UK Food Robotics News

Europe's leading centre of excellence for food robotics and automation, CenFRA, has appointed Ian Nicholls, as new managing director. Ian Nicholls has been involved in the food and drink sector for almost 40 years and is a highly sought after specialist consultant, bringing with him a wealth of experience in manufacturing, engineering and project management.

CenFRA Ltd is centre of excellence for all robotic and automation activities relating to the food and drink industry. Sponsored by the Regional Development Agency Yorkshire Forward, the aim is to provide a fully independent resource, which will help food and drink manufacturers identify cost effective automated systems. CenFRA is in partnership with a consortium of the country’s leading independent robotic and automation facilities.

EUROVISION 2011: Greece, Good Luck! Ελλάδα, Καλή Επιτυχία!

Watch My Dance

Loukas Yiorkas and Stereo Mike 

Zeibekiko and hip-hop together!



For all those not in Greece - Vote for Greece

Douze Points please!

And for those who don't know, we have another Global Greek in this year's Eurovision Song Competition, don't forget Antony Costa with Blue representing the United Kingdom! Good luck! (thanks Vangeli T)

Great robotics: Fund Raising Robot from UK

Credit: Tim Pryde

Tim Pryde, a product design student in Dundee, UK, has developed a small robot called DON-8r (pronounced “donator“) for fund-raising. The robot travels through public spaces relying upon coin donations from passers-by to keep it moving. Each donation not only helps to power DON-8r but also goes directly towards supporting a chosen charity. Inspired by the increasingly negative attitude that many people have towards on-the-street charity workers, DON-8r raises money through encouraging playful and empathetic support from strangers and passers-by. DON-8r has recently been wowing shoppers in Dundee, Scotland raising both money and awareness for Dundee Science Centre. Designed to be re-branded to suit different charities, DON-8r provides a unique platform for charities to engage with members of the public in a fun and memorable manner. Check out video below.

(Source: Tim Pride via Rickard Ahlstom)

Disaster Robots Needed

After the slow start the first rescue and firefighting robots from USA and Germany are on its way to Japan to assist rescue teams especially at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. According to the Japanese government the crisis might be continue for weeks or months before the damaged reactors will be under control. 

In the light of the emergency robot disaster in Japan the need of a new research and development strategy for robotics is obvious. When human workers in high-tech Japan are the best solution do the dirty and dangerous job, there must be something wrong. After billions of yen, dollar and euro invested in robotics research and prototyping isn't it time again to rethink needs, goals and funding of robotics research and development? The transfer of scientific knowledge into robotic solutions for the safety and benefit of citizens and society is urgent. The risk of natural and nuclear disasters remains high and might even increase by urbanization, climate change and technological complexity.

Demand of Disaster Robots
Urbanization continues as the construction of new nuclear power plants all over the world. According to the 2010 World Disasters Report (WDR) over half the world’s population now live in cities for the first time and more people than ever before live in slums. Urban poverty and disaster risk are often closely intertwined and the links between urban poverty and disaster risk will be increased by climate change.
The report states that the root cause of why so many people are affected by urban disasters is that a billion people live in poor-quality homes on dangerous sites with no hazard-reducing infrastructure and no services. In any given year, over 50,000 people can die as a result of earthquakes and 100 million can be affected by floods and the worst-affected are most often vulnerable city dwellers.

Disaster Robots of the Future 

Credit: WMR, University of Warwick

Next generation rescue robot solution will heavily depend on the scientific knowledge and engineering creativity of a new generation robotics students, who think out-of-the-box, innovate and share their findings via open and social media. They compete globally with great ambitions and much fun, laying the ground for smarter and more competitive technology and successful businesses.

Robocup Rescue World Champions 
One example of ambition and creativity are the students from the Warwik Mobile Robotics Group at the University of Warwick, UK. Their ambition for the 2011 European Robocup Rescue competition in Magdeburg, Germany, are high with the goal of retaining the European championship and to qualify for and enter the Robocup Rescue World Championships 2011.
To win again the team has improved the six tracks rescue robot, that won the European rescue championship at RoboCup in Germany last year, with the motion controller Kinect that saves significant sums compared with Lidar laser sensors. If they can beat their competitors with the Xbox add-on, will an exciting challenge.
Check out the presentation video below.


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The RoboCupRescue Robot League is an international league of teams with one objective: develop and demonstrate advanced robotic capabilities for emergency responders using annual competitions to evaluate, and teaching camps to disseminate, best-in-class robotic solutions.

