GMV has presented the results obtained in ERGO and ESROCOS, two robotic-technology building blocks led by GMV within the European Commission’s H2020 Space Robotics Technologies Strategic Research Cluster (SRC), its biggest space robotics program.

The SRC’s first activities have focused on the design, manufacture and testing of five common robotic-building blocks for space-based operations. In the last and most challenging phases of this first cluster call, these technology blocks have been tested in representative environments to serve as the basis for future orbital and planetary robotics missions.

After 27 months of work GMV has pulled off important advances within the three SRC projects it has led: ERGO, ESROCOS and FACILITATORS.

During system validation ERGO has successfully proven its ability to drive the DFKI SherpaTT rover to perform a fully autonomous (goal oriented) 1.4 kilometer traverse in the Moroccan desert, as a Mars-like environment. This red-letter robotics-technology feat has, crucially, proven ERGO’s ability to take autonomous decisions. Campaign of space robotics trials. Sahara desert

ESROCOS has now been successfully validated in various applications representative of three scenarios: technical assistance for an orbiting satellite, planetary exploration with a rover and a robotic arm for the experimental fusion reactor ITER. ESROCOS has developed and integrated modeling technologies to help in constructing reliable and safe robotics-control software on space-avionics platforms. Combining habitually used robotics tools with modeling technologies and innovative software, ESROCOS paves the way for practical application of laboratory-based robotics breakthroughs. ESROCOS represents a great stride forward in the use of open-source software in critical applications for robots, making it possible to develop software with the necessary quality and reliability.

Finally, in the framework of the FACILITATORS project, the technologies developed in the rest of the blocks have been validated in highly representative space environments, at orbital and planetary level.

In addition, GMV is participating in 4 of the 5 second phase Space Robotics SRC projects that have been selected for funding by the European Commission. The specific purpose of this project phase is to integrate the common technology building blocks previously prepared in ground demonstrators, contributing to the development of space-robotics applications in the field of orbital and planetary use (phase 0/A studies). These robotics applications address not only the future needs of space exploration and exploitation but also potential spin-off and spill-over effects to other areas of robotic activity on Earth, such as agricultural, automotive, mining, nuclear, or underwater.

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