A Robotic System for Volcano Exploration

Robovolc: “A Robot for Volcano Exploration” is the name of a project funded by the European Commission, whose activities started in 2000. The main purpose of the ROBOVOLC project has been the development and trial of an automatic robotic system to explore and perform measurements in a volcanic environment. The robot, shown in Fig.1, has been realized to minimize the risk for volcanologists who are involved in work close to volcanic vents during eruptive phenomena. The robot is capable of moving on very rough and unstructured terrain thanks to its six independently actuated wheels and to its articulated chassis; sampling lava rocks and gas using its SCARA manipulator; collecting measures of the explored environment using the onboard video camera, the IR camera, the still camera and the radar Doppler. Details on the projects are reported and updated on the web pages: http://www.robovolc.diees.unict.it The project has required both robotic and volcanology expertises. The involved partners have a recognised know-how in Europe as regards Service robotics both for academic (Università degli Studi di Catania, Italy and University of Leeds, UK) and industrial aspects (BAE Systems, UK and Robosoft, France). The two research institutes involved (Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Italy and Institute de Physique du Globe de Paris, France) are among the most important research institutes on volcanology in Europe.