Decommissioning Scenario for Fukushima Dai-ichi

Credit: TEPCO - Fukushima Dai-ichi

Two weeks after the 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that damaged the nuclear power plant Fukushima Dai-ichi the Japanese government and Tokyo Electric have mentioned the likely decommission of the nuclear plant when the current crisis has been overcome.

Decommissioning of Nuclear Power Plants
The process of decommissioning of a nuclear facilities is regulated and includes many administrative and technical actions such as all clean-up of radioactivity and progressive demolition of the plant. Once a facility is decommissioned, there should no longer be any danger of a radioactive accident or to any persons visiting it. After a facility has been completely decommissioned it is released from regulatory control, and the licensee of the plant no longer has responsibility for its nuclear safety. 
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has defined three options for decommissioning, the definitions of which have been internationally adopted: Immediate Dismantling (Early Site Release/DECON in the US), Safe Enclosure (SAFSTOR) or Entombment (ENTOMB).

According to the World Nuclear Association to date, about 80 commercial power reactors, 45 experimental or prototype reactors, over 250 research reactors and a number of fuel cycle facilities, have been retired from operation. Some of these have been fully dismantled. Most parts of a nuclear power plant do not become radioactive, or are contaminated at only very low levels. Most of the metal can be recycled. Proven techniques and equipment are available to dismantle nuclear facilities safely and these have now been well demonstrated in several parts of the world. Decommissioning costs for nuclear power plants, including disposal of associated wastes, are reducing and contribute only a small fraction of the total cost of electricity generation. Some examples of decommissioning are folowing below. 

Safe Enclosure Japan: The Tōkai Nuclear Power Plant (1966-2018) 

One of the first decommissioning projects in Japan was the Tōkai Nuclear Power Plant, the first nuclear power plant in Japan, built in the early 1960s to a 160 MWe British Magnox design, and generated power from 1966 until it was decommissioned in 1998. The plant has passed decommissioning phase SAFSTOR (1998-1999) and DECON will end in 2018. The decommissioning cost was estimated to yen 93 Billion (Euro 660 Million) by the OECD in 2003. JPY 35 billion for dismantling and JPY 58 billion for waste treatment which will include the graphite moderator (which escalates the cost significantly).

Safe Enclosure USA: Three Mile Island (1979-2036)

Credit: CMU 

After the Three Mile Island, Unit 2 (TMI-2) accident on March 28, 1979, which resulted in severe damage to the reactor core, TMI-2 has been in a non-operating status since that time. The licensee conducted a substantial program to defuel the reactor vessel and decontaminate the facility. All spent fuel has been removed except for some debris in the reactor coolant system.
The first robotics vehicle to enter the basement of Three Mile Island after the meltdown, was Remote Reconnaissance Robot 1983 developed by CMU roboticist William L. ''Red'' Whittaker. The robot worked four years to survey and clean up the flooded basement. The CoreSampler, 1984, was a remote vehicle drilling core samples from the walls of the TMI basement to determine the depth and severity of radioactive material that soaked into the concrete at the site.

The plant defueling was completed in April 1990. The removed fuel is currently in storage at Idaho National Laboratory, and the U.S. Department of Energy has taken title and possession of the fuel. TMI-2 has been defueled and decontaminated to the extent the plant is in a safe, inherently stable condition suitable for long-term management. This long-term management condition is termed post-defueling monitored storage, which was approved in 1993. There is no significant dismantlement underway. The plant shares equipment with the operating TMI - Unit 1. TMI-1 was sold to AmerGen (now Exelon) in 1999. GPU Nuclear retains the license for TMI-2 and is owned by FirstEnergy Corp. GPU contracts with Exelon for maintenance and surveillance activities. The licensee plans to actively decommission TMI-2 in parallel with the decommissioning of TMI-1. The current radiological decommissioning cost estimate is $836.9 million. The current amount in the decommissioning trust fund is $576.8 million, as of December 31, 2009. Estimated Date For Closure: 12/31/2036.
Entombment USSR/Ukraine: Chernobyl Case (1986 - 2065)

Credit: Wikipedia - Chernobyl

The worst nuclear power plant accident in history, the only one classified as a level 7 event on the International Nuclear Event Scale, is the Chernobyl nuclear disaster on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Ukrainian SSR (now Ukraine). After a 1991 fire in Reactor 2, this reactor was taken offline, and decommissioned in 1996.

