. from Esslingen, Germany, participated in euRathlon 2013. In 2015 they will participate in trials and sub-challenges with their robots Monique (land), Alice (land), Caro (sea) and Hannah (sea). They will team up with UNIFI Team for the Grand Challenge.
6. Cobham – Team Cobham is from the German-based company Cobham Mission Systems. Cobham was one of the winners of euRathlon 2013 with their robot Telemax. This year they will participate in land trials and will team up with ISEP/INESC TEC and Universitat de Girona for the Sub-Challenges and Grand Challenge.
7. ENSTA Bretagne Team 1 – one of the two multi-domain teams from the Institute of ENSTA Bretagne, France, that are going to participate in the trials, such-challenges and Grand Challenge. ENSTA is the only institution that participated in both euRathlon 2013 and 2014. They will participate with the robots SAUC’ISSE, SARDINE, USV, ETAS WHEEL, ETAS TRACK, buggy, and two quadrotors.
8. ENSTA Bretagne Team 2 – the second of the two multi-domain teams from the Institute of ENSTA Bretagne, France. Like Team 1, they are going to participate in trials, such-challenges and Grand Challenge. Their robots are CISCREA, EUREKA, TREX, a buggy and two quadrotors.
9. ISEP/INESC TEC Aerial Team – The team from ISEP/INESC TEC (Portugal) will participate in the aerial trials with their robot OTUS. They will team up with Universitat de Girona and Cobham for the Sub-Challenges and Grand Challenge.
10. ICARUS – This is the team of the ICARUS EU-FP7 Project, with partners from Belgium, Germany, Poland, Portugal and Spain. This multi-domain team will participate in the trials, sub-challenges and the Grand Challenge with their robots ASCAMM-LIFT-V and ASCAMM-LIFT-VI (air), UKL-SUGV and RMA-IMM-tEODor (land), INESC_ROAZ and INESC_MARES (sea).
11. Team Nessie – The team from the Ocean Systems Laboratory & Heriot Watt University (UK) will participate in sea trials with their robots NESSIE VII and E.M.I.L.Y.
12. OUBOT – The team from Obuda University (Hungary) will participate with one of the SPARUS II UAV loaned by euRathlon consortium in the sea trials.
13. Robdos Team Underwater Robotics – Robdos is formed by a group of students from the University Polytechnic of Madrid (UPM) and the Spanish-based company Robdos SRL. They will participate in the sea trials with one of the SPARUS II that euRathlon loaned to them and which they participated in euRathlon 2014.
14. SARRUS-Search And Rescue Robot of UPM & SENER – is the team of the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid (UPM), Spain, and the company SENER Ingenieria y Sistemas S.A. They will participate in land trials with their robot Summit XL.
15. UNIFI Team – UNIFI is the team of the University of Florence (Italy) that will participate in the sea and land trials with their robots FEELHIPPO (sea), MARTA (sea) and BATIGOL (air). They will team up with B.R.A.I.N Robots for the Sub-Challenges and Grand Challenge.
16. Universitat de Girona – The team of the University of Girona is formed by students and researchers of the Underwater Vision & Robotics Research Centre (CIRS). The team develops and operates the robot vehicle SPARUS II AUV that was one of the winners of euRathlon 2014 sea competition. This year they will participate in sea trials and will team up with Cobham and ISEP/INESC TEC for Sub-Challenges and the Grand Challenge.

Which teams will successfully address the Grand Challenge? Don’t miss the updates starting this week.

For pictures and more information about the teams visit: http://www.eurathlon.eu/index.php/compete2/teams2015/

Team testing their AUVs onsite one week before euRathlon 2014 competition. Photo credit: CMRE

euRathlon is a new outdoor robotics competition that invites teams to test the intelligence and autonomy of their robots in realistic mock emergency-response scenarios inspired by the 2011 Fukushima accident. The euRathlon 2015 Grand Challenge will require a team of ground, marine and aerial robots to work together to survey the scene, collect environmental data, and identify critical hazards. euRathlon 2015 will be held in Piombino, Italy, from the 17^th– 25^th September 2015. 

The competition will take place in the area surrounding the Torre del Sale building, on the beach and in the nearby waters, and in the Enel-owned thermal power plant sheltered harbour. Competitors and their robots will face real life conditions (i.e., a ruined building, sandy terrain, etc) in a realistic mock disaster scenario.

We welcome teams from universities, research labs and industry; from single organisations or teams made up from multiple organisations. Although euRathlon is a European initiative, International teams are also welcome.

To encourage the participation of the maximum number of teams – especially teams with experience in one domain only, three different categories of scenarios have been defined:

• The Grand Challenge: a three-domain scenario, which comprises three missions
• Sub-Challenge: two-domain scenarios; each is a combination of two trials
• Trial: single-domain scenarios

There will be a total of one Grand Challenge, three Sub-Challenges and six trials.

The scenarios will be held in increasing order of complexity (i.e. the trials will be held first followed by the sub-challenges and finally the Grand Challenge). Trials and sub-challenges will allow teams to test and prepare their robots as the scenarios are based on and preparatory to the Grand Challenge. You can learn more about the scenarios here.

There is a Team Matching form available on the website for single-domain teams that wish to join with teams in other domains to create a multi-domain team before the competition.

Official information concerning the registration process, requirements, programme, scenarios and the competition can be found on the euRathlon website and the euRathlon forum.

Please visit www.eurathlon.eu for detailed information or contact eurathlon@uwe.ac.uk.

This project is funded by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n^o 601205.

Example of visualization of the euRathlon 2013 Common Shared Data Set (CSDS) for the scenario “Search and rescue in a smoke-filled underground structure”. Technically, it’s a ROS rviz visualization of a recorded sensor rosbag. Photo credit: euRathlon

euRathlon is an EU-funded project that aims to set the standard for research through robotics competitions. It not only provides opportunities to test advanced emergency response robots in very challenging outdoor scenarios, but also recognises that there is an urgent need to develop useful metrics that will advance the field. A series of Common Shared Data Sets of real data gathered before and during the competitions are now available to the robotics community through a cloud tool sponsored by ECmanaged. euRathlon is staging a series of outdoor robotics competitions for land, sea and air robots, inspired by the 2011 Fukushima accident. After successful land and sea competitions in 2013 and 2014 respectively, the project will stage the three-domain euRathlon 2015 Challenge in Piombino, Italy, from 17th-25th of September 2015.

