Latest space robotics projects of the University of Malaga

The Space Robotics laboratory of the University of Malaga (UMA) in Spain has closed the year 2022 having signed three projects with the European Space Agency (ESA) dedicated to planetary exploration and the creation of virtual environments.

The UMA Systems Engineering and Automation group is led by Professor Alfonso García Cerezo. The main investigator of the projects with the European Space Agency is Professor Carlos Pérez del Pulgar, who has the collaboration of different doctoral, master’s and degree students who come mainly from the School of Industrial Engineering of this university.

The collaboration with the ESA of the UMA researchers goes back a long way. It started in 2016, and over the years engineers have developed algorithms for path planning in planetary exploration rovers and have fitted an articulated arm for the rovers to collect samples on the ground that can be analysed.

Subsequently, the autonomy of the rovers was increased and a vehicle guidance, navigation and control software system was developed, which through artificial intelligence algorithms is capable of moving in search of samples that are recognized by the rover’s own cameras and collected. by a manipulator equipped with a gripper.

In 2022, the Robotics laboratory expanded the collaboration with three projects.

Carlos Pérez del Pulgar, on the right, with students working on the projects. (Photo: UMA)

The first of these three projects, coordinated by the Spanish company GMV Aerospace and Defense SA, consists of building an experimental rover for exploring the lunar surface.

The main challenge of this project will be to allow this vehicle to reach high speeds. The contribution of the UMA in this project is related to the vehicle’s guidance, navigation and control system, allowing it to move from an initial point to another end avoiding the obstacles it finds on the way.

The second project, coordinated by the Swiss company Sirin Orbital Systems AG, is focused on developing a virtual environment of Mars, using artificial intelligence and real images of the Red Planet.

In this work, the laboratory contributes with the methods that it has developed for the recognition of land within the framework of a research project financed by the Junta de Andalucía, as well as in the use of different sensors for the recognition and reconstruction of exploration scenarios. planetary.

Finally, a project has been signed directly with the European Space Agency dedicated to the use of artificial intelligence to improve the navigation of planetary exploration vehicles. Through this latest contract, the Agency will transfer one of its experimental rovers to the University of Malaga, so that students can work on it and increase their autonomy. (Source: UMA)