Centre for Automation and Robotics (CAR)
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General information

Universidad Politécnica de Madrid

Description

The Centre for Automation and Robotics (CAR) is a join centre from UPM and CSIC. CAR main objective is to develop research in the fields of Control Engineering, Artificial Perception and Robotics that will mainly be applied in providing useful results to the Society. The centre has an excellent conceptual and instrumental potential based on the experience of researchers and its facilities. CAR is involved in numerous projects and programs of the European Commission, the Spanish National Plan, CCAA programs and a great number of collaborations with companies.

Summary of Research Services

In the Big Science area, CAR has a strong experience in remote handling technologies. A wide range of projects have been carried out to develop in telerobotics applications for inspection and maintenance tasks. Moreover, advanced human interfaces have been designed for effective telemanipulation systems.

Technology Capabilities

Software, tools and licenses to be applied to Big Science
Patent P201132146: METHOD OF GUIDING TELEROBOTIC DEVICES TO SWITCH POSITION AND RATE CONTROL MODES. Approved: 11th February 2014.
Patent P9801372: STEREOSCOPIC VIDEO CAMERA. Approved: 2nd January 2001.

Main equipment or Facilities

The laboratory of Telerobotics has many equipment for implementing advanced telemanipulation systems. Among others, there are two hydraulic master-slave systems from Kraft Telerobotics, several haptic devices from Sensable, a multi-finger haptic device for complex telemanipulation, some robotic hands, and several stereoscopic video equipment.

The proper integration of these devices allows the execution of remote tasks efficiently. It requires closing control loops up to 1 kHz. Multimodal interfaces are carried out for telemanipulation, these interfaces combines haptic, visual and audio information to facilitates the operator’s integration in the remote robot working site.

Contracts for Big Science facilities

[CERN] CERN – UPM Collaboration for Beam Maintenance. (2019 - 2020)
2019-20. This project is focused on mechatronic control for beam intercepting devices. Funded by CERN.
[IFMIF-DONES] Development of new and effective procedures for maintenance of irradiated components (2016 - 2021)
Consortium with 15 partners, coordinated by CIEMAT
[ITER ORGANIZATION] Design of remote handling technologies for nuclear fusion facilities (TECHNOFUSION) (2010 - 2022)
Facities in particular JET, ITER, and DEMO. 2010-22. Consortium with 7 partners, coordinated by CIEMAT. Funded by Comunidad de Madrid.

Relevant R&D projects

[IFMIF-DONES] Methodology for Remote Handling Operations in IFMIF-DONES (2019)
Fusion Engineering and Design
[CERN] A modular architecture for robotic inspection and telemanipulation in harsh and Semi-Structured environments (CERNTAURO) (2018)
[IJARS] Telerobotics and Systems Engineering for Scientific Facilities (2015)
[Spanish Ministry of Science] Development of advanced interfaces for high scaled telemanipulation tasks (TeleScale) (2013 - 2016)
This project has developed a multimodal human-robot interface for telemanapulation of heavy components in large facilities. Funded by Spanish Ministry of Science. 
[IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine] Stereoscopic Human Interfaces (2008)
[Advanced Robotics Springer] Advanced in Telerobotics (2007)