GOYA: a teleoperated system for blasting applied to ships maintenance

This paper presents the GOYA Project, a teleoperated system for blasting applied to hull cleaning in ship maintenance. The objective of the project is to develop a reliable and cost effective technology regarding hull grit blasting, obtaining a high quality surface preparation together with a dramatic reduction of waste and zero emissions to environment. Present technology for hull cleaning and the problematic in shipbuilding industry are analysed. Selection of blasting technologies and materials is also approached in this paper, showing the different tests carried out to achieve a hull surface cleanliness of SA 2 ½. The desing of the robot is also presented, showing aspects of mechanical, control unit, teleoperation system and blasting head design. It also shows the consecution of a smooth hull surface and the reduction of operation costs atmospheric contamination. It also eliminates the hard working conditions of the operators in the present manual operation. This work is supported by the Spanish government and the European Union (CICYT-FEDER) and is tested in BAZAN Co.The authors want to acknowledge the Spanish government and European Communities for CICYT-FEDER support (1FD97-0823). Additional funds support from BAZAN and Spanish Ministry of Industry (ATYCA)

An automatic maintenance system for nuclear power plants instrumentation

Maintenance and testing of reactor protection systems is an important cause of unplanned reactor trips due to be commonly carried out in manual mode. The execution of surveillance procedures in this mode entails a great number of manual operations. Automated testing is the answer because it minimises test times and reduces the risk of human errors. GAMA-I is an automatic system for testing the reactor protection instrumentation which is based on VXI instrumentation cards. This system has important advantages over previous ones in terms of easiness to carry out software modifications related to configuration changes in the protection system. The system uses visual programming and the modifications can be implemented by ordinary instrumentation specialists without programming experience.The system has been developed at the Vandellos II Nuclear Power Plant by the I&C groups of Vandellos II, Tecnatom S.A. and ENWESA Servicios S.A. The representation for this project is held by the Spanish Association for the Nuclear Technologic Development (DTN). Financial support for this research was provided by the Electrical and Electronic Research Program (PIE-OCIDE) of the Spanish Ministry of Industry

Service robot for hull-blasting

Present grit blasting technology for hull cleaning is very pollutant, environmentally unaffordable, and it is progressively forbidden in the most environmental countries (mainly north of Europe). At the time being, the above methodology has been partially substituted by ultra highpressure water blasting, however they do not show as good performance as the grit blasting systems. This paper describes a service robot for hull blasting. The technology we developed consists of the cleaning head, the robot body, the remote control unit and the teleoperation platform. This solution allows a reliable and cost effective operation regarding hull grit blasting, obtaining a high quality surface preparation (SA 2 ½) together with a dramatic reduction of waste and zero emissions to environment. A prototype of the robot has been developed and tested in IZAR shipyards. We presents the functional requirements, system concept and architecture of this robot. This work was supported by the Spanish government, the European Union (CICYT-FEDER)The authors want to acknowledge the Spanish government and European Communities for CICYT-FEDER support (1FD97-0823). Additional funds support from IZAR and Spanish Ministry of Industry (ATYCA)

Service robot for hull-blasting

Present grit blasting technology for hull cleaning is very pollutant, environmentally unaffordable, and it is progressively forbidden in the most environmental countries (mainly north of Europe). At the time being, the above methodology has been partially substituted by ultra highpressure water blasting, however they do not show as good performance as the grit blasting systems. This paper describes a service robot for hull blasting. The technology we developed consists of the cleaning head, the robot body, the remote control unit and the teleoperation platform. This solution allows a reliable and cost effective operation regarding hull grit blasting, obtaining a high quality surface preparation (SA 2 ½) together with a dramatic reduction of waste and zero emissions to environment. A prototype of the robot has been developed and tested in IZAR shipyards. We presents the functional requirements, system concept and architecture of this robot. This work was supported by the Spanish government, the European Union (CICYT-FEDER)The authors want to acknowledge the Spanish government and European Communities for CICYT-FEDER support (1FD97-0823). Additional funds support from IZAR and Spanish Ministry of Industry (ATYCA)

European Entrepreneurial Learning in Information and Communication Technologies. The EU-xCEL Experience in Spain

This paper describes the experience of the Cartagena node in the 2015 edition of the EU-xCEL project, which was funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme. EU-xCEL aims at fostering entrepreneurship awareness and training among young graduates, in Information and Communication Technologies as well as to strengthen the European entrepreneurship ecosystem. This paper outlines the development of the training week and the posterior virtual incubation phase, as well as the experience of running the program in Cartagena. Finally, we outline some conclusions drawn from the experience.This work has been developed in the context of the EUxCEL project, funded by European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement No 644801. It has been partially supported by the “Research Programme for Groups of Scientific Excellence at Region of Murcia" of the Seneca Foundation (Agency for Science and Technology of the Region of Murcia – 19895/GERM/15). Diego Alonso thanks the Spanish Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte, Subprograma Estatal de Movilidad, Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de Innovación 2013-2016 for grant CAS14/00238

