Active Projects

(CNPq-FNDCT-MCTI No. 14/2022) HydroneLE Hybrid Mobile Robotic Systems for Extended Offshore Activities - 2022

Description: The HydroneLE project aims at the technological and scientific development of hybrid mobile robotic systems capable of operating both in the air and underwater for extended offshore activities, representing a significant innovation potential. According to the Ministry of the Environment, the Brazilian coastline extends approximately 8,500 km, playing a crucial economic and social role where various activities take place. Therefore, means are required to operate in such environments, often hostile to humans. Currently, operations in this scenario require various instruments and devices, including unmanned vehicles such as UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) and ROVs (remotely operated vehicles, usually submersibles). With recent advancements in microcontrollers, microprocessors, GPS systems, and navigation, the proponents of this project were pioneers in developing so-called aerial-subaquatic hybrid vehicles. Such vehicles have great potential for application in solving complex tasks requiring navigation both in the air and underwater, such as inspection, monitoring, or mapping of hard-to-reach areas of interest in both environments, as is the case with offshore activities. The problem is that such platforms still have severe energy limitations, greatly reducing operation time. Thus, this project proposes an integrated hybrid system composed of a mobile aerial-aquatic robot (capable of performing the aforementioned tasks) and a mobile surface base with recharge capability. Such a system will allow for extended-duration operations, thereby providing greater energy autonomy to enable use in offshore activities. Therefore, validation studies of the proposed system's behavior will be conducted through computational simulations, prototyping, and real experiments, ensuring high aerial and aquatic performance.

Status: Ongoing; Nature: Research.

Involved Students: Undergraduate: (12) / Master's: (5) / Ph.D.: (2).

Members: Paulo Lilles Jorge Drews Junior - Coordinator / Armando Alves Neto - Member / Mauro Andre Barbosa Cunha - Member / Matheus Machado dos Santos - Member / Paulo Jefferson Dias de O. Evald - Member / Rodrigo da Silva Guerra - Member / Ricardo Bedin Grando - Member / Leonardo Contreira Pereira - Member / Crístofer Hood Marques - Member / Jônata Tyska Carvalho - Member.

Funder(s): National Council for Scientific and Technological Development - Financial Aid.

LOGNAV 4.0 - Electric Vehicle Logistics Navigation - 2022

Description: The project aims to develop a navigation and perception system for automating internal cargo transportation processes in factories, industries, and warehouses using a convoy system. Intelligent convoys will be equipped with autonomous electric tugs and smart trailers based on cameras and distance sensors to navigate autonomously through the environment. Users will be able to program routes and configure loading/unloading points for trailers at stations or cells identified through visual tags, automatically recognized by the convoy and tug systems.

Status: Ongoing; Nature: Research.

Involved Students: Undergraduate: (3) / Master's: (2).

Members: Paulo Lilles Jorge Drews Junior - Coordinator / Emanuel Diaz Estrada - Member / Rodrigo da Silva Guerra - Member / Junior Costa de Jesus - Member / Jardel D. S. Dyonisio - Member.

Funder(s): Freedom Electric Vehicles - Cooperation.

(EU H2020) ASTRAL - All Atlantic Ocean Sustainable, Profitable and Resilient Aquaculture/ WP3 Pool of Technology Innovations - 2020

Description: ASTRAL will develop new, sustainable, profitable, and resilient value chains for integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) within the framework of existing, emerging, and potential Atlantic markets. The proposal brings together four IMTA laboratories, including offshore open systems (Ireland, Scotland), coastal flow systems (South Africa), and coastal recirculation (Brazil), and a possible IMTA laboratory (Argentina), focusing on a challenge-based regional perspective, including fish, mollusk, echinoderm, crustacean, and algae. ASTRAL will increase circularity by 50-60% compared to baseline monoculture aquaculture and provide a circular business model, increasing revenue diversification for aquaculture producers, and profitability by at least 30%. New and enhanced innovative technologies will be developed, including biosensors, sensors, IoT, and an AI data analytics platform to be validated in IMTA laboratories at TRL 5. Potential environmental and climatic risks for the North and South Atlantic regions will be addressed, offering a monitoring program and recommendations for harmful algal blooms (HABs), pathogens, and microplastics. ASTRAL will deliver an ambitious and gender-sensitive Human Capital Development Plan (HUCAP), improving professional skills and creating a highly trained workforce. ASTRAL will share, integrate, and co-generate knowledge, technology, practices, and efforts with and for society, oriented towards appropriate and gender-sensitive development. A collaborative ecosystem will be provided within the project framework, bringing together and connecting industrial partners, SMEs, scientists, policymakers, social representatives, and other relevant stakeholders, promoting data exchange, knowledge sharing, and business opportunities.

