Issue link: https://htpgraphics.uberflip.com/i/1385717
CROSS-HUB COLLABORATION RAIN collaborated with FAIRSPACE, NCNR and ORCA developing solutions for use in hazardous and challenging environments, such as those found in the nuclear, offshore and space sectors. For example, NCNR researchers from the University of Lincoln have been able to control a mobile robot from the RAIN Hub at the University of Oxford. Teams from the University of Manchester are working to control a mobile robot from the ORCA Hub at Heriot-Watt University as well as robot manipulators from the FAIRSPACE Hub at the University of Edinburgh. RAIN AND INNOVATE UK UKAEA ROSS EXTRM ORI partnered with Createc to deploy a ORI's Terrain Explorer with a modularised version of Createc's NVisage® / RECON system as part of an Innovate UK funded project. This system adds an overlay to the LIDAR maps detailing the radioactivity of all points in the observed map. The modularised system means that only those software and hardware components not already native to the robotics platform need to be integrated. For the majority of the trials performed, Createc provided a CZT gamma detector and the NVisage® radiation mapping software. VIRTUAL SECONDMENT TO NIST RAIN researcher's Rafael C. Cardoso and Angelo Ferrando were not able to go to their secondment at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the US because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, they collaborated virtually with NIST in two different projects; agile tasking of robotic systems with explicit verifiable autonomy and runtime verification of the ARIAC (Agile Robotics for Industrial Automation Competition) competition. RAIN & NNUF-HR The RAIN Hub has research and deployment at its core but needs support for hardware. The National Nuclear Users Forum – Hot Robotics (NNUF-HR) is the ideal partner to provide such equipment. Collaborations thus far have provided trials of SPOT-mini at ORI, on the RACE NIST lanes and in Ukraine. Further exciting collaborations are expected. 68 COLLABORATIONS (highlights)