February 2020 marks the continuation of the UNEXMIN project, now known as UNEXUP – funded under EIT RawMaterials, with a twist: the focus is shifting from scientific research to commercialisation of the unique UX-1 based technology as a mine mapping/exploration service for underwater environments.

The UNEXUP project team, composed of eight partners – including the new UNEXMIN GeoRobotics company, met on the 6th and 7th of February in Budapest, Hungary. In this opportunity, the consortium started discussions and planning on the future of the UX-1 technology. While in UNEXMIN the technology was designed, developed and tested, in UNEXUP the aim is to generate commercial interest to it, and to bridge the technology closer to the targeted markets.

During the first day, presentations about the five Work Packages that the project comprises were made by their respective leaders:

These work blocks were then deeply discussed during the following day, for them to be adjusted and approved by the team, in order to drive UNEXUP to a successful outcome by the end of its three years of implementation.

One of the highlights of the kick-off meeting was a talk from Tamas J. Szabo, from the Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering at University of Miskolc. He was invited by the coordinator Norbert Zajzon to give a lecture about materials engineering, covering topics about polymeric components, corrosion of materials, chemical resistance, behavior of plastic and polymers, and others. Now our engineers are ready to further develop the multi-robotic platform in order to make it even more resistant to the challenging environments!

Now that the first steps are aligned and agreed upon, it is time to get to work and to make the non-contact exploration of flooded mines a reliable reality!

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