Real data in realistic scenarios

Participating in outdoor competitions is a great opportunity for roboticists to test their vehicles and gather real data in realistic scenarios. The seven euRathlon partners have contributed their expertise in each domain (land, sea and air robotics) to design realistic but also achievable scenarios that are oriented to emergency-services and industry demands. The scenarios also aim to be:

1. technically demanding, i.e. pushing the boundaries of the state of the art,
2. relevant to the research, industry and user communities, and
3. feasible in the context of a competition both in terms of logistics and evaluation.

The importance of Common Shared Data Sets (CSDS)

Teams that are either new to the competition or have limited access to proper hardware and training areas face the problem that they cannot test their system against typical settings as they would appear in the competition. Also the comparison of methods or configurations requires an exactly reproducible data stream from all sensor inputs. A classical approach to coping with this situation is to provide standardized Common Shared Data Sets (CSDS). Many fields in science and engineering employ standardized CSDS to evaluate similar research, approaches, or techniques and to provide the means for their comparison. Common Shared Data Sets are a good base from which to accelerate the progress of the state-of-the-art in research.

We believe that sharing data reinforces open scientific research, promotes new research and encourages a diversity of analysis and opinions. This is why one of our goals is to provide a framework for the community to discuss and work towards the development of metrics, scenarios and other matters of relevance. The metrics and the euRathlon 2015 challenge scenarios draft are open for discussion in the web-based euRathlon forum.

euRathlon 2015 Common Shared Data Set (CSDS) aerial outdoor task. Image acquired by the UAV at the maximum resolution during the high altitude flight. Photo credits: CATEC

euRathlon CSDS are available to the robotics community

The repository of Common Shared Data Sets produced before and during the euRathlon competitions is a valuable pool for testing, benchmarking and comparison. ECmanaged, a Spanish-based company, sponsors euRathlon with a cloud storage tool that allows the open dissemination of the data sets and other online materials to the robotics community and public in general.

In the euRathlon 2013 land competition, we have previously made available recorded real data sets of the scenarios from the real trials area; and in the euRathlon 2014 sea competition, teams could test one week prior the competition in the real location with the objects used in the competition. The euRathlon 2013 land competition CSDS and the euRathlon 2014 sea competition CSDS generously provided by teams participating in the competitions are now available to the community.

For the euRathlon 2015 competition, we have generated two datasets for the aerial domain: a dataset of indoor tasks and a dataset of outdoor tasks. These data sets have been created from real data collected with real systems in real field experiments. The experiments are designed to be similar to the scenarios that teams will face during the euRathlon 2015. The euRathlon 2015 Challenge CSDS (provided by the organisers) can be used to test and improve robotic systems, and we hope will also help to motivate multi-domain teams to participate in the competition.

Teams could test their AUVs in the real location one week before euRathlon 2014 competition. Photo credit: CMRE

About ECmanaged

ECmanaged is a multi-Cloud and IT management tool that enables users to take full control of their Cloud Platforms and Physical servers at the implementation phase and afterwards. Its design and interface allow users to develop Cloud platforms while avoiding provider-imposed restrictions. ECmanaged combines a monitoring tool with automated management actions such as alerting, auto-scaling and disaster recovery. It uses a novel approach of high-level platform modelling allowing Cloud platforms to be developed avoiding provider imposed restrictions. The deployment of applications is also simplified through the use of predefined templates and images. A key feature is the automated incident resolution with up to 80% of incidents being solved without any human intervention in less than 5 minutes.

Team Avalon tuning their underwater robot for the combined scenario. (copyright Nicolas Jourden/CMRE-euRathlon)

euRathlon is an outdoor robotics competition funded by the European Union with a focus on realistic cooperative mock emergency-response scenarios in three different domains: land, sea and air. On the third and fourth days of the euRathlon 2014 marine competition the teams faced two more tasks, and in the last day a combined scenario that included the tasks of the previous days. Visitors saw a demonstration of cooperation between an aerial robot and a land robot, as an advance of euRathlon 2015 Grand Challenge. The winners of the five euRathlon 2014 scenarios were unveiled at the award ceremony in the Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE) in La Spezia.

(See also euRathlon 2014 Sea competition recap: Day 1 and 2.)

Team CISSAU (Ensta Bretagne) deploying in the water their Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). (copyright Nicolas Jourden/CMRE-euRathlon)

Third day scenario: Interaction with underwater structures

In this scenario the underwater robots had to reach the manipulation area where there was a piping assembly structure. In one of the pipes there was a lever to be manipulated.
The robots had to touch the structure and maintain contact with it, close the stopcocks and bring to the surface a pole (with a ring on the top) that had been fixed to the sea bottom. Teams had different time slots depending on the degree of used autonomy. The three modalities were:

1) Fully autonomous: an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) without a cable. The AUV could communicate with an Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) acoustically or with the operator located on the shore.

2) Semi-autonomous: no human tele-operation. Sensory data could be received and high level commands could be sent by the operator to the AUV or the Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV), but low-level joystick driving was not allowed.

3) Tele-operation: human tele-operation in a low-level joystick driving. The vehicle could not be connected to the shore, but could be connected to a surface vehicle that acted as a communications relay for the tele-operation. The surface vehicle in this case could be moored.

In the fully autonomous robots mode, the teams had 70 minutes, for the semi-autonomous mode they had 55minutes, and for tele-operated mode they had a total of 40 minutes.

Rain was present on Wednesday morning. Only three teams participated in this scenario: University of Girona, Avalon and CISSAU. Despite the rain all teams performed well and completed the scenario. Most of the teams combined full autonomy in the inspection and contact tasks, with tele-operation in the ring and stopcock manipulation.

