INESC TEC Robotics opens the way to partners that have the future in mind

On 6 June, INESC TEC’s Centre for Robotics and Autonomous Systems (CRAS) organised its First Open Day at the School of Engineering of Porto (ISEP). The event, which was aimed and limited to companies and partner institutions, had a technology exposition as well as presentations on the work developed over the last decade and a strategic analysis with the future in mind.

The growth of CRAS is evident in terms of human resources (50 elements), ongoing projects (19 projects) and, above all, in its ability to widely cover the TRL (“Technology Readiness Level”) chain, being able to reach the highest levels, that is, the technologies that are developed and applied on the market. Despite the work achieved so far, the Centre wants to continue its growth, the strengthening of relations with national partners and to increase its expansion into new geographies and markets. “Our ambition is to grow faster and this open day aims at enhancing this growth,” states Aníbal Matos, Coordinator of CRAS.

For that, the partners are essential and if the Centre has relied on strong allies up until now, such as the Portuguese Navy or A. Silva Matos (a metal working company), the intention is to not only “strengthen these partnerships, but also to establish new ones, with Europe as a short to medium-term outlook.

After Aníbal Matos, Coordinator of CRAS, having presented the centre, its history, the main indicators and having introduced the research lines of CRAS, senior researcher Alfredo Martins specified and exemplified the R&D activity developed at the Centre focusing on how it progresses in collaboration with other partners, supporting himself on several examples of projects – such as Turtle, Unexmin or VAMOS.

Carlos Pinho, Assistant to the Coordinator of CRAS, indicated several global trends, market segments that will emerge and others that will be reinforced by 2030, the challenges they widely pose in terms of science, technology and innovation, materialising it with examples of projects that demonstrate how CRAS already addresses these challenges in its R&D agenda.

Finally, Coordinator Eduardo Silva closed the session with a global vision of the technological infrastructure TEC4SEA, which according to him “it’s a key factor for us to grow and to be able to progress in several research lines”, thus reinforcing the investment that is being made in the acquisition of equipment for the construction of a real laboratory at the sea, which will allow the testing and launch of new technologies. This will be an open and very useful infrastructure for all the stakeholders who are interested in the sea.

Before the presentation session, the approximately 50 external participants were able to see several solutions developed by the Centre and the partners in the technological exhibition that took place in the Laboratory for Robotics and Autonomous Systems. Representatives of small, medium and large companies, start-ups, investors, other Portuguese and Galician research centres and groups, and representatives of the Portuguese navy, among others, were present.

The session ended with an invitation to the InTheBlack conference (http://www.strongmar.eu/site/in-the-black-2019-109) which will be attended by a number of leading figures in the global mining industry.

 

The researchers mentioned in this news piece are associated with INESC TEC, UP-FEUP and P.Porto-ISEP.

 

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