Progress Workshop in Porto

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From the 4th of July to the 6th of July, UNEXMIN partners got together for a three-day meeting entitled “Progress Workshop”. As the name indicates, this workshop was a way to control the work being done by every partner in each of the eight work packages, to guarantee that the project is developing in the right way. The meeting was hosted in Porto by INESC TEC at their facilities, which include a robotics development lab.

On the first day of the meeting, there was an overview of the project and a review of the work in each work package. Items included hardware and software developments, preparation for testing the robotic system and communication and dissemination activities. In a multi-disciplinary project like UNEXMIN (robotics, geology, technology development), it is crucial that the different teams share their work with the others. The Advisory Board members – experts in mining and geology – were present during the review of the project and gave their most valuable help to the project partners. Their guidance is very welcome – after all, they have the expertise.

Discussions held during the Progress Workshop

The second day was dedicated to a review meeting of the Work Packages with an evaluator of the European Commission. The evaluator considered the project as running well with everything having been done on time and with good development prospects. After the review, the partners visited INESC TEC robotics labs, where they have a local pool which is used for testing. UPM, who built a UX-1 prototype, tested the robot in the pool, as you can see in the following video.

 

On Thursday, the core discussions for the development of the multi-robotic system were held. These included discussion on Work Package 3 – Autonomy for mine exploration and mapping, Work Package 4 – Multi-robot platform development, and Work Package 6 – Post-processing and data analysis functions. These work packages started recently, so discussions on their structure and content are of high importance.

Post-processing discussion on laser scanner data

There is no time to make mistakes and the consortium is doing their best for the development of the multi-robotic system!

UNEXMIN @ EGU 2017

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The European Geoscience Union (EGU) General Assembly, will take place this year in Vienna in two weeks from now (23-28 April). EGU2017 is a relevant international event with major focus on the Earth Sciences, and the UNEXMIN project will be presented there to a large and relevant audience.

The main aim of EGU General Assembly 2017 is to get together geoscientists from all around the globe to one place, covering all the disciplines not only in the Earth Sciences, but also in the Planetary and Space sciences. This event will provide a place for scientists and researchers from all levels of education to present their work and to discuss ideas with other fellow scientists and experts.

EGU 2017 programme is divided by programme groups and sessions covering all the disciplines from the science areas above described (e.g. mineralogy, geochemistry, energy and resources). Besides the usual oral presentations (UNEXMIN will be presented this way), there will be poster sessions, PICO sessions (a more interactive kind of presentation) and many other activities during the EGU week, like Short courses, debates and award sessions.

EGU 2016 (blogs.egu.eu)

The UNEXMIN project will be presented at EGU2017 by LPRC members in name of the UNEXMIN consortium on Monday morning, 24th, within the “ERE1.1 – Energy, Resources & the Environment” session and the oral presentation is entitled “UNEXMIN H2020 Project: an underwater explorer for flooded mines”. The presentation will give an overview of the project and its developments since the beginning as well as a brief update on the first results. The abstract for this event is available at: UNEXMIN abstract

All in all, the EGU2017 is the perfect place for people interested in the Earth Sciences to get to know the project. UNEXMIN’s abstract and presentation have also been given the “Highlight” status – defining it as one of the most interesting topics – for Monday. This is the prize for developing such an interesting technology that can help shape the future of the geoscientific world by gathering data that cannot be currently accessed in any other way!

UNEXMIN present in MIN-GUIDE policy laboratory 2

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During 21st and 22nd of March, the UNEXMIN project was represented in the MIN-GUIDE Policy Laboratory 2 (Innovations and supporting policies for minerals exploration and extraction), in Leoben, Austria.

This workshop, integrated in the MIN-GUIDE project, focused on new innovative technologies and supporting policies used, or to be used, in the minerals exploration and extraction activities – UNEXMIN technology was one of these new technologies to be discussed. Norbert Zazjon, UNEXMIN project coordinator, delivered two talks about the UNEXMIN project to a technological audience, a group of stakeholders included in UNEXMIN.

