Workshop “Inspection and maintenance robotics: Learning across industries” at ERF 2020
Time: The workshop is scheduled to be held on 4 March 2020 from 10:45 to 12:15 in the tenative program for the European Robotics Forum (ERF) from euRobotics. The ERF program can be found here.
Registration: Remember to register for the ERF to be able to attend the workshop (registration link).
Motivation, objective, expected outcome of workshop
The area of inspection and maintenance (I&M) robotics is continuously getting more and more attention from both the industry and research. Over the last years numerous companies within I&M robotics have appeared, and the industry pull for new solutions is larger than ever. I&M robotics now spans across a range of industries including energy distribution and generation, transportation, water, oil and gas, nuclear, and more. To take the next step into the future of I&M robotics we need to learn between industry segments instead of operating in silos.
The objective of this workshop is to identify overlaps and similarities between the different application domains (rail, oil and gas, nuclear, energy distribution, and more) to see how we can learn from each other and make use of synergies to further increase deployment of I&M robotics solutions and to focus the R&D efforts on the right problems needed to be solved in the long term. During the workshop, the participants will therefore share and discuss key aspects on I&M robotics including business-to-business (B2B) end-user needs, best practices, lessons learned, success stories, challenges, new business models, technology gaps and need for research in connection with I&M robotics across a range of industries – e.g., rail, oil and gas, nuclear, and energy distribution. We will also provide an update from first open call from the RIMA network of digital innovation hubs. The workshop will encourage interaction between the participants through an open brainstorming session following a set of presentations from the industry and research community.
The expected outcome of the workshop is a common understanding of which aspects of I&M robotics are relevant across industries. This can help suppliers to identify potential new markets for their services and products, end users to identify potential collaborators in other industries, and R&D communities to identify research challenges which may give a large impact as they span across industries. We will make a summary of the workshop available online, and based on the level of detail in the findings during the workshop.
Approach and Agenda (tentative)
- 00:00-00:05 Introduction by the moderators (E. Zwicker, A. Transeth)
- 00:05-00:55 A series of short presentations given by end users (asset owners and operators), industrial service providers, robotic system suppliers, and research organizations. The presentations will share key aspects on I&M robotics including business-to-business (B2B) end-user needs, best practices, lessons learned, success stories, challenges, new business models, technology gaps and need for research in connection with I&M robotics – including successfully deployed robots and future developments.
- 00:55-01:25 Open brainstorming session moderated by E. Zwicker.The goal of the brainstorming session is to identify overlaps and similarities of the different application domains (oil&gas, public infrastructure, rail, ….) and to determine how to leverage these.
- 01:25-01:30 Summary and outlook.
Contributors (tentative)
- Ekkehard Zwicker, GE Inspection Robotics, Area: nuclear and rail.
- Carmelo García Santana, EMASESA, Area: water supply and sanitation.
- Dragos Axinte, University of Nothingham, Area: Aerospace.
- Helge-André Langåker, KVS Technologies, Area: Energy distribution.
- Anders Røyrøy, Equinor, Area: Topside oil and gas.
- Bob Raida, HEBI Robotics, Area: oil and gas, nuclear.
- Matthias Biegl, Taurob, Area: Topside oil and gas
- Aksel Transeth, SINTEF, Area: Subsea oil and gas, aquaculture.
- Christophe Leroux, CEA / RIMA, RIMA project (H2020), CEA / RIMA, Area: All. Status open calls in RIMA
Organizers
Aksel Transeth, SINTEF
Ekkehard Zwicker, GE Inspection Robotics
Maarit Sandelin, SPRINT Robotics
The program for the workshop is developed as part of the work within the euRobotics topic group on I&M robotics, the RIMA network (H2020, grant number 824990) and the RINVE network.