Status: Ongoing; Nature: Research.

Involved Students: Undergraduate: (10) / Master's: (4) / Ph.D.: (4).

Members: Paulo Lilles Jorge Drews Junior - Member / Vinícius Menezes de Oliveira - Member / Silvia Silva da Costa Botelho - Member / Nelson Lopes Duarte Filho - Member / Marcelo Rita Pias - Coordinator.

Funder(s): European Council - Council of the European Union - Financial Aid.

(ANP - Petrobras) AEROSCAN/FURG - Embedded 3D Laser Scanning Data Processing in UAV - 2020

Description: The oil & gas sector requires dimensional inspection operations of structural elements, both during the construction phase and in the final inspection, which is necessary for creating the final work document known as As-Built. This dimensional inspection uses manual measurement instruments such as tape measures, bubble levels, graduated scales, etc., as well as metrological measurement equipment such as total stations and optical level and tilt meters. Due to the considerable dimensions of a work, whether refineries or platforms, the time for measuring structures and other constructions becomes a determining variable for the final documentation of works and other constructions. Therefore, this research project aims to develop data processing techniques obtained from 3D laser scanning embedded in UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) or RPAs (Remotely Piloted Aircraft).

Status: In progress; Nature: Research.

Involved students: Undergraduate: (3) / Master's: (3).

Members: Paulo Lilles Jorge Drews Junior - Coordinator / Igor Pardo Maurell - Member / Ricardo Bedin Grando - Member / Miguel Martins dos Santos - Member / Carlos Cesar Aparecido Eguti - Member / Pedro L. Corçaque - Member / Cristhian Lima Froes - Member.

Funding: Petróleo Brasileiro - Rio de Janeiro - Headquarters - Scholarship.

Hydrone - Unmanned Hybrid Air-Water Vehicle - 2019

Description: The Hydrone project aims at the technological and scientific development of control and automation systems for hybrid air-water vehicles, focusing on the coastal and maritime environment, representing great innovation potential. According to the Ministry of the Environment, the national coastline is approximately 8,500 km long. Various economic and social activities take place in this area. Therefore, means of operating in this type of environment, often hostile to humans, are necessary. Currently, operations involving this scenario require various instruments and devices. Among these are unmanned vehicles, such as UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) and ROVs (remotely operated vehicles, usually submersibles). With the latest advances in microcontrollers, microprocessors, GPS, and navigation systems, the niche of air-water hybrid vehicles has been developed with great potential for application in solving complex tasks, where there is a need for inspection or mapping of areas that are difficult to access and have mixed environments, as in the case of marine environments and coastal regions. Therefore, this project seeks to develop a hybrid vehicle capable of performing these tasks. To this end, the project studies the behavior of this vehicle, validating it through computational simulations and real experiments, so that they can have high aerial and aquatic performance.

Status: In progress; Nature: Research.

Involved students: Undergraduate: (8) / Master's: (2).

Members: Paulo Lilles Jorge Drews Junior - Coordinator / Armando Alves Neto - Member / Pedro Pinheiro - Member / Ricardo Bedin Grando - Member / Andressa Cavalcante da Silva - Member.

Funding: Robocup Brazil - Financial support.

