Category: News

Today, on 2 July 2020, the UNEXUP coordinator – Norbert Zajzon – presented the project at the IN THE BLACK’20 Online workshop- The Safety of People and the Planet through the Application of Technology, under the SESSION II [“Raw” Projects in Sustainable Discovery and Innovation]. The event was organized by INESC TEC (UNEXUP partner), EIT RawMaterials and TEC4SEA.

The event started with an opening session, introduced by Stef Kapusniak, who mentioned the importance of eliminating the safety and environmental risks in mining in order to gain social acceptance on it.

The SESSION I was about the application of technology in mining, in which Bramley Murton – from the National Oceanography Centre, who mentioned the importance of deep sea mining. Following, Gary Van Eck – Diamond FutureSmart Studies, De Beers Group – presented about the importance of the technology in mining safety and management of risks. The first session was concluded by Marc Lincoln – Project Management Technology De Beers Group, who presented about the application of technology in mining, processing, energy and logistics.

The UNEXUP presentation opened SESSION II of the event. In this opportunity, Norbert Zajzon covered various topics about the project, such as overall details, funding, consortium partners, background, objectives, and expected results of UNEXUP, and the planned evolution of the UX-1 robotic platform. The Project Coordinator showed the new UX-1 NEO, which will be ready in the second semester of 2020, with the new software, hardware and scientific payload that will be included. In addition, he mentioned the importance of the pilot tests, which will be performed to calibrate, test and validate the technology under challenging underwater environments, in a “real service-to-client” commercial approach. Norbert closed the presentation talking about the Go-To-Market strategy, which will be led by the company UNEXMIN GeoRobotics Ltd. – the future provider of the exploration service for flooded mines. After the presentation, a round of questions about the navigation system and autonomy concluded the participation of UNEXUP in the online workshop. SESSION II was concluded by Pedro Jorge – INESC TEC – who talked about Applied Photonics (CAP) by introducing the inSITE project, which is an EIT RawMaterials project is going to perform in situ ore grading system using LIBS in harsh environments.

After the presentations, there was a closing session with final words. The IN THE BLACK’20 online workshop was a great opportunity for the UNEXUP technology to be promoted to a total of 71 participants, from the mining sector and other stakeholders’ categories.

Last Thursday, on June 18th 2020, the UNEXUP consortium participated in a joint webinar with the Pipebots team. The talk covered various topics of both UNEXUP and the predecessor project UNEXMIN. During the two-hour talk, there were three presentations, followed by a “Questions and Answers” section at the end of the webinar.

The first presenter was the project coordinator of UNEXUP – Norbert Zajzon, who talked about his experiences in coordination of the projects, as well as about IPR (Intellectual property Rights) regarding the development of a joint technology. Norbert mentioned his criteria when selecting the team pillars – technology development, stakeholders and technology exploitation – that comprise the consortium partners, and emphasized the commitment of the consortium towards the successful outcome of the UNEXMIN project (2016-2019).

After that, Alfredo Martins, from the partner INESC TEC (technology development), showed the transition between the UX-1 robotic platform from UNEXMIN to the new prototype within UNEXUP. Alfredo mentioned some of the lessons learned from the UNEXMIN field trials, as well as some new functionalities and instruments that will be added to address the pre-identified issues, in order to improve the robot’s performance and reliability under the upcoming challenging environments where the surveying missions will take place in the near future.

Finally, the partners Ramón Suarez and Zorana Milošević, from Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), presented about the guidance, navigation and control of the underwater robotic explorer UX-1. The presentations covered the software and hardware programming and testing, in order to improve the navigational and perception systems of the robotic platform.

There were 37 participants in the joint webinar, which was a great opportunity for the UNEXUP consortium to discuss about overall details of UNEXMIN and UNEXUP, as well as to share experiences with the competent team of Pipebots about the technology that is involved in the UX-1 based robotic system.

Is this a path for future collaboration?

Since the second week of March 2020, when travel and social restrictions started to be implemented in Europe due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the UNEXUP consortium has carried on the work and follow-up meetings online.

Last week, on 5 June 2020, the project partners had an e-meeting to discuss past, current, and upcoming activities of the project. The main topics covered the workflow despite the ongoing restrictions, the development of the new UX-1 robot, pilot tests, future events, as well as management-related subjects.

Fortunately, the supply chain situation for the new UX-1 robot is optimistic, as commercial activities are progressively returning to normal in Europe. Therefore, the initial plan of delivering the robot in the second semester is a reality for the consortium. Based on that, the UNEXUP partners discussed the potential test sites for 2020, in order to test the new robots’ capabilities under real-life, industrial, conditions. For that, the “CALL FOR PILOTS!” campaign has started:

Contact us if you have a challenging case study where we can demonstrate the capabilities of our robot!

