The annual General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union, EGU22, is currently taking place between 23 and 27 May 2022, in a hybrid format – both in Vienna, Austria, and online. The event is welcoming several scientists of all nations, and UNEXUP was represented and introduced in a short-oral presentation.
The UNEXUP consortium submitted an abstract under the section ERE4.4 – “Automation and robotics for raw material exploration and production in Europe”, which was approved by the conveners. The section is dedicated to research and innovation in exploration and mining of raw materials, focused on the prospect of developing completely new methods and technologies to find and exploit new mineral deposits within Europe. Amongst these technologies, robotisation and miniaturisation of exploration/production platforms (robotic autonomous explorers & miners) are considered as potential solutions to extract them in a socially and environmentally responsible way, and produce useful metallurgical products which can be used further-on for manufacturing.
In this context, the UNEXUP presentation took place on Monday, 23 May 2022, in online format. The presentation covered general details of the project, as well as its context, objectives, technology, field missions and the commercialization of the innovative exploration service. Afterwards, during the Q&A session, some interested participants asked questions related to the navigation capabilities of UX-1Neo – such as the depth capacity and autonomy time (hours) of the robot.
This annual event is a great opportunity to communicate about UNEXUP achievements towards relevant stakeholders, as well as to follow up on the latest technologies, methods, and R&I in the raw materials sector in Europe.