Number of Productions C, T & A: 2

(CNPq) INCT-Mar COI - 2012

Description: The National Institute of Science and Technology of the Sea (INCT Mar) Center for Integrated Oceanography (COI), INCT-Mar COI aims to establish and consolidate a network of institutions to develop oceanographic research in the open sea, acting at the forefront of knowledge and contributing to the training of human resources, knowledge transfer to society, and the generation of public policies. The strategy adopted to achieve this goal consists of seven integrated lines of research: (1) Valorization of living resources; (2) Knowledge of seabeds: geodiversity and biodiversity; (3) Role of oceans in climate change; (4) Training and Qualification of Qualified Personnel; (5) Knowledge transfer to society for the Business Sector and Government; (6) Formulation of Public Policies; and (7) Large equipment and infrastructure. INCT-Mar COI is headquartered at the Institute of Oceanography of the Federal University of Rio Grande (IO-FURG) and is composed of almost a hundred researchers distributed across 9 Brazilian states (RS, SC, PR, SP, RJ, ES, BA, PE, and AL), which encompass 15 higher education institutions, 2 research institutes, and 1 federal institute of technological education. For human resources training, INCT-Mar COI has a network of academic institutions responsible for 1 (one) technical professional course (integrated with high school) and several undergraduate courses and graduate programs. INCT-Mar COI has the support of numerous renowned international institutions, many of which are already engaged with the scientific themes of INCT-Mar COI, confirming its scope, influence, and technical-scientific excellence. INCT-Mar COI meets the objectives of the INCT Program to mobilize and aggregate, in an articulated manner, with action in networks, the best research groups in frontier areas of science, and areas strategic for the sustainable development of the country.

Status: In progress; Nature: Research.

Members: Paulo Lilles Jorge Drews Junior - Member / Silvia Silva da Costa Botelho - Member / Nelson Lopes Duarte Filho - Member / Luis Felipe Hax Niencheski - Coordinator.

(EMBRAPII) Automatic Rescue for Elevators RAE - IoT - 2023

Description: Digital Twin for the automated passenger rescue system in elevators, which includes the digital model of the elevator system, sensor data capture from the real model, real-time visualization of information, and online analysis of equipment operation.

Status: In progress; Nature: Development.

Students involved: Undergraduate: (3).

Team members: Paulo Lilles Jorge Drews Junior - Member / Vinícius Menezes de Oliveira - Coordinator / Giancarlo Lucca - Member / RODRIGO DE MATOS ALVES - Member / LETIERI RODRIGUES DE AVILA - Member / IGOR DUARTE BOTTERO - Member.

Funders: Brazilian Company for Industrial Research and Innovation - Financial aid / CWR TECNOLOGIAS EM AUTOMACOES PARA ELEVADORES LTDA - Financial aid / Porto Alegre Micro and Small Business Support Service - Financial aid.

(DT CNPQ) ORUS 2.0 - Technological Research on Autonomous Systems and Robotics for Industry - 2023

Description: This project aims to develop computational technologies for autonomous systems and robotics focusing on industry, with case studies in three different industrial sectors: 1) Oil, Gas, and Energy Industry (O&G); 2) Agricultural Machinery and Equipment Industry; 3) Material Handling/Logistics Support Industry. Specifically, the project aims to develop artificial intelligence-based models capable of dealing with the variety of proposed applications that present different environments and dynamics. Computational systems based on learning and hybrids also based on knowledge will be developed to solve relevant industry problems. The computational algorithms to be developed and validated aim to provide greater autonomy to systems, mainly robotics, in perception/sensing tasks and decision-making/planning. Among the three industrial sectors presented, five different case studies of relevance are proposed for each, aiming at regional and national scientific and technological development.

Status: In progress; Nature: Development.

Students involved: Undergraduate: (15) / Master's: (8) / Ph.D.: (2).

Team members: Paulo Lilles Jorge Drews Junior - Coordinator.

Funders: National Council for Scientific and Technological Development - Scholarship.