Norbert Zajzon at MIN-GUIDE policy laboratory 2

Norbert Zajzon presenting the UNEXMIN project

First, in the Policy Laboratory entitled “Listening, exchanging, and learning”, where inserted in the Policy Lab 3: Deep sea mining, Norbert exposed Underwater exploration and mining, using UNEXMIN and its developing technology as a discussing point. Then, UNEXMIN was presented again, this time on the Policy Laboratory (Exploring transferability) on the same Underwater exploration and mining topic. These policy labs, each divided into three sub laboratories were based on “innovation in exploration and extraction, enabling environments and supporting policies”.

Policy Lab 3: Deep Sea Mining with the presence of Norbert Zajzon and UNEXMIN (Credits: MIN-GUIDE)

The UNEXMIN project is glad to be developing a new technology that will change the minerals exploration paradigm, by developing a multi-robotic solution that can autonomously explore and map flooded mines, being able to use its technology in environments that are difficult to access today. This will allow the UNEXMIN technology to obtain geological (and other) information that cannot be obtained in any other way.

Deep sea mining is right ahead in the mining scheme and UNEXMIN will be part of that future!

The Real-Time Mining Conference

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This autumn, UNEXMIN will be presented at the Real-Time Mining Conference, an international conference on innovation in raw materials extraction. Co-organised by the Real-Time Mining project and three other Horizon2020 raw materials projects, namely UNEXMIN, ¡VAMOS!, and SOLSA, the conference will be held in Amsterdam on the 10th and 11th of October this year.

The Real-Time Mining Conference

This event aims to bring together raw materials and robotics experts from various European-sponsored projects to exchange ideas and rise synergies on innovation in resource extraction. Opportunities to create new ideas for current European projects and for future collaborations are envisioned to arise from the meeting.

The Real-Time Mining project is creating an innovative concept for predictions and measurements in mining operations. The key circular factors in this novel mining operational concept are 1) Mine Planning and Prediction, 2) Operation of the Mine Plan, 3) Online Sensor-Based Measurements and 4) Real-Time Resource/Reserve-Model Updating. These factors come together to realise of the vision of near-continuous process control and operational optimisation in mining activities.

The real-time continuous closed-loop process, as proposed by the Real-Time Mining project.

The main topics of the conference are Positioning and Material Tracking, Automated Material Characterisation, Resource Modelling, Process Optimisation, and Data Management. The conference will focus on these points, however there will be the opportunity for concept presentations on closely-related topics.

The UNEXMIN consortium is glad to take part in this event, during which we will present our highly relevant technology concept – building an autonomous robotic explorer for the exploration and mapping of flooded mines.

There is a call for abstracts (see the topics above) that will run until the end of April. For registration, abstract and paper submission (as well as other enquiries), please contact Dr. Mike Buxton –  Phone: +31(0)152789674; E-mail: ; Civil Engineering and Geosciences, TU Delft, Stevinweg 1 Delft.

For more information, check out the Real-Time Mining website!

UNEXMIN at the Budapest Water Summit 2016

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From 28th to 30th November 2016, the “Budapest Water Summit 2016 (BWS 2016)” was held in the Hungarian capital. This event results from an intense cooperation between the Hungarian Government and the World Water Council aiming for cooperation, peace and development for countries that are aiming to be more sustainable, managing conflicts and global risks that concern water. The participants of the Budapest Water Summit 2016 discussed solutions to be adopted by international bodies, with guidelines within the “Budapest Statement 2016“.

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The UNEXMIN project Poster received a lot of curious visitors!

The University of Miskolc had their H2020 projects on an exposition – Sustainable Water Solutions Expo – to promote their projects internationally. UNEXMIN was one of these projects. The President of the Hungarian Republic met the Dean of the Faculty of Earth Science and Engineering of the University of Miskolc, the Coordinating organization of UNEXMIN.

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President of Hungary, János Áder, visits the exhibition booth of UNIM: On the left, Tamás Madarász, on the center, Péter Szűcs, dean of the Faculty of Earth Science and Engineering and on the right, János Áder, the President of Hungary.

Also in Hungary occurred the “Yearly Meeting of the Mineralogy, Petrology and Geochemistry Teaching Institutes of Hungary”, between 17-18th of November, where Norbert Zajzon, UNEXMIN project coordinator, presented a talk entitled “Preliminary results of the UNEXMIN H2020 project”, this one directed to participants from the fields of geology, mainly mineralogy and petrology.

UNEXMIN is developing a game-changing new technology line that will lead Europe to the forefront of areas like raw materials, robotics and water management.