Spectators waiting for the aerial and land cooperation demonstration. (copyright Nicolas Jourden/CMRE-euRathlon)

Fourth day scenario: Environmental survey of the accident area (mapping)

This scenario took place in a marina dock area. The robots had to complete an environmental survey of a specified area. The underwater vehicles had to inspect a wall to find an anomaly and localise a number of submerged Objects of Potential Interest (OPIs) represented by orange buoys. After completing the scenario, the teams had to download the information and create a map with the position of the OPIs.

On Thursday morning the sun shone again. Two of the six teams decided to withdraw due to technical problems with the navigation of their vehicles. The four teams participating were: Avalon, SAUC’ISSE, University of Girona and CISSAU. All of them completed the scenario successfully. The wall inspection was a difficult task for most of the robots, due to the particular rounded shape created by the rocks in one of the corners of the dock area.
Teams had a maximum of 60 minutes to complete this scenario and the teams had an hour more to process the data and give it to the judges.

Team ROBDOS testing. (copyright Nicolas Jourden/CMRE-euRathlon)

Fifth day scenario: Combined scenario

This scenario took place in the coastal water area and the marina dock area, and was a combination of the four previous days’ scenarios. It included three different tasks: “Autonomous underwater navigation”, “Mapping the area and wall following/anomaly detection” and “pick and bring to the surface the pole ring”. The scenario ended when the AUV surfaced with the pole ring object. Teams had a maximum of 75 minutes to complete the scenario.

The judges on the boat and inside the sonar cabin evaluated in real time the teams’ performances. Once the scenario finished, maps with the trajectories of the vehicles and the OPIs localisations were created from the data given by the teams.

Four teams participated in this last scenario: University of Girona, Avalon, SAUC’ISSE and CISSAU. All the teams performed well, especially when taking into account the difficulty of the combined scenario. Only the University of Girona and SAUCI’SSE completed the three tasks. SAUC’ISSE and Avalon were able to demonstrate cooperation between a USV and an AUV.

Demonstration of aerial and land robots cooperation

The demonstration of the cooperation between an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and an Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) that took place on Friday offered a preview of what spectators can expect to see in euRathlon 2015 Grand Challenge. The event was held at CMRE and open to the press and public. Attendees standing behind a security line saw the cooperation between a land vehicle and a quadrotor. The demo was performed by the Centre for Advanced Aerospace Technologies (CATEC), Seville, Spain and the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, Italy.

Team SAUC’ISSE (Ensta Bretagne) carrying an Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) (copyright Nicolas Jourden/CMRE-euRathlon)

Dynamic display

Parallel to the competition, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), challenged teams to participate in their underwater tests.

euRathlon 2014 winners

The awards ceremony took place at the NATO’s Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation.

The Director of CMRE, Hank Ort (RADM), gave the certificates and prizes to the winners:

• Scenario: Long range autonomous underwater navigation.
  1st prize University of Girona, 2nd SAUC’ISSE
• Scenario: Leak localisation and structure inspection
  1st prize University of Girona, 2nd Avalon, 3rd SAUC’ISSE and 4th CISSAU
• Scenario: Underwater manipulation
  1st prize University of Girona, 2nd Avalon, 3rd CISSAU
• Scenario: Environmental survey
  1st prize Avalon, shared 2nd SAUC’ISSE / University of Girona, 4th CISSAU
• Scenario: Combined scenario
  1st prize University of Girona, 2nd SAUC’ISSE, 3rd Avalon and 4th CISSAU

At the end of the ceremony, Gabriele Ferri, technical director of euRathlon 2014, thanked the Judge Team and the Crew. The euRathlon project coordinator, Alan Winfield, thanked the teams and ONR Global, for sponsoring euRathlon 2014 prizes. He also thanked the Centro di Supporto e Sperimentazione Navale (CSSN), ECmanaged and Bq for their support and sponsorship.

Teams and attendees of euRathlon 2014 were invited to participate or attend euRathlon 2015 Grand Challenge in Italy next year.

(See also euRathlon 2014 Sea competition recap: Day 1 and 2.)

If you liked this article, you may also be interested in:

• Six teams to participate in euRathlon 2014 sea competition next week
• Don’t build robots, build robot systems
• Winners of the euRathlon 2013 land robotics competition announced!
• euRathlon and the DARPA Robot Challenge: A difference of approach

See all the latest robotics news on Robohub, or sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Team University of Gerona at the euRathlon 2014 Sea Competition.  ©euRathlon.

euRathlon is an outdoor robotics competition focused on realistic emergency-response scenarios inspired by the 2011 Fukushima accident. After a successful land-based competition in 2013, a marine-based competition takes place this year in La Spezia, Italy (29 Sept – 3 Oct). The good weather present in the first two days of euRathlon 2014 helped the teams participating in the “Long range autonomous underwater navigation” and the “Leak localisation and structure inspection” scenarios. Only two of the six teams participating in the first scenario successfully finished it, while all the teams participating in the second scenario completed it.

First day scenario:  Long Range Autonomous Underwater Navigation

The scenario took place in a coastal water area free of boats and other floating obstacles. The Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) were deployed at the starting point. They had to navigate underwater a distance of 900 meters drawing a quadrilateral shape, which was marked by four waypoints. The waypoints were GPS coordinates given by the organization to the teams. The robots had to surface when reaching each of the waypoints. Teams had a maximum of 70 minutes to complete this scenario, and the task was complete when each team’s robot returned to the starting point.

The judges on the boat and inside the sonar cabin evaluated in real time the performance of the teams. Once the scenario finished, maps with the trajectories of the vehicles were created from the data given by the teams.

On Monday morning two teams decided to withdraw from this scenario due to technical problems, leaving four participating teams: University of Girona, Robdos, SAUC’ISSE and Avalon. The team from the University of Girona and the team SAUC’ISSE gave a very good performance. The French team showed the cooperation between an Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) and an AUV. Teams had a maximum of 70 minutes to complete this scenario, and the task was completed when the robot returned to the starting waypoint.