(Petrobras) iCrane - Intelligent and Safe Crane - 2022

Description: Currently, most port operations involving cargo handling are carried out by cranes. This is the reality both onshore and offshore, as these technologies are widely used on ships, shipyards, and oil platforms, among others. Given this circumstance, it is necessary that their operations be carried out to achieve the expected performance, as well as to ensure the safety of the workers involved and those near the cargo handling area. In this sense, this project involves the study, understanding, and development of technologies that can assist crane operators in visualization and provide relevant information for decision-making during procedure execution. Therefore, this project will consist of three main components: (i) a digital twin of the process obtained from the integration of sensor data whose interface aims to increase the operator's sensory capacity; (ii) dynamic modeling of the crane and its movement dynamics; (iii) and obtaining cargo movement profiles using computer vision techniques and machine learning. These components will enable the creation of an operation simulation environment, which can be used for operator training; and for evaluating operation profiles obtained from crane-collected data, to define safe operation profiles, both for the operator and for the equipment itself. Thus, the aim is to continuously capture relevant crane operation data; and analyze them from the perspective of safety and efficiency conditions, to inform the human operator about the best decisions and actions to be taken, as well as offer an interface compatible with the control centers of the conventional actuators existing in typical O&G sector cranes.

Status: In progress; Nature: Development.

Students involved: Undergraduate: (12) / Master's: (3) / Ph.D.: (3).

Team members: Paulo Lilles Jorge Drews Junior - Member / Vinícius Menezes de Oliveira - Member / Silvia Silva da Costa Botelho - Coordinator / Nelson Lopes Duarte Filho - Member / Eder Mateus Nunes Gonçalves - Member / Vitor Irigon Gervini - Member / Eduardo Nunes Borges - Member / Marcelo Rita Pias - Member.

Funders: Petróleo Brasileiro - Rio de Janeiro - Headquarters - Cooperation.

(Petrobras) BeeBot - Aerial Robotic System for Visual Inspection and Thickness Measurement of Tanks - 2022

Description: This project aims to obtain a modular, plug-and-play system based on a mobile aerial platform for safer and more economical inspection of FPSO tanks, minimizing human exposure to risk. Due to the characteristics associated with the environment to be inspected (monotonicity, inadequate lighting conditions, confined space, scale, presence of metallic surfaces limiting the use of magnetic sensors, absence of GPS), there is both a scientific and technological challenge associated with the development of devices capable of performing remote visual inspection and thickness analysis of plates. In the literature, a set of techniques can be identified that can be combined to provide a mobile system capable of assisting in the intended missions. The goal is to customize a commercial mobile aerial platform composed of different aggregated modules, used according to the planning of inspection operations rounds. Thus, inspection missions will be divided, involving specific sensors and actuators. The following modules are proposed: environment mapping; vehicle location; navigation; imaging for visual inspection; and thickness measurement. With these modules, it is expected to carry out remote missions with the participation of two users in the vehicle operation. From a plug-and-play perspective, new functionalities can be added to the system in future proposals, to achieve higher degrees of autonomy. Throughout the project execution, an appropriate methodology will be sought to identify and approach companies for which technology transfer can be carried out.

Status: In progress; Nature: Development.

Students involved: Undergraduate: (10) / Master's: (3) / Ph.D.: (2).

Team members: Paulo Lilles Jorge Drews Junior - Member / Vinícius Menezes de Oliveira - Member / Silvia Silva da Costa Botelho - Coordinator / Nelson Lopes Duarte Filho - Member / Eder Mateus Nunes Gonçalves - Member / Vitor Irigon Gervini - Member / Eduardo Nunes Borges - Member / Marcelo Rita Pias - Member.

Funders: Petróleo Brasileiro - Rio de Janeiro - Headquarters - Cooperation.

(EMBRAPII) Structuring iTec/EMBRAPII - Technological Solutions in Automation and Robotic Systems for the Industrial Sector and iTec/FURG - 2020

Description: The project foresees the realization of a set of technological projects and a hands-on technological training and capacity-building program within the ITEC/EMBRAPII Unit, in addition to the structuring of the Unit.

Status: In progress; Nature: Development.

