Simultaneous material segmentation and 3D reconstruction in industrial scenarios

Recognizing material categories is one of the core challenges in robotic nuclear waste decommissioning. All nuclear waste should be sorted and segregated according to its materials, and then different disposal post-process can be applied. In this paper, we propose a novel transfer learning approach to learn boundary-aware material segmentation from a meta-dataset and weakly annotated data. The proposed method is data-efficient, leveraging a publically available dataset for general computer vision tasks and coarsely labeled material recognition data, with only a limited number of fine pixel-wise annotations required. Importantly, our approach is integrated with a Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) system to fuse the per-frame understanding delicately into a 3D global semantic map to facilitate robot manipulation in self-occluded object heaps or robot navigation in disaster zones. We evaluate the proposed method on the Materials in Context dataset over 23 categories and that our integrated system delivers quasi-real-time 3D semantic mapping with high-resolution images. The trained model is also verified in an industrial environment as part of the EU RoMaNs project, and promising qualitative results are presented. A video demo and the newly generated data can be found at the project website

Roadmap for a sustainable circular economy in lithium-ion and future battery technologies

The market dynamics, and their impact on a future circular economy for lithium-ion batteries (LIB), are presented in this roadmap, with safety as an integral consideration throughout the life cycle. At the point of end-of-life (), there is a range of potential options—remanufacturing, reuse and recycling. Diagnostics play a significant role in evaluating the state-of-health and condition of batteries, and improvements to diagnostic techniques are evaluated. At present, manual disassembly dominates disposal, however, given the volumes of future batteries that are to be anticipated, automated approaches to the dismantling of battery packs will be key. The first stage in recycling after the removal of the cells is the initial cell-breaking or opening step. Approaches to this are reviewed, contrasting shredding and cell disassembly as two alternative approaches. Design for recycling is one approach that could assist in easier disassembly of cells, and new approaches to cell design that could enable the circular economy of LIBs are reviewed. After disassembly, subsequent separation of the black mass is performed before further concentration of components. There are a plethora of alternative approaches for recovering materials; this roadmap sets out the future directions for a range of approaches including pyrometallurgy, hydrometallurgy, short-loop, direct, and the biological recovery of LIB materials. Furthermore, anode, lithium, electrolyte, binder and plastics recovery are considered in order to maximise the proportion of materials recovered, minimise waste and point the way towards zero-waste recycling. The life-cycle implications of a circular economy are discussed considering the overall system of LIB recycling, and also directly investigating the different recycling methods. The legal and regulatory perspectives are also considered. Finally, with a view to the future, approaches for next-generation battery chemistries and recycling are evaluated, identifying gaps for research. This review takes the form of a series of short reviews, with each section written independently by a diverse international authorship of experts on the topic. Collectively, these reviews form a comprehensive picture of the current state of the art in LIB recycling, and how these technologies are expected to develop in the future

The DISTINCTIVE University Consortium: Structural Integrity

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) sponsored DISTINCTIVE consortium (Decommissioning, Immobilisation and Storage Solutions for Nuclear Waste Inventories) is developing technologies for civil infrastructure repair, in-situ subsurface waste immobilisation, and groundwater protection during construction and decommissioning. The consortium has contributed to the development of skilled cross-disciplinary civil engineers and scientists, that have the knowledge and experience required to develop engineering solutions tailored for application within radiologically contaminated sites. The Structural Integrity Theme focuses on challenges ranging from site-scale infrastructure preservation and restoration, through injectable ground barriers for risk mitigation, to the remote characterisation and handling of individual waste packages. The main aim of the theme is to develop novel engineering solutions, tailored for use on radiologically contaminated sites, for: ground protection; infrastructure characterisation; concrete restoration and waste characterisation. Technologies should minimise current, and future, radiation exposure of the workforce whilst providing economically viable engineering solutions