Team SAUC’ISSE competing at the euRathlon 2014 Sea Competition. ©euRathlon.

Second day scenario:  Leak localisation and structure inspection

In the second scenario the robots had to find an underwater piping assembly that was leaking contaminated water. The leak was represented by a plume of Objects of Potential Interest (OPI), in this case white and orange buoys with numbers written on them. Once the robots found the structure, they had to inspect it and localise a stopcock. Teams had a maximum 60 minutes to complete this scenario.

This scenario was held on Tuesday in a sheltered harbour. The teams participating were: CISSAU, University of Girona, SAUC’ISSE and Avalon. All the teams completed the scenario, and gave their data logs to the judges. The judges have yet to analyse the data and decide which teams performed best.

A judge evaluates Team University of Girona at the euRathlon Sea Competition. ©euRathlon.

There are still three more days of competition to come: Wednesday 1 October “Interaction with underwater structures”, Thursday, 2 October “Environmental survey of the accident area” and Friday, 3 October a “Combined scenario”.

(read here our next post for Winners of euRathlon 2014 sea competition recap: Day 3, 4 and 5)

If you want to know more about the euRathlon 2014 scenarios and the teams’ performance, follow the competition on twitter and Facebook for daily updates.

If you liked this article, you may also be interested in:

• Six teams to participate in euRathlon 2014 sea competition next week
• Don’t build robots, build robot systems
• Winners of the euRathlon 2013 land robotics competition announced!
• euRathlon and the DARPA Robot Challenge: A difference of approach

See all the latest robotics news on Robohub, or sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Why aren’t there more intelligent mobile robots in real world applications? It’s a good question, and one I’m often asked. The answer I give most often is that it’s because we’re still looking for that game changing killer app – the robotics equivalent of the spreadsheet for PCs. Sometimes I place the blame on a not-quite-yet-solved technical deficit – like poor sensing, or sensor fusion, or embedded AI; in other words, our intelligent robots are not yet smart enough. Or I might cite a not-fully-developed-capability, like robots not able to cope with unpredictable (i.e. human) environments, or we can’t yet assure that our robots are safe, and dependable.

Last week at euRathlon 2013 I realised that these answers are all wrong. Actually that would be giving myself credit where none is due. The answer to the question: why aren’t there more intelligent mobile robots in real world applications was pointed out by several of the presenters at the euRathlon 2013 workshop, but most notably by our keynote speaker Shinji Kawatsuma, from the Japan Atomic Energy Authority (JAEA). In an outstanding talk Kawatsuma explained, with disarming frankness, that, although his team had robots they were poorly prepared to use those robots in the Fukushima Daiichi NPP, because the systems for deployment were not in place. The robots are not enough. Just as important are procedures and protocols for robot deployment in an emergency; mobile infrastructure, including vehicles to bring the robots to the emergency, which are capable – as he vividly explained – of negotiating a road system choked with debris (from the Tsunami) and strained with other traffic (rescue workers and evacuees); integration with other emergency services; and, above all, robot operators trained, practised and confident to guide the robots through whatever hazards they will face in the epicentre of the disaster.

In summing up the lessons learned from robots at Fukushima, Shinji Kawatsuma offered this advice – actually it was more of a heartfelt plea: don’t build robots, build robot systems. And, he stressed, those systems must include operator training programmes. It was a powerful message for all of us at the workshop. Intelligent robots are endlessly fascinating machines, with all kinds of difficult design challenges, so it’s not surprising that our attention is focussed on the robots themselves. But we need to understand that real world robots are like movie stars – who (despite what they might think) wouldn’t be movie stars at all without the supporting cast, camera and sound crews, writers, composers, special effects people and countless other departments that make the film industry. Take the Mars rover Curiosity – an A-list movie star of robotics. Curiosity could not do its job without an extraordinary supporting infrastructure that, firstly, delivered her safely to the surface of Mars and, secondly, allows Curiosity’s operators to direct her planetary science exploration.

So, to return to my question why aren’t there more intelligent mobile robots in real world applications. The answer is plain. It’s because without supporting systems: infrastructure and skilled operators integrated and designed to meet the real world need, a robot – regardless of how innovative and intelligent it is – will never make the transition from the lab to the real world. Without those systems that robot will remain no more than a talented but undiscovered actor.

Hans-Arthur Marsiske, The use of robots in Fukushima: Shinji Kawatsuma Interview, Heise online, 25 September 2013 (in German).
K Nagatani, S Kiribayashi, Y Okada, K Otake, K Yoshida, S Tadokoro, T Nishimura, T Yoshida, E Koyanagi, M Fukushima and S Kawatsuma, Emergency response to the nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plants using mobile rescue robots, Journal of Field Robotics, 30 (1), 44-63, 2013.

euRathlon is an outdoor robotics competition where teams test the intelligence and autonomy of their robots in realistic mock emergency-response scenarios. On the fifth and last day of euRathlon 2013 competition, visitors saw demonstrations of robots performing different tasks. The winners of the four euRathlon 2013 scenarios were unveiled at the award ceremony in Salinenplatz, in Berchtesgaden.

Watch the Day Five recap video …

Demonstration of Reconnaissance and Disposal of Explosive Devices
The demonstration “Reconnaissance and disposal of explosive devices” was open to the public and held in the Berchtesgaden train station. Attendees standing on the main platform saw three scenarios in which robots are used by police and bomb squads. The teams participating in this demo were ELP, Telerob and Fraunhofer FKIE.

Robots had to find and pick up a bag or suitcase from a locker and deactivate an explosive device, so as to reduce risk for the squad members. In another scenario, the competing robots had to cut a cable belt of explosives. Some robots were faster than others, but all performed well and successfully completed their mission.