Students involved: Undergraduate: (80) / Master's: (20) / Ph.D.: (10).

Team members: Paulo Lilles Jorge Drews Junior - Member / Silvia Silva da Costa Botelho - Coordinator / Emanuel Diaz Estrada - Member / Nelson Lopes Duarte Filho - Member / Alessandro de Lima Bicho - Member / Danúbia Bueno Espíndola - Member / Marcelo Rita Pias - Member / Marcio Roberto

(Petrobras) AEROSCAN - Development and performance evaluation of the 3D laser scanning technique on board a UAV - 2019

Description: The oil & gas (O&G) sector requires dimensional inspection operations of structural elements, both during the construction phase and in the final inspection, the latter being necessary for the creation of the final construction document known as As-Built. This dimensional inspection makes use of manual measuring instruments such as tape measures, spirit levels, graduated scales, etc., as well as metrological measuring equipment such as total stations and optical level and slope meters. Due to the considerable size of a construction site, be it a refinery or a platform, the time it takes to measure structures and other constructions becomes a major variable in the completion of documents. In this way, this research project aims to analyze the performance, operation, and requirements necessary to apply a UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) or ARP (Remotely Piloted Aircraft) with 3D laser scanning equipment for dimensional control and execution of as-built documents in O&G industrial plants.

Status: In progress; Nature: Development.

Students involved: Undergraduate: (5) / Master's degree: (4).

Members: Paulo Lilles Jorge Drews Junior - Integrante / Igor Pardo Maurell - Integrante / Carlos Cesar Aparecido Eguti - Coordenador.

Sponsor(s): Petróleo Brasileiro - Rio de Janeiro - Headquarters - Cooperation.

(Petrobras) ToT - Digital Databook Verification - 2019

Description: Use of Data Science for Automatic Inspection of Dadabooks. The project aims to use computer vision and data science techniques for the automatic verification of completeness, compliance, and bad faith in purchase, construction, and assembly records and documents in a big-data context. The proposal involves the development of customized OCR modules, feature detection in images / natural language, and graph embedding to detect relationships and similarities between documents at scale. The project involves the development of technologies for the registration, retrieval, and inference of large databases using technologies for datalakes and microservices.

Status: In progress; Nature: Development.

Students involved: Undergraduate: (10) / Academic Master's: (10).

Members: Paulo Lilles Jorge Drews Junior - Integrante / Silvia Silva da Costa Botelho - Coordenador / Nelson Lopes Duarte Filho - Integrante / Eder Mateus Nunes Gonçalves - Integrante / Danúbia Bueno Espíndola - Integrante / Eduardo Nunes Borges - Integrante / Marcelo Rita Pias - Integrante / Ricardo Nagel Rodrigues - Integrante.

Sponsor(s): Petróleo Brasileiro - Rio de Janeiro - Head Office - Other.

(FAPERGS ARD) AUTOCERES - Automation and Instrumentation in Family Farming: Case Study of a Sprayer in Barras - 2016

Description: This project aims at the technological and scientific development of automation and instrumentation systems for Family Farming, focusing on miniaturization and low cost, thus having great innovation potential. According to the last Agricultural Census carried out in 2006, family farming is responsible for the economy of 90% of Brazilian municipalities with up to 20,000 inhabitants; it accounts for 35% of the national gross domestic product; and absorbs 40% of the country's's economically active population, which is managed by the family itself and is the main source of income generation. It also plays an important role in the production of food, which goes straight to people's tables. Despite all this importance, family farming still has little or no access to precision farming equipment, mainly due to the high cost of acquisition and maintenance. This leads to a lot of wasted inputs, especially plant protection products, which has a huge impact on the local ecosystem and financially. On the other hand, recent developments in computational and sensing systems have greatly reduced their cost and size, allowing for the mass acquisition of highly complex and integrated equipment such as smartphones. Therefore, this project aims to automate and instrument a boom sprayer, widely used in family farming, using smartphones and the Arduino embedded platform, as well as developing control and perception systems. The aim is also to adapt commercial sprayers with as little intervention as possible, which will allow them to be adopted quickly by farmers. The project has the cooperation of IFSUL-Pelotas and UFPEL-NIMEq.