Red de sensores inalámbrica para agricultura de precisión

Las redes de sensores inalámbricas combinadas con otras tecnologías (sistemas de posicionamiento global, imágenes aéreas y de satélites, sistemas de información geográfica, etc.) pueden jugar un papel muy importante en estimar y evaluar el estado hídrico de los cultivos además de permitir entender los cambios que se producen en los mismos, cuestiones éstas que son objeto de estudio de la agricultura de precisión. El presente trabajo muestra la experiencia que se ha recogido en la implantación y despliegue de una red de sensores de carácter experimental que se ha llevado a cabo en una empresa hortícola de productos ecológicos en el Campo de Cartagena, y que distribuye sus productos en una gran parte de Europa. Se muestra la topología de la red desplegada, algunos de los diferentes nodos que se han construido, así como la aplicación software de monitorización desarrollada.Los autores quieren agradecer a los proyectos RIMSI (FIT-330100-2006-173) y ESNA (ITEA 2006) del Ministerio de Industría, así como a la Fundación Séneca de la Región de Murcia (ref ID-02998/PI/05) y a la CICYT MEDWSA (ref TIN1006-15175-C05-02) del Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia de España su apoyo para la realización de estos trabajos

Supporting tech founders—a needs‑must approach to the delivery of acceleration programmes for a post‑pandemic world

Along with most economic sectors, the COVID-19 crisis has had a strong impact on start-up accelerators, forcing them to seek urgent and imaginative solutions to quickly adapt to a new environment. The enforced change brought challenges that have been exacerbated by the sudden slowdown in economic activity. Despite these difficulties, it has become clear that the accelerated digital transformation that emerged through a needs-must approach to engage with start-ups through remote means has also presented new opportunities for accelerators to improve their programmes. This article analyses the impact of the COVID crisis on the organisation and results obtained by a European accelerator, which delivers programmes for growth stage technology start-ups. For this purpose, two very similar programmes have been analysed and compared: one focused on industrial technologies (delivered in 2019–2020) and another one focused on products and services built on space technologies (2020–2021). The research has been undertaken using observational techniques, reinforced through the collection of primary and secondary data throughout the study duration. The result of the analysis point to a possible post-COVID accelerator model that blends online and remote delivery as a new way of improving the experience of start-ups and optimising the use of scarce resourcesThis work has been partially funded by the European Commission under the project “Space End: Endeavour Space Hub” (GA #870480)

Development of a control system for teleoperated robots using UML nd Ada 95

In this paper, a control system in the domain of teleoperated service robots is presented. A reference architecture - ACROSET - has been analyzed and designed following a concurrent object modeling and architectural design methodology (COMET) that uses UML as describing language. The architecture of the whole system has been implemented in a ship’s hull blasting robot - GOYA –using Ada 95 and GLADE. Our previous experience in developing teleoperated service robots using Ada is also presente

Sistema de seguimiento y control de una maqueta de tren digital

Este trabajo muestra una de las líneas actuales seguidas en el Dpto. de Tecnología Electrónica de la Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, a través de las cuales se apuesta por nuevas plataformas docentes a fin de fomentar el grado de participación de los alumnos en la realización de sus Proyectos Fin de Carrera. Los resultados aquí expuestos han sido llevados a cabo por un alumno de dicha Universidad, el cual ha desarrollado un sistema de seguimiento y control de una maqueta de tren digital mediante técnicas de visión por computador. De esta manera, se han conjugado los conocimientos teóricos con una puesta en práctica sobre una plataforma didáctica amena, consiguiendo un resultado plenamente funcional que actualmente se encuentra disponible en los laboratorios del Dpto para la realización de futuros trabajosEscuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería de Telecomunicació

Web based activities around a digital model railroad platform

This paper describes a laboratory equipped for the teaching of advanced courses in computer engineering, computer science, information systems, and software engineering. Other related work areas include computer vision, real-time systems, programming languages, and computer architectures. The laboratory has been built around a digital model railroad platform controlled by a client–server system using an object-oriented language. The characteristics of this laboratory are suitable for implementing Web activities for educational purposes. The paper also includes an overview of the system in which most of these topics have been considered and a summary of the relationship with the most relevant international curricula in computing.This work was supported in part by the Spanish Ministry of Education ( with reference ACF2000-0037-IN)