Dynamic display demonstrations
Parallel to the demonstration, visitors once again witnessed some teams’ robots be challenged by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) tests. Visitors also enjoyed product demonstrations from various exhibitors and euRathlon 2013 Sponsors: Cobham plc, ELP GmbH, Geo Systems Inc., OrbiTeam Software GmbH & Co. KG and Saltation GmbH & Co. KG.

euRathlon 2013 winners
The awards ceremony took place in the big marquee located in Salinenplatz.

Frank E. Schneider, head of euRathlon 2013 competition, and Alan Winfield, euRathlon project coordinator, gave the certificates and prizes to the winners.

• Scenario: Mobile for handling hazardous materials.
  1st prize Telerob, 2nd ELP and 3rd SPACEAPPS
• Scenario: Reconnaissance & Surveillance in urban structures (USAR).
  1st prize ELP, 2nd Telerob and 3rd IMM-IAIR
• Scenario: Search & Rescue in smoke-filled underground structure
  1st prize Telerob, 2nd ELP and 3rd ENSTABretagne
• Autonomous navigation
  1st prize MuCAR, 2nd RIS and 3rd NAMT

Additional awards for:

• Novel Scientific Solution: team RIS
• Creative Solution: team NAMT
• Best Team Effort: team E15

Corporate teams ELP (from ELP) and Telerob (from COBHAM) donated their prize money to the first university team on the list of scenario finalists.

At the end of the ceremony, Alan Winfield and Frank E. Schneider thanked the Chief Judge Team, Dr.-Ing. Michael Gustmann, and the judges: Dipl.-Ing. Thomas Zawadke, Prof. Dr. Juha Röning and Kenneth A. Pink.  They also thanked the local organiser Frank Woodcock, CEO of the company ProgenoX, and all the teams and attendees of euRathlon 2013. All of them were invited to participate or attend euRathlon 2014 underwater robotics competition in Italy next year.

See all the euRathlon 2013 coverage.

Clouds, mist and rain accompanied the fourth day of euRathlon 2013 civilian outdoor robotics competition. Thursday was the day when the “Autonomous Navigation” scenario took place in an area of the Kehlstein mountain (1.834 m), located in the Berchtesgaden Alps. Unfortunately teams and robots had to deal with heavy rain. Despite of the poor weather conditions, which are part of a real world scenario, many robots successfully finished two of the three levels of autonomous navigation.
Watch the Day Four recap video …

The 4th Scenario: Autonomous navigation
The “Autonomous navigation” scenario took place in the breathtaking landscape of the Berchtesgaden Alps. The robots had to autonomously navigate an Alpine trail on the Kehlstein mountain. The trail had three levels of difficulty. At the end of the first and second levels, there was a sign that the robot could detect and choose whether or not to continue to the next level. The first-level terrain was gravel and the path was slightly inclined, while the second level had the same type of gravel terrain, but the path was steeper and was scattered with medium-size tree branches. The third-level path was narrow and steep with rocky terrain.

The competing robots had 45 minutes to reach the end of the third level or, if they decided not to traverse that very difficult path, reach the first or second level and come back.

Spectators followed the slower-moving robots as they performed this task, and watched a recording of the faster-moving ones on a big screen once they returned to the starting point.

Despite the poor weather conditions, many robots successfully reached the end of level two. All the robots were fully autonomous and not tele-operated. However, each had a system that allowed the robot operator, who was following the robot next to the judge, to take control of the robot if needed, for example, if the robot was lost, got stuck, or could not navigate. Some robots required human intervention as they performed the task, and were consequently penalized. However, all teams did well bearing in mind the poor weather and the completely unknown terrain.

Of the seven teams initially signed up for this scenario, two withdrew before the competition and the rest qualified for the final. These five teams were: MuCar, ARTOR, RIS, FKIE and NAMT.

In tomorrow’s post, the winners of euRathlon 2013 will be unveiled. Don’t miss it!

See all the euRathlon 2013 coverage.

The sun was shining again on the third day of euRathlon 2013 outdoor robotics competition in Berchtesgaden, Germany. Wednesday was the day for the “Search and rescue in a smoke-filled underground structure” scenario, and the last day of the euRathlon 2013 workshop, where attendees enjoyed presentations by specialists in various areas of robotics. The keynote presentation was given by Shinji Kawatsuma, senior primary engineer of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, who talked about the lessons learned from using robots in the emergency response disaster of Fukushima Daiichi NPP. Following the presentations was a UAV pilot demonstration carried out by the Center for Advanced Aerospace Technologies (CATEC). Watch the Day Three recap video …

Workshop Day Two
In addition to the keynote, Day Two of the workshop featured more presentations by specialists in the area of robotics:

• Anne Bajart, of the and euRathlon European Commission project officer , “Unmanned vehicles and Horizon 2020”
• Shinji KAWATSUMA, Senior primary engineer of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA)
  “Robotic lessons learned in emergency response to Fukushima Daiichi NPP”
• Dr.-Ing. Peer Rechenbach, Senior Expert of Disaster Management, Civil
  Protection, Leadership Organization and CBRN-Measurement.
  “Information needs for decision makers in case of major emergencies – Experiences”
• Martin Hutchings, of the National Bomb Squad Commanders Advisory Board (NSBCAB) “Robots used by police and bomb squads”
• Dr.-Ing Konstantin Kondak, of the DRL (National aeronautics and space research centre of the Federal Republic of Germany)
  “Robotics Technologies for Flying Robots – New applications and challenges”
• Antidio Viguria Jiménez, of CATEC (Center for Advanced Aerospace Technologies) “UAV platform available for teams participating in euRathlon 2015”

Following the presentations, a safety pilot from CATEC, one of the partners of euRathlon consortium, did a UAV pilot demonstration in the garden of the Kongresshaus, and attendees were invited to test their pilot skills.

The 3rd Scenario:  Search and rescue in a smoke-filled underground structure
The scenario “Search and rescue in a smoke-filled underground structure” took place in a tunnel located next to Salinenplazt in Berchtesgaden.  The tunnel entrance was covered with large curtains to keep the inside of the underground structure in darkness and filled with dense smoke.

