CATEC was the organizer of this important competition, in which the latest innovative robotic systems from France, Poland, the United Kingdom, Croatia and Saudi Arabia were presented
Universities and research and technological centres of the international scope met in Seville last February to participate in the II Local Tournament of the European Robotics League (ERL Emergency), a competition funded by the Horizon 2020 program of the European Union in which different teams of engineers and scientists linked to robotics and unmanned aerial systems (drones) have presented their latest innovations in the application of these technologies for use in emergency situations, such as rescue operations, fires, natural catastrophes, etc.
CATEC has been commissioned to host and organize this international competition unique in Europe, and that has been developed for the first time in Spain, thanks to its leadership and experience in the development of new technological applications in this field
has been commissioned to host and organize this international competition, unique in Europe and that has been developed for the first time in Spain, thanks to its leadership and experience in the development of new technological applications in this field. The participating entities were the École Nationale Supérieure de Techniques Avancées (ENSTA ParisTech) from Paris, France; the Laboratory for Robotics and Intelligent Control Systems (LARICS) of the University of Zagreb, Croatia; the Lodz University of Technology, Poland; King Abdullah University of Science and Technology; the University of Bath (United Kingdom) and ENSTA Bretagne, France.To bring these technologies closer to their real application in the market in the coming years, during the days of the competition attended as a public several representatives of emergency services that could benefit from the use of these robots for their professional activity (police, firefighters, health emergencies, etc.).
The competition consisted mainly in developing tasks under the recreation of an emergency situation, which involved, among other issues, that the land and aerial robots access a specific area, detecting and avoiding fixed and mobile obstacles, delivering a first aid kit to a person (mannequin) and create a 3D map of the full area explored. The winning team, which passed the tests and achieved the best score in the overall calculation of the exercises, was the Laboratory for Robotics and Intelligent Control Systems (LARICS) of the University of Zagreb, who also won the prize for the best land robot. For its part, the best aerial robot was deployed by the KAUST team from King Abdullah University in Saudi Arabia, while the best pilot was awarded to the RAPTORS team from the University of Lodz, Poland.
During ERL Emergency 2019, there was a special prize awarded by the European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency (GSA) to the best application for the positioning accuracy of robots that make use of solutions based on Galileo and EGNOS navigation systems, whose winner was the KAUST team. In addition, the SESAR Joint Undertaking awarded another special prize to recognise technological innovations to ensure the safe access to airspace for drones or aerial robots, in support of the European Commission’s U-space initiative. The winner in this challenge was the Bath Drones team, from the University of Bath.
The initiative was a success, not only for the quality and innovation of the participating robots and teams, but also for the experience of exchange of ideas and knowledge and the coexistence developed during these days between the teams and the CATEC organizing team. Congratulations to all!
