Centre for Robotic Autonomy in Demanding and Long-lasting Environments (CRADLE)

Cradle将雅各布斯在应用机器人和自主系统(RAS)方面的工业经验与曼彻斯特大学在该领域的研究专业知识结合在一起，创建了一个国际领先和长期可持续的协作研究中心。我们对摇篮的愿景是，它将为空间、核能、能源发电和城市基础设施等苛刻环境提供新颖和变革性的RAS技术，使这项技术承诺的好处能够在英国工业的广泛部门实现。尽管近年来在机器人系统方面取得了重大进展，但将给英国工业带来最大影响的真正自主的机器人和智能机器的一步仍然是一个重大障碍，特别是在复杂、要求苛刻和严格监管的环境中。在这里，错误的决定和不适当的行动可能会产生严重的后果，如放射性材料的泄漏或高价值设备的损失。我们已经看到，RAS组件的渐进式扩展还不足以跨越这一自治障碍，并认为需要进行一步改变以：-创建一个以自主为中心的框架，将包括传感器、执行器、软件和安全系统在内的许多独立机器人组件聚集在一起；-解决此框架内特定组件中存在的影响整个自主系统的可靠性、弹性和可信性的关键研究空白；以及-澄清并嵌入必须在此框架内适应的广泛的最终用户、业务和监管限制，以实现持久的自主。CRADLE一直以未来的行业需求为指导，并解决了RAS开发的主要研究障碍。此外，Cradle将创建一条通往Impact的途径，使低TRL RAS技术得以开发，然后转化为安全、可靠和创新的解决方案，可以在一系列苛刻的环境中解决长期的行业和社会问题。我们将专注于允许RAS在多个行业部署的通用技术，并将针对特定用例，使这项技术能够在对工业供应链特别重要的行业中得到演示。这些用例将来自雅各布斯现有能力的行业，如核能、空间和城市基础设施，但我们也将探索日益感兴趣和机会不断增长的领域，如清洁能源发电、可持续交通、医疗保健和安全。

CRADLE brings together the industrial experience that Jacobs have in applied Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS) with the research expertise at the University of Manchester in this field, to create a collaborative research centre that is internationally leading and sustainable in the long-term. Our vision for CRADLE is that it will deliver novel and transformational RAS technology for demanding environments, such as space, nuclear, energy generation and urban infrastructure, allowing the benefits promised by this technology to be realised across wide sectors of UK industry. Whilst there has been significant progress made in robotic systems in recent years, the step to truly autonomous robotics and smart machines, which will deliver the greatest impact to UK industry, remains a significant barrier, particularly in complex, demanding and heavily regulated environments. Here, incorrect decisions and inappropriate actions can have significant consequences, such as the release of radioactive materials or the loss of high value equipment. We have seen that incremental extensions to RAS components have not been sufficient to surmount this autonomy barrier and believe that a step change is required to:- create an autonomy-focussed framework that brings together the many independent robotic components that includes sensors, actuators, software and safety systems;- address key research gaps that exist in the specific components within this framework that affect the reliability, resilience and trustworthiness of the overall autonomous system; and- clarify, and embed, the wide range of end-user, business and regulatory constraints that must be accommodated within this framework for long-lasting autonomy.CRADLE has been guided by future industry needs and addresses major research obstacles to RAS development. Furthermore, CRADLE will create a pathway to impact that enables low-TRL RAS technologies to be developed and then translated into safe, reliable and innovative solutions that can be deployed to address long-term industry and societal problems in a range of demanding environments. We will focus on generic technologies that will allow RAS to be deployed across multiple industry sectors, and we will target specific use cases that will enable this technology to be demonstrated in sectors of particular importance to the industrial supply chain. These use cases will be drawn from sectors where Jacobs have existing capability, such as nuclear, space and urban infrastructure, but we will also explore areas of growing interest and opportunity, such as clean energy generation, sustainable transportation, healthcare and security.