This scenario required competing robots to enter the tunnel, inspect the area, and search for Objects of Potential Interest (OPI) — ERICard number plates. Debris and objects were scattered across the floor and stacked next to the walls to make navigation more difficult for the robots. The robots were required to build a geometric representation of the tunnel and reference all the OPI detected there. Once the OPIs were referenced and all the data and images reported to the control station, the robot had to leave the tunnel and return to the starting point.

The teams had 30 minutes to find as many OPI as they could and transmit the acquired data to the control station.

Spectators could follow the competition outside the perimeter of the underground scenario. Live camera video and computer screenshots were displayed on a big screen.

The competing robots managed well despite the extremely poor visibility and the debris-covered terrain; however locating all the OPIs in 30 minutes was a difficult challenge.

Of the ten teams participating in this scenario, eight qualified for the final. These eight teams were: ELP, Telerob, Ensta-Bretagne, IMM-IAIR,Robotics Inventions, SCentrRo, Space Applications and E15.

See all the euRathlon 2013 coverage.

The second day of euRathlon competition started with the opening session of the euRathlon 2013 workshop, which was run in parallel with the scenario “Reconnaissance and surveillance in urban structures” (USAR).  The competition continued until the end of the evening, followed by a fire drill performed by the local fire brigades featured in the same building as the USAR scenario.  The fire drill took place simultaneously with an interactive display session of workshop posters in the Salinenplatz marquee. A typical and festive Bavarian dinner was served to teams, workshop delegates and fire fighters at the end of the second day. Watch the Day Two recap video …

Workshop – Day One
The first day of the euRathlon 2013 workshop was held in the Congress Centre “Kur-und Kongresshaus” of Berchtesgdaen, and featured presentations by specialists in the area of robotics for field search-and-rescue:

• Dr.-Ing. Michael Gustmann, “Real-world field robotics: Nuclear emergency response robotics in Germany”
• Thommaso Flamma, “ICARUS Unmanned Search and Rescue”
• Adam Jacoff, “Standard Test Methods for Response Robots: Supporting Objective Evaluations, Procurements, and Operator Training”
• George Kern, “Synthetic Aperture Processing for Deep GNSS/INS Integration”
• Andrzej Typiak , “Development of high mobility platforms for search and rescue missions”
• Prof. Sergey Tsarichenko “Robots of the all-Russian Scientific Research Institute for Fire Protection”
• Dirk Schmidt “BlueBot phone app robot control system”

The 2nd scenario:  Reconnaissance and surveillance in urban structures (USAR)
The Reconnaissance and Surveillance in Urban Structures (USAR) scenario was held in the basement of an old building next to Berchtesgaden train station.

The scenario required competitors’ robots enter to the building and go down the stairs to the basement. Once there, the robots had to inspect the building and search for Objects of Potential Interest (OPI), which, for this scenario were ERICard number plates. While the robots were performing the search task, they had to simultaneously build a geometric representation of the structure and its environment and reference all the OPI detected in it.  All data and images had to be reported to the control station, and live camera video and computer screen shoots were displayed on a big screen outside the building where spectators followed the competition.

The teams had 60 minutes to find as many OPI as they could and transmit the acquired data to the control station.

Going down the stairs was the most difficult task for the six teams that participated in the USAR scenario. Most of the robots used an elevator lift to go to the basement (despite a score penalization for doing so); of those teams that decided to take the stairs, many wound up upside-down on the staircase landing.

The robots were able to find OPIs in very low light conditions, to transmit data and to successfully build a 2-D and 3-D geometric representations of the urban structure.

The six teams that qualified for Friday’s finals were: ELP, Telerob, Space Applications, Robotics Inventions, IMM-IAIR and Fraunhofer FKIE.

Exhibition area
Various companies and organisations have their products and projects on display in the exhibition area this week. On Day Two, exhibition area visitors witnessed how teams had the chance to test their robots in an off-competition testing circuit designed by people from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), USA.

Workshop posters display and social event
In the evening, the exhibition area held an interactive display session of workshop posters and a typical Bavarian dinner, and team members, workshop delegates and fire fighters exchanged ideas and talked about their projects and jobs while having a drink.

See all the euRathlon 2013 coverage.

euRathlon is a new civilian outdoor robotics competition focused on realistic cooperative search and rescue response scenarios. The euRathlon 2013 competition, which takes place this week in Berchtesgaden, Germany, is only for land-based robots. Though there was good weather on the first day of the competition, not all the teams qualified for the finals of the competition’s first scenario: “Mobile manipulation for handling hazardous material.” Watch the Day One recap video…

The Opening
EuRathlon project coordinator Professor Alan Winfield gave a warm welcome to all the attendees, followed by Anne Bajart (the project’s European Comission officer), Dr Frank Schneider (Head of  euRathlon 2013 Land Robotics Competition), and Herr Rudolf Schaupp.

The 1^st Scenario:  Mobile manipulation for handling hazardous material
The competition’s first scenario required competitors’ robots to approach and inspect a tank waggon that was leaking a “hazardous” substance (water was used to simulate the hazardous substance for safety reasons).  The robots were required to stop the liquid from flowing out of the tank by closing at least one of the tank’s many valves, which came in various sizes and shapes. Once the valves were closed, the robots were required to pick up at least one canister containing the “hazardous” substance from a loading platform, move it into a barrel, and then cover the barrel with a lid.  The canisters were of varying sizes and weights, and were located at different heights on the loading platform.  Teams had a maximum of 45 minutes to complete this scenario, and the task was complete when the robot returned to the starting point.

Mobile manipulation is a difficult task, especially if it’s done autonomously. On Monday morning three teams decided to withdraw from this scenario, leaving four teams to participate in the mobile manipulation scenario. All four teams that qualified for the finals on Friday were tele-operated; these are: Space Applications, Telerob, ELP and Fraunhofer FKIE.

Exhibition Area
Various companies and organisations have their products and projects on display in the exhibition area this week. On Day One, exhibition area visitors witnessed an impressive demonstration of the Menzi Muck “Rescue Spider”, a robot used by the German Agency for technical relief (THW) in real disaster-response scenarios. 