First in 1999, after the End of the Cold War, reconnaissance robot Pioneer entered the radiated plant for structural analysis of the Unit 4 reactor building. Even this robot was developed by CMU roboticist William L. ''Red'' Whittaker and his company RedZone Robotics. The robot was a teleoperated mobile robot for deploying sensor and sampling payloads, with a mapper for creating photorealistic 3D models of the building interior, a coreborer for cutting and retrieving samples of structural materials, and a suite of radiation and other environmental sensors.

Credit: CMU/RedZone Pioneer

Reactor 3 was switched off in 2000 to close the plant. In early 2002 the European Commission paid the first installment of its promised €40m additional Shelter Fund. The fund was paid in four installments from 2001–2004. It helped to support the decommissioning work at the site.

In 1997 the Chernobyl Shelter Fund was established at the Denver 23rd G8 summit to finance the Shelter Implementation Plan (SIP). The plan calls for transforming the site into an ecologically safe condition by means of stabilization of the sarcophagus followed by construction of a New Safe Confinement (NSC). While the original cost estimate for the SIP was US$768 million, the 2006 estimate was $1.2 billion. The SIP is being managed by a consortium of Bechtel, Battelle, and Electricité de France, and conceptual design for the NSC consists of a movable arch, constructed away from the shelter to avoid high radiation, to be slid over the sarcophagus.
New Safe Confinement 2013

On 7 January 2010, the Ukrainian Government passed a state law to transform the Chernobyl shelter facility into an environmentally safe system in order to protect the surroundings from radiation. The programme will be executed in four stages. In the first stage, nuclear fuel will be moved to a storage facility, which will be completed by 2013. In the second stage which will be completed by 2025, all the reactors will be deactivated. The third stage involves maintaining the reactors until radiation drops to an acceptable level and is envisaged to be completed by 2045. The fourth and the final stage involves dismantling the reactors and clearing the site, which is expected to be completed by 2065.

Novarka is a French consortium for the construction of the new safe confinement over the Chernobyl shelter. Members of the consortium are Vinci, Bouygues (France), Nukem (Germany/UK), Hochtief (Germany) and some Ukrainian companies. In 2007 the Ukrainian authorities announced Novarka as winner of the $ 453 Million contract. Check the video animation below.



Demolition Robots at Dounreay plant, UK 

Credit: NDA - Brokk 40

In the UK robots have been used to take over from human staff to dismantle the uranium fuel reprocessing plant at Dounreay. The plant is too contaminated with radiation for human workers to carry out the work, so the site has turned to specialist demolition firm Brokk to supply the remotely-operated equipment that can work inside cells and a pond. Staff are drilling through the concrete that surrounds the plant to let the electric powered demolition robots move inside and begin dismantling it. The robots which are mounted on tracks like a construction excavator have been fitted with specially-designed tools.

Fukushima Dai-ichi 2011-20??

Depending on further crisis development and the final status of nuclear reactors at the power plant the decommissioning process and the recovering of the surroundings will take many years and cost billions of yen. Fukushimas will forever be remembered with the nuclear disaster caused by the earthquake and devastating tsunami on March 11, 2011. 

Spy Drones Take Off into Olympic Sky

Monitoring Olympic Sky 2012
From the UK, video surveillance country number one in Europe and host of the Summer Olympics 2012, the Brittish Guardian reports about police plans to use spy drones for "routine" monitoring of antisocial motorists, protesters, agricultural thieves and fly-tippers, in a significant expansion of covert state surveillance. BAE Systems, 2nd largest global defence company based on 2009 revenues, is already adapting its military drones for a consortium of government agencies led by Kent police.
New German Microdrones Take Off
But BAE drones will not be alone. German microdrones GmbH, located in Buchen, has recently launched the new new md4-1000, a rotary wing based micro UAV. It can carry a most diverse range of imaging, video and other sensor systems. Check out the video below for a test flight.

The civilian market for unmanned aerial vehicles, UAVs, is expected to grow up to $2 billion over the next 10 years according to a UK Trade & Investment report. Market drivers are increased demand of aerial photography, surveillance, plant inspection, fire and rescue service, border control, police monitoring. 

Hamburger - ameriacn food

A hamburger is a sandwich consisting of a cooked patty of ground meat generally placed inside a sliced bread roll. Hamburgers are often provide with lettuce, bacon, tomato, onion, pickles, cheese and condiments such as mustard, mayonnaise, ketchup and relish. The hamburger has reach widespread recognition and has proliferated worldwide. The term hamburger or burger can also be practical to the meat patty on its own, particularly in the UK where the term "patty" is never used, although the period "hamburger" is rarely used in the Commonwealth countries unless referring to a menu article of an American restaurant.

