The CNR (Italian Research Council)
The CNR (the National Research Council) and the School of Robotics have cooperated in many occasions, starting from december 2001, whe the School of Robotics promoted the two famous experiments by the CNR Robotlab in Antarctica and in the Arctic Sea.
The e-Robot Project
The School of Robotics promoted and popularized the e-Robot Project of the Robotlab, the Robotics Department of the CNR-IAN. This experiment was executed at the PNRA Italian Terra Nova Bay Station in Antarctica, December 2001. Romeo, the underwater robot prototype developed at Robotlab, was tele-controlled from Italy via Internet. The connection between Italy and the remote base camp in Antarctica was ensured by an Inmarsat satellite link, organised in collaboration with CNR SRC, the Communication Network Service of the CNR, employing 3 channels @ 64Kps. The system allowed any remote user equipped with a PC and an Internet Browser (downloading the applet Java to visualise the robot's console) to pilot Romeo from Italy in real time and to see the live images taken by the robot in the abyss under the ice. It was the first Internet Robotics experiment executed under the ice of Antarctica.
The experiment was important not only from the point of view of Science and Technology, but also for Science Communication. The "School of Robotics" was committed to promote Robotics among students and teachers, starting from the e-Robot Project as a vehicle to communicate robotic concepts and perspectives. An exciting Student Competition, organised by the Space Foundation in collaboration with the School of Robotics and the Robotlab, brought to Antarctica the experiment designed by the winning class to be carried and performed, under the ice pack, by Romeo.
Hundred of students followed the successful conclusion of the experiment of tele-robotics from Antarctica.
At December 18th, 2001 hundred of students gathered in the Conference Room of the CNR in Rome could attend the conclusive experiment of the e-Robot project/tele-robotics from Antarctica. The project (organised jointly by the CNR-IAN Robotlab in Genoa and by the CNR SRC, the Communication Network Service of the CNR in Rome) foresaw the remote control of the underwater robot Romeo, the advanced robotic prototype of the Robotlab, from Italy via Internet through a satellite link. Despite very bad weather and harsh environment conditions at the PNRA Italian Base Camp of Baia Terra Nova, the President of the CNR, Lucio Bianco and many students could pilot Romeo, sailing the abyss of Antarctica, under the ice. The School of Robotics organized, in collaborazione with CNR Press Office and the Robotlab, the promotion of the event in Roma.
The e-Robot2 Project
From Antarctica to Arctic Romeo explores the frontiers of the E-Robotics.
After the successful experiment of the E-Robot Project in Antarctica (December 2001/January 2002), the CNR-Robotlab striked again in Arctic, at the Svalbard Islands, with the E-Robot2 mission (September 1st-15th 2002).
The Robotlab team, in collaboration with CNR SRT and the people of the CNR Polarnet Italian Base in Arctic, “Dirigibile Italia” (located in Ny-Ålesund, 78° 56’ North, 11° 56’ East), exploited the underwater robot Romeo as a working tool for several European research centres of Marine Sciences, located thousands of kilometres far from the Svalbard.
Researchers at the Scottish Association for Marine Science, Oban, Scotland; at the University of Tromsø, Norwegian College of Fishery Science and at the CNR Institute of Protein Biochemistry and Enzymology and Institute of Biomolecolar Chemistry in Neaples, have been connected with Romeo, diving the Kongsfjorden, and could watch the images of the seabed and even pilot the robot.
Again in this maverik tecnoscientifici occasion, the School of Robotics organized a wired-up event in Italy (Genoa, Imperia) where the Robotlab scientists could speak to an Italian audience showing the results of Romeo's experiments.
2009 -- Signed a Research Agreement between the CNR IEIIT and the School of Robotics
In 2009 this fruitful collaboration brought to an Agreement for research between the CNR IEIIT (section of Genoa) and the School of Robotics finalized to the development of algorithms and control programs - to be applied to low cost robotics kits – based on the SLAM (Simultaneous Localisation & Mapping) tecniques and on robot learning & growing-up researches. This Agreement aims also at a feasibility study for developing low cost platforms, easy to be find on the market, on which upload high level robot programs which can allow to employ the selected hardware for quick prototyping and development.