ROBAUCO

Robots Autónomos y Cooperantes

The main objective of ROBAUCO is the generation of the technologies necessary for the development of mobile robots able to carry out complex tasks with a high degree of autonomy and capacity for collaboration. These robots, moreover, have to share tasks with people in the most friendly and natural way possible. We expect to materialise all these developments in a terrestrial robot prototype which, in all probability, will be a test bank for solutions to emergency situations such as forest fires, rescues, etc.

 In order to know the peculiarities and skills these tasks require and thereby to orientate the prototype accordingly, contacts were made with SOS Deiak (the Basque Emergency Rescue Service) and  other emergency services. The project is one of 6 which, at a Spanish State-wide level, is being financed by the State Office for Small and Medium Enterprises of the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade, through the programme of partnered projects designed to stimulate a synergic effect from the collaboration of various technological centres.

The project “ROBAUCO - mobile, autonomous and collaborative robots” counted on the participation of four technology centres: TEKNIKER, Fatronik, the Valencian Instituto Tecnológico de Informática (ITI) and CARTIF. Moreover, university teams outstanding in robotics research  also collaborated - from the Carlos III University in Madrid, the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, the University of Seville and the University of the Basque Country. The project lasted 30 months and had a budget of nearly 2 M€.