Get-Together Event
After a long day of tuning up and fixing robots, participants, visitors, exhibitors and euRathlon organisers met in the Congress Centre “Kur-und Kongresshaus” to relax, enjoy dinner and exchange ideas.

Day Two will be another exciting day, with qualifications for the Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) scenario and the first day of euRathlon 2013 workshop. See all the euRathlon 2013 coverage.

Buildings that are collapsed or on fire, tunnels flooded with smoke or water, unstructured areas subject to radiation, chemical spills or gas leaks … these are the kinds of scenarios that place emergency services personnel at great risk, and where using robots could help contain damage and minimize injury or death. euRathlon is a civilian outdoor robotics competition supported by the European Commission with a focus on realistic cooperative search and rescue response scenarios. Inspired by the 2011 Fukushima accident, the competition scenarios have been carefully designed to provide teams with realistic challenges that test their robot’s ability to face real-world situations. Fourteen teams qualified for the event. We will be providing daily coverage of the competition, which will take place in Berchtesgaden, Germany from September 23-27, 2013.

The scenarios
When designing the event, organizers asked themselves how robots could best be leveraged by emergency services personnel in a disaster scenario: How can robots be monitored from a safe distance, so that human emergency workers can focus on other important tasks? What kinds of tasks could the robots perform? Are robots ready to succeed in real-world environments? And how can we test them?

To help address these questions, the euRathlon 2013 land competition was designed around five scenarios:

1. Reconnaissance and surveillance in urban structures (USAR)
2. Mobile manipulation for handling hazardous material
3. Search and rescue in a smoke-filled underground structure
4. Autonomous navigation using GPS, GLONASS and GALILEO
5. Reconnaissance and disposal of explosive devices

Descriptions of the five scenarios were published in advance of the competition to allow teams to prepare their robots. Detailed descriptions of the scenarios and potential hazards the robots would face were deliberately kept from the teams so as to keep an element of uncertainty, just like in a real world disaster.

Qualifying teams
Successfully tackling the competition scenarios is not an easy task, and prospective teams were required to take part in a qualifying process to prove that their robot(s) would be able to cope with the scenarios. Each team was required to write a Scenario Application Paper (SAP) explaining how their robot(s) would address the technical challenges of the scenarios they were planning to enter. The SAPs were reviewed to see if each team’s proposed solutions were realistic, and feedback from this process was fed back to the teams to help them prepare for the actual land competition. Here are the 14 teams that have qualified for participation in the euRathlon 2013 land competition:

1. ARTOR — ARTOR is a team of researchers and technical staff from the Autonomous Systems Lab (ASL) of ETH Zürich and RUAG Defence. They will participate with their robot, also called “ARTOR” (Autonomous Rough Terrain Outdoor Robot), in the autonomous navigation scenario.
2. E15 — E15 is formed by a group of 16 students from the University of Applied Sciences Esslingen, Germany. Their robot “Monique” will participate in the mobile manipulation, smoke-filled underground and autonomous navigation scenarios.
3. ELP — The ELP team represents German company ELP GmbH and will participate with their robot “PAckBot EOD 510” in the USAR, mobile manipulation, smoke-filled underground and EOD scenarios.
4. ENSTA Bretagne — ENSTA Bretagne is a small team of students and researchers from the Institute of ENSTA Bretagne, France. They will participate with their robot “Tracker” in the smoke-filled underground scenario.
5. Fraunhofer FKIE — The team of the Fraunhofer Institute for Communication, Information Processing and Ergonomics FKIE, Fraunhofer FKIE, will participate in the USAR, mobile manipulation, and autonomous navigation scenarios with their robots: “Telemax”, “TeodorPrime” and “Garm”.
6. IMM-IAIR — IMM-IAIR is a team of researchers of the Institute of Mathematical Machines in collaboration with the Institute of Automatic Control and Robotics, Warsaw, Poland. They will participate with their robot “MSAS II” in the USAR and smoke-filled underground scenarios.
7. MAJIDADA – Allen Vanguard — MAJIDADA is the team of the UK- based company Allen-Vanguard. They will participate in the USAR, mobile manipulation, smoke-filled underground and EOD scenarios with the robots “Defender D2.1”, “Digital Vanguard”, “Scorpion SUGV”, “Armadillo UGV” and “Beetle NUGV”.
8. MuCAR — MuCAR is the team of the University of the Bundeswehr Munich, Germany. The team develops and operates the robot vehicle “MuCAR-3” that will participate in the autonomous navigation scenario.
9. NAMT — The NAMT team is formed by students and staff of two institutions, the Nizhny Novgorod Automotive Technical School (NAMT) and the Moscow State Technical University. They will participate with the robot “CyberMobile” in the autonomous navigation scenario.
10. RIS — RIS is the team of the Laboratory of Analysis and Architecture of Systems (LAAS), a CNRS research unit, based in Toulouse, France. They will participate with the robots “Mana” and “Minnie” in the USAR, smoke-filled underground and autonomous navigation scenarios.
11. RI Spirit – Robotics Inventions — RI Spirit is the team of Polish company Robotics Inventions. They will participate with the robot “A-Bot Light” in the USAR, mobile manipulation, smoke-filled underground and autonomous navigation scenarios.
12. SCentRo — SCentRo is a team of 6 PhD students of the Sheffield Centre for Robotics (SCentRo) that was jointly established by the Sheffield Hallam University and the University of Sheffield, UK.  SCentRo will participate with the robot “PIONEER P3 AT” in the “Search and rescue in smoke filled underground structure” scenario.
13. SPACEAPPS — The SPACEAPPS team is formed by staff of the Belgium company Space Applications Services N.V. They will participate with the robot “MILOU” (Clearpath Husky A200) in USAR, mobile manipulation, smoke-filled underground and EOD scenarios.
14. Telerob — Telerob is the team of the German-based company telerob Gesellschaft für Fernhantierungstechnik mbH trading as Cobham Mission Equipment. They will participate with the robot “Telemax” in the USAR, mobile manipulation, smoke-filled underground and EOD scenarios.

