ADE's robotic project passes its Critical Design Review

On 18 May, in videoconference mode, the ADE project carried out its Critical Design Review (CDR). The objective of this review is to set out the detailed project design, take stock of its current state and the state of the software in the pipeline plus prototypes. The work carried out in the final project phase was also included in the review, as well as the final design document and final definition of testing scenarios.

The ADE OG10 project, together with PRO-ACT, EROSS+ and MOSAR, is one of the 5 projects selected for European-Commission funding in the second phase of the space robotics Strategic Research Cluster (SRC), the European Commission's biggest H2020 robotics program.

During the review each partner presented its work. The main issues dealt with were integration of ADE avionics in the rover system and the general design of the project, with particular emphasis on the ground system, simulator, ground-truth system and ADAM system, which in turn includes tracking and perception systems, mobile handling, locomotion harness, FDIR tools, onboard planning and programming and sensors using the OG4 interface.

The reviewers duly agreed on project integrity and the degree of detail of the documents furnished. There was a general consensus about the difficulties ahead, but also about the clear progress made since the previous deadline, the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) held in November 2019 on GMV's Tres Cantos site.

The videoconference was attended by consortium partners of each project as well as the European Commission's technical expert and PSA representative to weigh up the final result.
After passing this review the project moves onto the next development phase, which will see the start of implementation and integration of all developed technology, leading on in turn to the Test Readiness Review (TRR).

GMV is priming the 12-partner, Europe-wide ADE project (OG10). This project, building on the autonomy framework developed within ERGO (OG2), aims to develop and test a rover capable of obtaining opportunistic scientific data and performing long-range journeys (building up to 1 km in under 6 hours).

In planetary exploration missions ADE will guarantee a quick response and optimum use of onboard resources, combining the capabilities of PERASPERA's first call building blocks: OG1-ESROCOS (European Space Robot Control Operating System) OG2-ERGO (European Robotics Goal-Oriented Autonomous Controller), OG3-InFuse (data fusion) and OG4-I3DS (sensors).