18 September
arnau-udg-pandora
In CIRS, News, Projects, Underwater Mapping by cirs-media

Open PhD position in Omnidirectional Computer Vision for Underwater Robots

The Computer Vision and Robotics Group of the University of Girona (UdG), Spain, has opened a full-time PhD position in the area of Omnidirectional Computer Vision for Underwater Robots. The research will be conducted in the Computer Vision and Robotics institute of the UdG (http://vicorob.udg.edu/) under the supervision of Dr. Rafael Garcia and Dr. Nuno Gracias.   The research will focus on using underwater cameras with very wide field of view (providing hemispherical coverage) to assist the operation of underwater robots. These cameras open up new unexplored capabilities of immersive telepresence, efficient optical mapping in cluttered environments and vehicle safety….

15 September
In AUV, Dissemination, GIRONA 500, News, Projects, SPARUS II by cirs-media

FP7 European Project MORPH: next generation of underwater robotics for ocean exploration tested in the Azores

From 8 to 18 September 2014, the Center of IMAR of the University of the Azores is hosting the sea trials of a new type of robotics-based distributed sensor system, aimed at affording marine scientists and commercial operators a revolutionary tool for marine habitat mapping in complex 3D environments. The tests are being performed in the scope of the EC research project MORPH, entitled Marine Robotic System of Self-Organising, Logically Linked Physical Nodes.   Launched in February 2012, the 4-year research project MORPH is partly funded by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme with a budget of 8,5 million Euros….

23 July
MORPH TRIALS
In AUV, CIRS, GIRONA 500, Projects, SPARUS II, Underwater Mapping by cirs-media

MORPH FP7 PROJECT TRIALS TAKE PLACE IN SANT FELIU DE GUÍXOLS (GIRONA)

From Wednesday 9th to Friday 18th of July, several MORPH European project experiments were held in Girona. Their goal was to prepare for the upcoming trials in the Azores islands next September. The Variable Geometry Range Only Navigation (VG-ROF) algorithm was tested with the IST Medusas, the UdG SparusII and Girona500, and the ATLAS SEACAT. The first three days were devoted to software integration, at CIRS facilities, to have everything ready for the trials carried out in Sant Feliu’s harbor. During the second week multiple missions with different vehicle configurations were tested. The main purpose was to grab images and…

14 July
R2B2
In CIRS, Dissemination, News by cirs-media

2a edició del campus PRESUB – robòtica submarina educativa

Del 7 al 11 de juliol va tenir lloc la segona edició del Campus PRESUB a les instal•lacions del Centre de Robòtica Submarina (Parc Científic i Tecnològic), amb la participació d’ una vintena d’estudiants de secundària de diferents centres de les comarques gironines. L’objectiu bàsic d’aquests tallers és la realització d’activitats científico-tecnològiques de caire lúdic que resultin interessants i atractives que permetin incrementar el interès de la societat, i més concretament dels estudiants de secundària, per la tecnologia i que fomentin els valors propis de l’enginyeria. Aquest objectiu és compartit pel Departament d’Arquitectura i Tecnologia de Computadors, pel Consell Social…

09 June
EMRA2014
In AUV, GIRONA 500, Projects, SPARUS II, Underwater Mapping by cirs-media

Presenting PANDORA FP7 and MORPH FP7 projects at EMRA 2014

Our researchers Pere Ridao and Marc Carreras are currently in Rome in the Workshop on EU Funded Marine Robotics and Applications (EMRA 2014). Researchers and users of marine robotic technology are invited to EMRA2014. The workshop shall summarize current EU FP7 marine robotics research, and provide a platform for marine stakeholders to share their current technological challenges. For researchers, EMRA2014 will offer dissemination opportunities for existing work, and highlight new application areas for consideration in future work. For marine research stakeholders, EMRA2014 will offer novel approaches to solve marine challenges, and a platform for directing future research threads. MORPH project…

09 June
euROBOTICS
In AUV, CIRS, GIRONA 500, News, Projects, SPARUS II by cirs-media

EU launches world’s largest civilian robotics programme – 240,000 new jobs expected

The European Commission and 180 companies and research organisations (under the umbrella of euRobotics) today launch the world’s largest civilian research and innovation programme in robotics. Covering manufacturing, agriculture, health, transport, civil security and households, the initiative – called SPARC – is the EU’s industrial policy effort to strengthen Europe’s position in the global robotics market (€60 billion a year by 2020). This initiative is expected to create over 240,000 jobs in Europe, and increase Europe’s share of the global market to 42% (a boost of €4 billion per year). The European Commission will invest €700 million and euRobotics €2.1…

02 June
3D mapping
In News, THESIS, Underwater Mapping by cirs-media

Ricard Campos defends his PhD thesis “Surface Reconstruction Methods for Seafloor Modelling”

Underwater maps are an important source of information for the scientific community, since mapping the seafloor is the starting point for underwater exploration. The advance of range scanning methodologies, both using acoustic and optical techniques, enables the mapping of the seabed to attain increasingly larger resolutions. However, all these techniques sample the surface to reconstruct in the form of a point cloud. For the case of areas containing non-trivial 3D relief, achieving a continuous representation from this discrete sampling is a complex task. Surface reconstruction methods try to tackle this problem by recovering a continuous surface representing the object in…

27 May
saprus-II
In AUV, CIRS, SPARUS II by cirs-media

SPARUS II AUV on their way to euRathlon competition

Last week we received the visit of the teams that are going to compete in euRathlon with our SPARUS II AUVs.   We had to say goodbye to our prototyes that are now being tested in their final destinations! Good luck and thanks to euRathlon team for trusting us!   More info about euRathlon: http://www.eurathlon.eu/ More info about SPARUS II AUV: http://cirs.udg.edu/auvs-technology/auvs/sparus-ii-auv/

20 May
In AUV, CIRS, GIRONA 500, Projects by cirs-media

TRITON National Funded project experiments in Girona

From Monday 12th to Friday 16th of May, the TRITON national project experiments where held in Girona. The goal of these experiments was to localize an underwater panel with an acoustic ranging sensor. Once the panel is localized, the AUV homes to it and, once closer, using a vision-based system docks in it and performs an autonomous intervention. This intervention is split in two parts, first the vehicle manipulates a valve (open/close) and then connects and disconnects a hot stab. The first day was dedicated to system integration between the Girona500, the arm brought by the UJI team and the…

15 May
Angelos Pdh
In AUV, CIRS, News, THESIS by cirs-media

Angelos Mallios defends his PhD Thesis “Sonar Scan Matching for Simultaneous Localization and Mapping in Confined Underwater Environments”

This thesis presents the development of a localization and mapping algorithm for an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). It is based on probabilistic scan matching of raw sonar scans within a pose-based simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) framework.   To address the motion-induced distortions affecting the generation of full sector scans, an extended Kalman filter (EKF) is used to estimate the robot motion during that scan. The filter uses a constant velocity model with acceleration noise for motion prediction.Velocities from Doppler velocity log (DVL) and heading measurements from attitude and heading reference system (AHRS) are fed asynchronously and update the state….