In addition, overall management activities were discussed, regarding deadlines, future online events, as well as the next progress meeting date. Stay updated on our website and social media channels and learn more about UNEXUP past and upcoming steps!

Ever since the beginning of UNEXUP – in January 2020 – the main source of information about the project was the UNEXUP web page within the Horizon 2020 UNEXMIN website, the “predecessor” of UNEXUP – funded by EIT RawMaterials. This web page and its sub-pages were created with the purpose of raising awareness about the upscaling relationship between the projects, and to cover specific information regarding UNEXUP details.

This is how the UNEXUP information used to be displayed within the UNEXMIN website:

Now UNEXUP has taken a further step, and it has developed its own website (https://unexup.eu/). This web address is the current main source of information about the project, and it covers everything that used to be present in the predecessor’s website, with additional information and new functions for the visitors to have a positive experience when navigating. It has a simple menu, with pages and sub-pages organized by correlated subjects, and a footer with additional topics about the project, such as the social media icons, twitter feed and EIT RawMaterials funding information.

Visitors are welcome to learn about the project by browsing through the pages, downloading dissemination material, reading the “News” section, understanding the developments in the UX robotic platform, watching videos of the pilot tests (whenever ready), and more.

In addition, visitors are able to get in contact with the project representatives by filling the simple contact form under the CONTACT US page. The UNEXUP consortium is looking forward to keeping in touch with you!

From 4 to 8 May 2020 the geoscience community had the opportunity to participate in the EGU2020: Sharing Geoscience Online (#shareEGU20). This event was the alternative solution in response to the current COVID-19 lockdown measures, which lead to the cancellation of many events and, among these, the EGU General Assembly 2020, usually held in Vienna, Austria.

On 8th of May 2020 the UNEXUP project was introduced in the EGU Online chat, under the session “ERE5.4: State-of-the-art in mineral exploration”. This session aimed to bring together geoscientists involved in mineral exploration for the 21st Century. The projects presented in this section covered various topics, such as new methods of exploration; imaging; conceptual modelling and quantification of deposits and mineral systems; cost reduction in exploration; non-invasive exploration; integration of multidisciplinary methodologies and datasets; scale-up and replicability; industry-academia synergies and FAIR data repositories.

After uploading the abstract and the presentation on the platform in advance, the presenters had seven minutes to make a brief introduction of the project in an online live chat, followed by questions and discussions between the participants of the chat.

The UNEXUP project raised interest from individuals who wanted to learn more about the current technology involved in UX-1. Questions about the geophysical methods, multispectral imaging, as well as the navigational system demonstrate that the UNEXUP technology can be an innovative and game-changing solution for sustainable mining in the future.

The “ERE5.4: State-of-the-art in mineral exploration” session counted with 16 presentations, and a total of 66 active participants in the online chat. The UNEXUP presentation and abstract are going to be available until the 31st of May, therefore interested individuals are still very welcome to write comments, ask questions, and learn more about the project.

On April 22nd the UNEXUP consortium had an e-meeting in order to discuss the current situation of the project’s activities, mainly regarding the risk mitigation measures due to the current COVID-19 pandemic. Social distancing and travel restrictions made the UNEXUP partners think about alternatives and adjustments in the workplan for the time being.

Two distinct scenarios were considered, in terms of quarantine restrictions: mild and severe. The consortium developed different strategies for both situations, in order to maintain the line of work based on the pre-established timeline. The strategies were focused on the main milestones to be reached by the UNEXUP team this year.

The main outputs for 2020 are the upscaling version of UX-1, with improvements in the software, hardware and capabilities of the robotic system; and the first pilot test, in order to test the robot’s performance under real-life conditions. The envisaged pilot test will be the first opportunity to demonstrate how the UNEXUP technology performs, and how it can add value to projects related to underwater surveying/mine mapping.

Because of the COVID-19 situation, the project partners will meet online regularly in order to align the workplan based on the current scenario, and prepare the next steps accordingly.

Stay home, stay safe!

As described in the “UNEXUP Objectives” page, the consortium aims to make further improvements in the current UX-1 multi-robotic platform, in order to upscale its hardware, software and capabilities. These envisaged improvements come from dialogue and discussions with stakeholders from the predecessor project – UNEXMIN, which enabled the consortium to understand what is expected and needed by the mining companies and other potential clients of the mine mapping/exploration service for flooded environments.

Therefore, the upscaling of UX-1 will be market oriented, and not only addressed to raising scientific interest. This concept is the core difference between the H2020 UNEXMIN project, and the current UNEXUP – funded by EIT RawMaterials. UNEXMIN was a research project whose purpose was to develop and test a multi-robotic system to survey underwater environments; UNEXUP is an upscaling project, with the purpose of bringing commercial interest to the technology, while improving it based on market requirements and expectations from future customers.