The term hamburger initially derives from Hamburg, Germany's second largest city, from where several emigrated to America. In high German, "Burg" means fortified settlement or prepared refuge; and is a widespread part of placenames. At $499, the world's largest hamburger commercially accessible, tips the scales at 185.8 pounds and is on the menu at Mallie's Sports Grill & Bar in Southgate, Michigan. It is called the "Absolutely Ridiculous Burger", which take about 12 hours to organize. It was cooked and adjudicate on 30 May 2009.

Name	Hamburger
Place of origin	United States, Germany
Serving temperature	Hot
Main ingredient(s)	Ground beef, bread

Robotic Theater at Copernicus Science Centre, Warsaw

At the brand new Copernicus Science Centre in Warsaw Polen, three robotic actors are ready for the grand opening on Friday 5th November. The RoboThespians will be performing two scientifically-themed plays in both Polish and English within a purpose built theatre. One play is based on the short story “Prince Ferrix and the Princess Crystal” by Stanislaw Lem. 
Below is a preview of the Robotic Theatre – Teatru Robotycznego.




The fully programmable humanoid robots are developed by UK company Engineered Arts Ltd. specialised in the design and build of imaginative, interactive exhibitions, audio visual and mixed media installations. RoboThespian™ robot actors, which are installed in science museums and public venues around the world have  three major applications: to meet and greet visitors, to interact with the public, and to perform. At the Shanghai Expo 2010, "Jack" the RoboThespian greeted visitors as they walked through the Macau Pavilion exhibition area. At the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh "Andy Roid" the RoboThespian greets visitors entering the roboworld exhibition. 

How will we work and play with Robots & Avatars in 10-15 years?

Robots and Avatars is an innovative programme in the UK developed by body>data>space with key partner NESTA. It is designed to explore how young people will work and play with new representational forms of virtual and physical life in 10-15 years time. It examines multi-identity evolutions of today’s younger generations within the context of a world in which virtual and physical spaces are increasingly blended. Robots and Avatars are producing a series of vodcasts which are available to view on their site. They explore the themes of the programme, including Artifical Intelligence, Behaviours and Ethics, Health and Wellbeing and the Future Workplace from the perspective of a diverse array of professionals and experts, who share their expertise and insight in this series of interviews.innovation experts are exploring

Robots and Avatars Vodcast #1 from body>data>space on Vimeo.

Mini UAVs on Civil Sky - New Risk Scanarios

While U.S. increase its strikes by large drone aircraft on suspected militants in Pakistan in the past few weeks to thwart terror attack plans in European countries, civil aviation authorities are warning for risks of mini UAVs at home land. 

With the increasing popularity of small, unmanned aircraft (20 kg or less), some of which can now be controlled by Smart Phones, the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has issued advice on using mini UAVs in built-up areas or when in proximity to people, property or vehicles. The CAA said it was important that owners of the aircraft understood the risks they pose, despite their small size, to other airspace users and also to individuals on the ground. The CAA pointed out that these devices are ‘aircraft’ and are therefore covered by regulations within the Air Navigation Order, which anyone flying them should be aware of. There have been a number of accidents in recent years, some fatal, involving model aircraft, and to avoid similar incidents and risk to third parties, operators of these new generation of unmanned aircraft should take great care when using them. Where such small, unmanned aircraft are fitted with surveillance cameras, they need permission from the CAA to operate within 50 metres of a person, vehicle, vessel or structure (not in control of the person in charge) and when operating over or within 150 metres of any area that is substantially used for residential, industrial, commercial or recreational purposes or open-air assemblies of more than 1,000 people.

Emergency services, and many commercial operators, are already using small, unmanned aircraft mounted with cameras, but are doing so with the full knowledge and authorisation of the CAA. All such flying is done within set distances from the pilot, who must also be able to clearly see the aircraft at all times to ensure safe operation and the avoidance of collisions.

Matt Lee, Head of Regulation Enforcement at the CAA, said: “Anyone thinking of buying a small, unmanned aircraft should be aware that whilst there is a lot of pleasure in flying one, they are not toys and they must be operated legally. In the wrong hands or used irresponsibly in built-up areas, or, too close to other people or property, they represent a very real safety risk. As well as the danger of being physically hit, there is also the chance of other accidents being caused through distraction, for example, if a car driver was to be surprised by something flying towards him. In the past we have seen people seriously injured or even killed by model aircraft and, now that small, unmanned aircraft are becoming more readily available and simpler to fly, we need to avoid any similar incidents.”

