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UNEXMIN at the Raw Materials Week 2019 – a success story

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The UNEXMIN project was chosen to be represented during this year Raw Materials Week, one of the most relevant geoscientific events, bringing together people from different parts of Europe, to discuss the state of the mineral raw materials in Europe.

UNEXMIN was represented in two different ways. First, with a presentation given by the project coordinator, Norbert Zajzon, during under session 1 “Raw materials extraction”, a talk that was inserted onto the topic “Horizon 2020 Technology Success Stories”. As referred previously, UNEXMIN is currently seen by EASME as a successful story in the mineral raw materials group. Second, the UX-1 robot, that same robot that dived in 5 different test sites around Europe, was showcased during the first day of the event, the 18th of November.

Both dissemination activities developed by the UNEXMIN partners during the Raw Materials Week 2019 proven to be very effective to reach one of UNEXMIN’s main stakeholders group: the raw materials and geoscientific communities. Comproving this statement is the number of people that visited the UNEXMIN stand, talked to UNEXMIN staff on duty and that took pictures with the UX-1 robot. A number of business contacts were also made, taking into consideration the future of the UNEXMIN technology, which will see further light with a new technology upscalling project and with UNEXMIN GeoRobotics, a joint company that will exploit the service to the market.

The UNEXMIN team would like to thank EASME and DG Grow for this special invitation and hope that in the future the project can be, once again, showcased to the raw materials public.

Photo credit: Raw Materials Week

UNEXMIN Final Conference – watch online!

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This Thursday, 26th of September, the UNEXMIN team will present and discuss the project’s outcomes and results in Brussels, to an audience of more than 70 people. Robotics, raw materials, cultural heritage experts and policy advisors will come to learn all about this 4-year project.

To add more levels to UNEXMIN’s communication and dissemination efforts, some of the presentation sessions and the UX-1 robot showcase, essential parts of the Final Conference structure, will be Livestreamed through the UNEXMIN Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/UNEXMIN/.

The sessions that will be Livestreamed include:

Morning session: setting the political context: the future of mining in Europe

9:30 – Welcome speech – Marko Komac (European Federation of Geologists)
9:45 – European policy context – Daniel Cios (European Commission, Policy Officer, DG GROW)
10:05 – Aim of the call for proposals – Marcin Sadowski (EASME, Head of sector – Raw Materials)
10:45 – Future of exploration in mining – Helmut Mischo (TU Bergakademie Freiberg)
11:05 – UNEXMIN – aim and outcomes – Norbert Zajzon (UNEXMIN, project coordinator, University of Miskolc)
11:30 – ROBOMINERS H2020 project – Claudio Rossi (ROBOMINERS, project coordinator, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid)
11:45 – Questions and answers

14:30 – UX-1 robot showcase

Afternoon round table and closing session

15:30 – Round table introduction – Mineral exploration, future and long-term initiatives
Round table discussion with panelists

17:00 – Closing remarks – Vitor Correia (European Federation of Geologists)

 

If you cannot be present, you are welcome to watch all the important moments online!

For more information, please have a look at:

UNEXMIN Final Conference Programme
UNEXMIN Facebook
UNEXMIN Twitter
UNEXMIN LinkedIn

Summary of the field tests at the Molnár János cave, Hungary

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From the 26th of June to the 5th of July 2019, the UNEXMIN project was in Budapest, Hungary, for the last trial activities within the project’s lifetime. After the trials at four mine sites (Kaatiala – Finland, Idrija – Slovenia, Urgeiriça – Portugal and Ecton – UK) it was time to test the robotic solution in a new environment. For this purpose, a cave system was chosen – the Molnár János cave.

The trials at the Molnár János cave involved using the two existent UX-1 robots – UX-1a and UX-1b – to explore, map and collect information about the flooded area of the cave. Robotic capabilities including movement, control and data analysis, but with focus on autonomy, were extensively tested, with paramount results. The following items give an account of the activities and results derived from the UNEXMIN’s activities at the Molnár János cave:

  • 26th of June (Wednesday): Setting up the test site and preparation/testing of the UX-1 robots. Studying of current maps of the cave.
  • 27th of June (Thursday): The first official dive happened on the 27th of June. The UX-1b robot was used. It was able to dive up to 8m depth and map the main chamber of the cave. This mission lasted for 35 minutes.
  • 28th of June (Friday): Similarly to the previous day UX-1b was used. The robot explored a small portion of the cave outside of the main chamber in a 1h30 mission.
  • 29th of June (Saturday): Three dives were made on this day: one with UX-1a and two with UX-1b. The main chamber and some other smaller parts of the cave were mapped by the robots. In total, the robots were in the water for more than 2 hours.
  • 30th of June (Sunday): UNEXMIN off-day!
  • 1st of July (Monday): UX-1a was used three times during this day to explore the main parts of the cave system. Missions lasted for 4 hours in total. During these tests, the robot used autonomous waypoint navigation successfully – the robot was autonomous! UX-1a managed to get very good camera images from a very warm water (around 23ºC).
  • 2nd of July (Tuesday): Both UX-1 robots were working at the same time in the water, independently, to map and collect data from different areas of the cave. Teamwork!
  • 3rd of July (Wednesday): Three dives, two with UX-1a and one with UX-1b. Autonomy was the focus of these tests.
  • 4th of July (Thursday): Last dives of the robots: one for UX-1a, another for UX-1b. The robots’ capabilities, mainly movement and control, were targeted. During this last day of testing, the robots’ missions lasted for more than 5 hours, when combined.