Which robots will successfully address the scenarios? Don’t miss the daily updates next week.

For pictures and more information about the teams visit:    http://www.eurathlon2013.eu/information/competition/participants.html

See all the euRathlon 2013 coverage.

A week ago the DARPA Robotics Challenge unveiled the ATLAS humanoid robot, which will be used by seven competing teams. Developed by Boston Dynamics, ATLAS is an imposing 1.8m 150Kg bipedal humanoid robot, powered via a tethered cable. Another six teams have designed their own robots, and interestingly five of these are humanoid, and one a four-limbed simian-inspired robot.

In the euRathlon project we are taking a different approach in that we don’t expect, or require, the competing robots to be humanoid or zoomorphic. None of the euRathlon competition scenarios demand a humanoid robot to, for example, be able to step inside a vehicle and drive it. However, for the land robots at least, there is nothing stopping euRathlon teams from bringing humanoid robots to the competition.

As I wrote when we launched euRathlon early this year, the big vision of euRathlon is a competition scenario in which no single type of robot is, on its own, sufficient. Inspired by the Fukushima accident of March 2011, the 2015 euRathlon competition will require teams of land, sea and flying robots to autonomously cooperate, survey the scene, identify critical hazards and undertake tasks to make the plant safe. Leading up to this grand challenge in 2015, will be related and preparatory land and underwater robot competitions in 2013 and 2014, respectively.

The difference of our approach is not the result of an in-principle decision. Rather, it flows naturally from several factors. First, we are specifically creating competition scenarios that require cooperating teams across the three domains of land, sea and air. Second, we are looking for very high levels of autonomy, so the robot teams will, ideally, complete their mission with hands-off human monitoring only. Any human interventions will be penalised in the euRathlon scoring schema. And third, we are not looking to push innovation in the robot platforms themselves, but rather in their cognition, autonomy and system level team working. Thus, euRathlon teams who make use of existing and proven robot hardware will gain a big advantage in that they can focus all of their efforts on the software, communications and systems engineering; the AI and the autonomy. And by autonomy we mean both control and energy autonomy. The euRathlon competition scenarios preclude the use of tethered power connections, so robots must carry their own energy supplies sufficient to last the whole mission.

For these reasons the euRathlon robots are likely to look rather conventional: wheeled or tracked land robots; fixed or rotary wing (i.e. quadcopter) flying robots, and ROV-type underwater robots. Not as dramatic as the DARPA robot challenge humanoid or animal-like robots perhaps, but looks can be deceptive: the real innovation in the euRathlon robots will be in the autonomous cooperation across the three domains. Something that has not been demonstrated in realistic outdoor disaster response scenarios.

Of course there is nothing to stop euRathlon teams from using a bio-mimetic approach, so fish-like underwater robot cooperate with bird-like flying robots, and legged animal-like land robots. That really would be something!

Related blog posts:
euRathlon is go! (Feb 2013)
Real-world robotics reality check (May 2010)
A truly Grand Challenge (August 2007)

I’m very excited to be leading a new project called euRathlon – which is short for European Robotics Athlon. Up until now the project has been under wraps, but now – finally – we can go public. I’ll explain a bit more about the process that led to here later in this blog post, but first – about euRathlon.

It is an EU funded project to set up and run a series of outdoor robotics competitions. The focus is robots for search and rescue, or – more broadly – disaster response. Right now robots are not part of the standard equipment of emergency services, like fire brigades. But actually, robotics technology is coming close to the point where they could be and, in my view, should be. It seems to me that first responders should have robots as a standard part of their equipment, so that when there is a disaster robots are used as a matter of routine. euRathlon will, I hope, speed up the development and adoption of smarter robots for first responders.

The big vision of euRathlon is a competition scenario in which no single type of robot is, on its own, sufficient. Inspired by the Fukushima accident of 2011, our Grand Challenge will require teams of land, sea and flying robots to investigate the scene. Here is the project abstract:

euRathlon is a new outdoor robotics competition, which will invite teams to test the intelligence and autonomy of their robots in realistic mock emergency-response scenarios. Inspired by the 2011 Fukushima accident the euRathlon competition will require a team of land, underwater and flying robots to work together to survey the scene, collect environmental data, and identify critical hazards. Leading up to this ‘grand challenge’ in 2015, will be directly related land and underwater robot competitions in 2013 and 2014, respectively. The euRathlon competitions will be supported by annual workshops for competitors. In parallel there will be an open process of developing benchmarks to allow comparison of different robots in the euRathlon competitions. Linked public engagement activities will connect euRathlon with robotics research, industry and emergency services, as well as the general public. Attendance of spectators will be welcomed, and we hope that euRathlon events will attract considerable press and media attention. By targeting a specific and urgent need – intelligent robots for disaster-response -euRathlon will provide European robotics with a platform for challenging, extending and showcasing European cognitive robotics technologies.

Followers of this blog will know that I’ve been involved in the European Land Robotics Challenge (ELROB) for some years. I blogged about it in 2010: Real-world robotics reality check, and in 2007: A truly Grand Challenge. So, when the EU Framework Programme (FP7) issued a call for competition proposals late in 2011 an opportunity arose for those of us involved in ELROB to think about bidding for a new competition, building on that experience and extending our ambition. We were very fortunate to link up with the organisers of the Student Autonomous Underwater Challenge – Europe (SAUC-E), a very well regarded underwater robot competition. We then had land and sea robots covered. The final piece of the jigsaw fell into place when we were joined by our final partner, organisers of the workshop on Research, Development and Education on Unmanned Aerial Systems (RED-UAS 2011), with huge experience of aerial robots.

The euRathlon consortium was complete, and together we submitted our bid in April 2012. Following evaluation the bid was successful and then, from September to December 2012, we went into a phase of project negotiation, in which we worked out and agreed the details of the project with the EC. That process concluded successfully, and the project started on 1 January 2013.

So now, euRathlon is go!