Unmanned Aircraft System Operations in UK Airspace – Guidance (pdf)

The technical aspects of terror attacks by using UAVs was described by Eugene Miasnikov researcher at Center for Arms Control, Energy and Environmental Studies, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology in his report "Threat of Terrorism Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Technical Aspects" (2004).

€ 3 Million for European Care Robot

A 10 partner consortium coordinated by the Manufacturing Engineering Centre (MEC), Cardiff University, UK will start a R&D project to develop a remotely-controlled, semi-autonomous robotic solutions in domestic environments to support elderly people. In particular, the project will demonstrate an innovative, practical and efficient system called “SRS robot” for personalised home care.

The care robot wil be designed to act as a "shadow" of its controller. For example, elderly parents can have a robot as a shadow of their children or carers. In this case, adult children or carers can help them remotely and physically with tasks such as getting up or going to bed, doing the laundry and setting up ICT equipment etc. as if the children or carers were resident in the house.

This objective will be realised by the following SRS innovations:

A new intent-based remote control mechanism to enable the robots to be tele-operated over a real-world communication network robustly.

An adaptive autonomy mechanism to enable a highly efficient task execution for remotely controlled service robots.

A new robotic self-learning mechanism to enable the robots to learn from their experience.

A safety-oriented framework derived through extensive usability and user acceptance studies that enable service robots to be effectively deployed into home care applications.

The prototypes created in this project will be tested at the “S.Maria Nascente” Centre in Milano and the IZA Care Center in San Sebastián. The final solution will be further developed by Hewlett-Packard and other industrial partners of the consortium for a worldwide market with significant potential and volume.

The € 3 Million research project is supported by EC funding from the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). The project comprises partners from Bulgaria, Italy, Germany, Spain and the UK.

€11 Million for a Companion Robot

Researchers from six European countries and 18 reseach institutions are working together to provide the synergy of Robotics and Ambient Intelligence technologies and their semantic integration to provide for a care-giver's assistive environment. The CompanionAble consortium lead by The University of Reading, UK, has 48 months and a budget of €11 million to address the issues of social inclusion and homecare of persons suffering from chronic cognitive disabilities prevalent among the elderly, a rapidly increasing population group. Those people need support of carers and are at risk of social exclusion, yet this problem not well addressed by ICT technology, but would lead to a social and economical pressure for staying at home as long as possible.will

1st Demonstration of the CompanionAble Robot will be helt at the Conference Marking the European Day of People with Disabilities from the 3rd to 4th December in Brussels.

Eccerobot humanlike moves

The ECCEROBOT project is a spin-off of the CRONOS project conducted at the University of Essex. The goal of this project was to investigate machine consciousness through internal modeling. For this purpose the first anthropomimetic robot torso was built. In order to further enhance the torso, the team at Essex developed a controller for it, and investigated the development of human-like cognitive abilities.

Source: Eccerobot, University of Essex)

UK Robotics Hot Spots

A recent report, commissioned by the HSBC Commercial Bank, predicts that six UK regions will become Robotics hubs in the future business landscape of the UK: Birmingham, Edinburgh, Essex, London, Manchester and Plymouth.

Birmingham has a respectable position in the robotics field, with names like Kuka Automation and Robotics, based in Halesowen. The School of Computer Science at the University of Birmingham has an established and growing international reputation for research and teaching in Computer Science, AI and robotics. The School has nearly 90 active researchers and the robotics research group conducts research in a number of sub-fields of intelligent robotics and related areas such as statistical machine learning.

The Institute of Perception, Action, and Behaviour at the University of Edinburgh is focused on activities related to how to link, in theory and in practice, computational perception, representation, transformation and generation processes to external worlds.

The Essex Robotics group is one of the large mobile robotics groups in the UK.Robotics research at the University of Essex focuses on autonomous mobile robotics, and addresses a wide range of research questions.with advanced mobile robotics research facilities such as the Essex Robotics Arena featuring the world's largest powered floor and a real-time 3D VICON motion tracking system.

The Department of Mechanical Engineering at Imperial College in London is leading in research into medical robotics for neurosurgery.

The University of Plymouth was the first to provide an undergraduate degree in Robotics and Automated Systems in 1992. The University now offers degree courses at BSc, BEng, MEng and MSc level in Robotics supported by an active research group. The key research strands include human robot interfaces, natural language communication, cognition and reasoning and visual and haptic interfaces.