With the ending of the Molnár János exploratory works, the UNEXMIN project was able to prove across the past year that its technology to explore and map flooded mines  – and other environments – is feasible and a good solution to a big problem: the lack of information from flooded environments. This was a major objective of the project, so the team considers it a success!

Now, it is time to wrap up things, process the data available and present UNEXMIN’s major results and outputs to the public during the final conference – entrance is free, but registration is required.

UNEXMIN consortium meeting in Budapest: final decisions and preparations made ahed of Molnár János field trials

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The UNEXMIN project held its most recent consortium workshop in Budapest on the 24th and 25th of June. The project partners took this opportunity to discuss the state of the technology, future perspectives and prepare the field trials at the Molnár János cave, the last big step in the mission planning and execution.

The two days event started with discussions on the navigation and autonomy features of the UX-1 robots. Here the technical teams discussed the state-of-the-art of the UNEXMIN technology and the improvements that they need to see to better manage navigation and the crucial autonomy component. After this session, the team focused on the geoscientific evaluation that will need to arise from the data obtained during the different trials. Providing geoscientific data of relevance that cannot be obtained in any other way is the motto of the UNEXMIN technology – the one item that will prove the technology as usable. The first day finished with a short discussion on the final UNEXMIN conference and its planning – registration is open and free for everyone.

The second day began with a talk on the remaining of the UNEXMIN project lifetime deliverables as well as an interactive debate on future possibilities for the innovative solution. In the afternoon the partners travelled to the Molnár János cave, place where the next and final UNEXMIN field trial will occur, to start preparations of the testing.

The UNEXMIN team will now continue with the many aspects of developing such a challenging technology, that will be presented during the final UNEXMIN conference!

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Register for the UNEXMIN final conference now!

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The UNEXMIN final conference will be held in Brussels, on the 26th of September. Registration is open and can be accessed now. It is free!

Dear Sir/Madam,

As the coordinator of the UNEXMIN project, it is my pleasure to invite you to our final conference. This event will be the end of a 4-year journey that led to the development of a robotic platform allowing to explore flooded mines and other flooded structures and environments. During our final conference, you will have the chance to learn more about the project outcomes and its connection to European policies. Come, meet the team and learn all about UNEXMIN!

By the way, we will have a very special guest: the first UX-1 robot itself!

See you hopefully soon in Brussels,

Norbert Zajzon

 

About the event

The EU-funded UNEXMIN project is developing a technology capable of autonomous exploration and mapping of flooded underground mines. The robotic platform uses non-contact methods to gather geological, mineralogical and spatial data without major costs or risks associated. The field trials, set up at four different flooded underground mines in Europe, have helped the team to access the platform’s development and to improve this unique exploration technology.

The event programme will include high-level discussions on European innovative raw materials policies, UNEXMIN’s support to those policies, and on the capabilities and future application of the exploration system. The conference will thus provide a unique opportunity to discover the outcomes of the UNEXMIN project and its specific fields of work, including minerals exploration, raw materials exploitation, and robotics and ICT development, with cross-cutting discussions that will demonstrate the impact that UNEXMIN can have on the European landscape. The conference is particularly relevant for EU policymakers, academics, mineral exploration and exploitation companies, cave exploration companies, SMEs focussing on geological consultancy and minerals surveying, and robotics and ICT experts from private and public institutions.


Programme

Several speakers have already confirmed their attendance and you can discover here an overview of the programme:

Morning session: setting the political context: the future of mining in Europe

  • Aim of the call for proposals – Marcin Sadowski (EASME, Head of sector – Raw Materials)
  • UNEXMIN – aim and outcomes – Norbert Zajzon (UNEXMIN, project coordinator, University of Miskolc)
  • ROBOMINERS H2020 project – Claudio Rossi (ROBOMINERS, project coordinator, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid)

Afternoon session I: Raw materials & mining

  • UNEXMIN processing and data analysis – Stephen Henley (RCI/4dcoders)
  • UNEXMIN field trials and geological interpretation – Gorazd Zibret (Geological Survey of Slovenia)
  • UNEXMIN Inventory of flooded mines – Yves Vanbrabant (Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, EFG-Linked Third Party) 

Afternoon session II: Robotics & functionalities

  • UX-1 robotic functions: testing and validation – Jussi Aaltonen (University of Tampere)
  • UX-1 multi robot platform – Alfredo Martins (Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores, Tecnologia e Ciência)
  • UX-1 autonomy, mine exploration and mapping – Claudio Rossi (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid)

Round table – Mineral exploration, future and long-term initiatives

Venue

Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences
Vautierstreet, 29 I 1000 Brussels I Belgium

Registration

Full information is available at https://www.unexmin.eu/unexmin-final-conference
Participation in this event is free but requires registration.
To register, please fill in the form at https://forms.gle/V64vHekSZVbTZmo59