Robotics and Artificial Intelligence for Critical Asset Monitoring

该项目旨在开发技术，以提高移动机器人的作业能力，用于工业设施的检查和维护。许多工业环境中的一项主要任务是提取样品以进行化学或生物分析。表面擦拭通常是人工进行的，但这对可以采集的样本数量和位置造成了限制。由于位置(非常高，或在受限/受限的通道空间)或环境危险(如高温或辐射)，经常有许多人无法到达的地方。该项目将开发一个多领域、多代理的机器人样本检索系统，能够在一系列环境中获取样本。这些样本将被储存在实验室进行异地分析，或者被带到流动实验室进行现场、实时分析。由于操作环境的性质，完全自主是不可取的，因此将需要共享自主(人在The-Loop)。主要的应用重点将是核环境，但这些技术将适用于许多其他部门，包括石化、近海和农业。

This project aims to develop technologies which will enhance the operational capabilities of mobile robots for use in the inspection and maintenance of industrial facilities. A major task in many industrial environments is the retrieval of samples for chemical or biological analysis. Surface swabbing is often conducted manually, but this creates limits on the number of samples that can be taken and their location. There are often many places that can't be reached by people either due to the location (very high, or in confined/ restricted access spaces) or environmental hazardous (such as heat or radiation).This project will develop a multi-domain, multi-agent robotic sample retrieval system that will be able to obtain samples across a range of environments. These samples will either be stored for ex-situ analysis in labs or taken to mobile labs for in-situ, real-time analysed. Due to the nature of the operational environments, full autonomy is not desirable, so shared autonomy (human-in-theloop) will be required. The primary application focus will be nuclear environments, however the technologies will be applicable to many other sectors include petrochemical, offshore and agriculture.