The new UX-1, to be developed and tested this year will address the limitations detected in the current robot during UNEXMIN field missions. In addition, software and hardware improvements, such as greater depth capacity, more endurance, replaceable batteries, vehicle positioning and better navigation and geoscientific instruments will enhance the robots’ capabilities to conduct raw materials exploration/mine mapping missions in a safer and more reliable way, under more challenging environments.

In addition, the technology developers of UNEXUP will build an additional robot to be added to the UNEXUP robotic system. This robot is planned to be ready in the second project year – 2021 – and will open new exploration possibilities for the mining community. It will be a heavier vehicle, with greater depth capacity and scientific payload, which will be defined and tested at later stages of the project.

On March 24^th-26^th the UNEXUP consortium had a three-day e-meeting in order to discuss the work plan and timeline of the Work Packages dedicated to the technical requirements (WP1) and the commercialization strategy (WP0). This meeting was supposed to be held in person, in Gran Canaria – Spain, however, it was held via teleconferencing due to the quarantine measures of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The first day of the e-meeting (March 24^th) was dedicated to business and commercialization plan of the future UNEXUP underwater mine mapping/exploration service. UNEXMIN GeoRobotics Ltd. (UGR) is the partner responsible for this task, and Hilco van Moerkerk (UGR’s Managing Director) presented the work plan on this topic, mentioning our target markets, threats, how to understand the customer’s needs, and how to fulfill these requirements. In addition, Luís Lopes – La Palma Research Centre (LPRC) – presented about the Go-To-Market strategy, mentioning a brief market assessment made during the PDAC 2020 convention this year.

On March 25^th, the initial presentations were led by technology developers of UNEXUP: INESC TEC and 4dcoders (RCI). Both teams presented about the work progress regarding the technology requirements and developments in the current UX-1 robotic platform, as well as the future steps regarding the development of an additional robot that will be added to the system at later stages in the project. The additional robot will be able to complete missions that require even higher capabilities regarding navigation, autonomy, self-awareness and geoscientific data production, under even more challenging environments. In addition, Emil Pucko – Geological Survey of Slovenia (GeoZS) – presented the strategic plan for commercialization, business plan and risk assessment, in order to understand the market opportunities, and how the UNEXUP service will be able to succeed in it.

The last day of the e-meeting (March 26^th) was dedicated to technical discussions, in order to bridge the market requirements with technical abilities of the UNEXUP technology, as well as discussions about the planning on software and hardware developments during the project’s lifetime, led by Máté Koba and Zoltán Papp Richárd (University of Miskolc – UNIM).

In this second consortium meeting (the first was the UNEXUP kick-off-meeting), the project partners raised valuable discussions and inputs regarding the project’s progress and work plan on the technical and commercialization topics. Now the consortium is more prepared to understand what our potential customers’ needs, what types of markets can be targeted by the UNEXUP technology, and what are the next steps in order to deliver a successful service to the future clients.

The first Press Release about UNEXUP is ready and available for download. The webpage dedicated to Downloads of different dissemination tools about the project has now the first Press Release, which contains information on UNEXUP’s objectives, background, targets, technological challenges, overall strategy, as well as the contact channels, from which the stakeholders can reach the Project Coordinator – Norbert Zajzon, as well as the Managing Director of the company UNEXMIN GeoRobotics Ltd. – Hilco van Moerkerk, which is the partner in charge of developing the business strategy around the UX1-based technology.

Press Releases will be published on the website – and promoted on social media channels – whenever we reach an important step or milestone over the years of the UNEXUP lifetime. This is an informative tool dedicated to potential customers and investors of the technology, as well as to journalists and professionals of the media from the raw materials and robotics sectors.

The UNEXUP project was represented in the recent PDAC 2020 exhibition in Toronto, Canada. Elements from LPRC and UGR represented the EIT RawMaterials project towards potential customers, in one of the biggest mining-related encounters in the world. During four days, the representants introduced and discussed with potential customers and interested parties of the technology, to raise awareness and commercial interest to the UNEXUP technology.

The feedback gathered was very welcome. Mining companies were especially interested in the services that are provided by the UNEXUP technology, and technology developers were impressed with the technological achievements of the UX-1 based platform. The UNEXUP team now expects to turn the interest gathered during the conference into real case businesses, a goal always stated by the project personnel.

UNEXUP will continue the development and upgrading of its platform’s capabilities, hardware and software. At the same time, the project members – especially UNEXMIN GeoRobotics – will continue to raise commercial awareness and interest to the unique exploration technology for flooded mines and other underwater environments.