INDUSTRY

Trimble and Amberg Announce Tunnel Construction Survey Solution

Trimble and Amberg collaborate to increase productivity in underground construction with Amberg Tunnel Software and Trimble S Series Robotic Total Stations and Data Collectors.

This solution enables tunnel construction surveyors to efficiently perform tasks such as excavation guidance, asbuilt control, automated survey and stakeout design information.

The ADE robotics project carries out the final field tests

After nearly two years of work Bremen in Germany hosted from 18 March to 16 April the final tests of the ADE (Autonomous DEcision Making in very long traverses) space robotics project from 15th of March to 16th of April, rescheduled from the initially-intended venue of Fuerteventura due to COVID-19 travel constraints.

ADE falls within the Strategic Research Cluster (SRC) in space robotics technology, coordinated by the H2020 PERASPERA project. Its remit is to develop and test a planetary rover system with very long traverse capabilities by independently taking the decisions required to progress, reduce risks and seize opportunities of data collection.

Coordinated by GMV and run with the collaboration of 13 partners from all over Europe, ADE is dedicated to autonomous robotic decision-making, targeting specifically surface robot planetary missions performing very long traverses in unknown environments. ADE draws on the ERGO (European Robotics Goal-Oriented Autonomous Controller) autonomy system developed under GMV leadership in the first SRC phase.

The robotics platform used for field testing the project’s technology was the SherpaTT rover developed and provided by the Robotics Innovation Center of the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI). SherpaTT is a desert veteran that has already carried out simulated space missions in the Utah desert (USA) and Morocco under the GMV-led ERGO project, in 2016 and 2018, respectively.

Preliminary tests were held in November 2020 to February 2021 in a 7m x 7m indoor sandbox at DFKI premises in Bremento validate most of the onboard systems: localization, perception, guidance, manipulation of the robotic arm in motion, FDIR (Fault Detection, Isolation and Recovery), dynamic planning, and science agent. After gaining excellent results there, ADE moved on to final planetary exploration tests in a custom-built terrain comprising diverse obstacles and compacted sand.

For 5 weeks the robotic technology was put through its paces, testing navigation autonomy using the perception and localization cameras, sample-collection and -depositing with the robotic arm, automatic goal-oriented mission planning (travel to a fixed point, carry a sample from one point to another, move on to an image-taking point), plus the possibility of ad hoc scientific target recognition as the opportunity arises.

ADE came through the tests with flying colors, pulling off a long and totally autonomous traverse of almost 500m with the rover SherpaTT in a record time of less than three hours. The system incorporates all technological components developed in the previous SRC phase.

The technology developed under ADE is designed to meet future space exploration rover needs. Its goal-oriented autonomy system, apt for various space robots, can also be deployed on the ground for robots working in harsh environments, e.g., nuclear plants, rescue operations, or oil & gas industry.

Transdisciplinary Research for Pathways to Sustainability Awards

The Group on Earth Observations (GEO) together with Belmont Forum, Future Earth and twelve funding partners announced 13 new awards funded under the multilateral, transdisciplinary Collaborative Research Action focusing on “Transdisciplinary Research for Pathways to Sustainability”.

The call supports the establishment of collaborative networks to develop innovative solutions for sustainable development pathways. The funded networks seek to assess the positive and negative connections between the economy, technologyand institutions with the environment, climate, biodiversity and human well-being to understand possible pathways to a sustainable world. A critical focus of these networks is the co-production of knowledge and solutions using a transdisciplinary approach. This includes engagement of societal stakeholders to ensure ownership of research outcomes, relevance to decision makers, societal acceptance and empowerment.

Fourteen funders, including GEO, have pledged 2.5M€ of financial and in-kind resources to support 13 research networks with 136 collaborators from 37 countries over the next 2 years. The teams will focus on sustainability challenges in the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Europe. Through the generous support and partnership of FutureEarth Africa, AllEnvi, NIMR, NRF and GEO, a new milestone will be reached: 28% of the collaborators supported through this Belmont Forum call are from African Nations.

GEO will provide in-kind support to two projects that are building their transdisciplinary research on Earth observations:

• COVPATH – Coviability Path, a new framework to sustainably link humankind and the biosphere.

COVPATH proposes a new transversal pathway in the sustainable development agenda that reintegrates humans into the living world around shared health. This project builds on the socio-ecological concept of coviability, defined as the interdependence between humans and nature that results from interactions between human and non-human systems and is based on mutual sustainability. Viability is defined as the ability to exist, thrive, feel good, and be happy in a sustainable way. COVPATH will test the implementation of this concept in six biosphere reserves spread across the globe. Geo-indicators of co-viability will be created using open Earth observations available through the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) and will benefit from collaboration with the GEO BON and EO4SDG initiatives.

• SUSTAINDAM – Sustainable management and planning of hydropower generation in West Africa under climate change and land use/land cover dynamics.

SUSTAINDAM aims to contribute to sustainable planning and management of hydropower generation in West Africa under climate uncertainties and land use/ land cover dynamics.

The research team plans to build communities of practices with stakeholders to explore trade-offs across multiple SDGs that may be required in terms of effective hydroelectric power generation. The added value this project brings through the integration of natural and social sciences will inform dam management by providing an interdisciplinary understanding of trade-offs related to vulnerability reduction, societal adaptation, mitigation, and transformation in relation to local and national water governance. 4 hydroelectric dam sites across West Africa will be compared with different socioeconomic contexts considering climate change scenarios. SUSTAINDAM will collaborate directly with AfriGEO, the regional GEO, which is a member of the consortium. The proposed consortium consists of 14 partners, including four from African institutions, nine from European institutions (two from France and seven from Germany), and one regional organization in Kenya (AfriGEO).

The two winning projects will have access to the GEO network, resources and stakeholders of selected GEO Work Programme activities with the aim of integrating, supporting, or scaling-up the work of these GEO activities. The GEO Secretariat will liaise with winning projects that qualify for GEO resources. www.earthobservations.org