Status: In progress; Nature: Development.

Students involved: Undergraduate: (5) / Master's degree: (2).

Members: Paulo Lilles Jorge Drews Junior - Coordinator / Gabrielle Rodrigues Almeida da Rosa - Integrant / Nathan M. Nyland - Integrant / Felipe Weber - Integrant / André  - Integrant / Vinicius Soares Marques - Integrant.

Financial support: Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul - Financial support.

Number of C, T & A productions: 26

FURGBOT - 2011

Description: Development of mobile robotic platforms for participation in competition events and dissemination of the area.

Status: In progress; Nature: Extension.

Students involved: Undergraduate: (8) / Master's degree: (1).

Members: Silvia Silva da Costa Botelho - Coordinator / Emanuel Estrada - Integrante / Paulo Drews - Integrante / Vagner Rosa - Integrante.

Financial support: National Council for Scientific and Technological Development - Grant / Rio Grande do Sul Research Foundation - Grant.

beeBot - Indoor Inspection of FPSO Hulls - 2022

Description: PROJECT FUNDED BY PETROBRAS VALUE 1.8M This project aims to develop a prototype hull inspection system (visualization and thickness measurement) using drones to improve the quality of the operation, increase its safety, reduce the need for HH on offshore oil platforms. This TT will use the xIABrasil platform as a base for the development of two prototypes: Beebot-Drone (autonomous drone-based system customized for indoor thickness measurement operation. Requirements: operate \emph{indoor} without GPS, measure thickness in corners and sides, have operator viewing angle) and BeeBot-Metaverse (Autonomous System for Reconstruction of the Inspected Environment. Requirements: map and reconstruct the inspected environment, indoor operation, structured and static environment, and propose a specific dataset).

Status: In progress; Nature: Development.

Students involved: Undergraduate: (14) / Academic Master's: (4) / PhD: (2).

Members: Silvia Silva da Costa Botelho - Coordinator / Vitor I. Gervine - Integrante / Nelson Duarte - Integrante / Vinicius Menezes de oliveira - Integrante / Eduardo Borges - Integrante / Marcelo Pias - Integrante / luciane B. Soares - Integrante / juliana veiga - Integrante.

Financial support: Petróleo Brasileiro - Rio de Janeiro - Head office - Financial support.

Yara-4.0: SensorLess Technology Solutions involving Industry 4.0 - 2018

Description: Different levels of automation are currently being used to make industries more competitive. However, methods based purely on industrial automation do not allow complete integration or total production flexibility. Given this, the concept of Industry 4.0 is established as a strategy for building a highly flexible production model for personalized and digital products and services, with real-time interactions between people, products, and devices during the production process. In the Industry 4.0 concept, tasks are carried out based on information from the physical and virtual world. These production systems have highly scalable networked sensors (smart grids) and can generate large amounts of information from the physical world (big data), requiring various means of data collection and analysis (analytics). Industry 4.0 has been treated as the most important technological leap forward today, capable of leading to paradigm shifts, thus emerging as the fourth industrial revolution. This proposal aims to evaluate and introduce Industry 4.0 technologies into the production process at the Yara Brasil plant in the city of Rio Grande, as well as to investigate the use of computer vision algorithms for particle size analysis in applications in the fertilizer industry. The aim is to develop a prototype of a customized granulometer that can be used in the fertilizer production line.

Status: In progress; Nature: Development.

Students involved: Undergraduate: (2) / Master's degree: (1).

Integrants: Silvia Silva da Costa Botelho - Coordinator / Nelson Duarte - Integrante / Emanuel Estrada - Integrante / Paulo Drews - Integrante / Vinicius Menezes de oliveira - Integrante / ricardo nagel - Integrante / AZZOLIN, RODRIGO - Integrante / Julio Mendonça - Integrante.

Financial support: Yara Brasil Fertilizantes - Financial support.