#A robotic answer to safe automated industrial maintenance Maintenance and repair work in the aeronautics
and construction industries can be both time-consuming and dangerous, which is why an EU project is developing robots that are a cost-effective way to get the job done without exposing workers to potential harm.
Achieving automation in large-scale maintenance work has always been a challenge. While the replacement of parts in, say,
In response, the EU-funded project Cablebot is developing a new-generation robotic system made up of a network of cables and computer-controlled winches capable of performing different maintenance steps during the life-cycles
and can be scaled easily up from very small versions for room-sized jobs to a gigantic configuration for large structures. he uniqueness of almost any large-scale product has,
and will also introduce automation in life-cycle applications in the construction industry. Large-scale benefits The use of expensive state-of-the-art automation in both of these sectors has,
The robots are controlled by cutting-edge software tools. The key to their flexibility is the ad hoc connection of diverse winches to different tools where they are put to use
The Cablebot team are also developing control algorithms and systems to operate the cable robots, according to industrial requirements.
The next step for the project will be to verify their operation in environments with large-scale structures. he end result of this combination of technologies in an integrated robotic system will be a highly versatile system,
The immediate benefit to workers will be a reduction in their exposure to dangerous working conditions, which will lead to fewer accidents.
me how to collaborate with experts in technical and commercial matters from different countries, and how to reach our objectives together,
will receive a total of EUR 3 million in EU funding. ablebot represents an excellent opportunity to design,
#Nanotech sunblock for your home What's harder: heating your home in winter or keeping it cool in summer?
In Europe's sunnier parts, stopping buildings from soaking up the rays is usually the bigger challenge.
COOL-Coverings focused on the so-called building envelope the outer part of the building that protects it from wind and weather and houses the interior environment and the construction components that shape it.
In addition to cutting energy consumption and increasing indoor comfort, the team also aimed to mitigate the appearance of urban heat islands.
when heat accumulates in materials composing the built environment, adds to the difficulty of cooling down sun-kissed cities.
the partners incorporated nanoparticles and micro-or nano-sized pigments into coatings and surface layers. e implemented this technology for three types of material:
ceramic tiles, acrylic paints and roof membranes, Guaita explains, adding that the project managed to double the reflectance for darker colours.
where they were used on the boiling roofs and façades of one-room units equipped to simulate the thermal behaviour of larger buildings.
This rigorous testing confirmed the outstanding performance of COOL-Coveringstiles, paints and membranes. How much energy can they help save?
That depends on a lot of factors. Demo park data indicate that savings ranging from 4 to 7. 5%could be achieved by re-roofing,
re-tiling or repainting sunbaked buildings using COOL-Coverings materials that replicate the original colour.
This conclusion takes account of the fact that cool analogues translate into higher heating bills,
He is enthusiastic about their potential to increase energy efficiency simply and affordably just by applying a layer of innovation to the building outer shell.
No changes to the actual construction are required. Refreshing ideas Guaita is convinced that academia and industry complement each other in such endeavours,
New ideas for nanotech-inspired energy-efficient products and processes are being generated in the context of the European Construction Technology Platform and the Nano-E2b-Cluster
where efforts to kick-start the economy and boost competitiveness can be undermined one defect at a time. This is why industry is demanding solutions to avoid these so-called nd-of-linefailures solutions able not only to predict defects before they are generated,
Take the automobile industry as an example. By 2020, it is expected that up to 20%of worldwide automobile production will include electrical powertrains the machinery that powers
and propels electric vehicles. urope car-makers need a smart and reliable way of producing this product to meet both the quantity
and quality of parts needed, says Gorrotxategi who is coordinating the EU-funded MUPROD project.
Gorrotxategi predicts. e also see potential to use this approach in the production of other high-price, high-volume electrical parts, such as steering drives, starters and generators.
Quality first MUPROD team has developed new software and hardware solutions which introduce several levels of innovation technological,
These real-time, multi-data gathering techniques use state-of-the-art sensors and inspection equipment, with ntelligentactuators, or micro-machines, to automatically respond
Customised biomedical parts are another MUPROD application. For example, the end-of-line production defect rate for the tiny catheters (flexible tubes) used for treating patients with cardiovascular disease is as high as 80%.
%But with MUPROD help, this rate could be cut to just 5%during the extrusion process, reducing both production time and cost by 70%.
%The greater accuracy during manufacturing paves the way for the production of even smaller catheters to tackle blood-flow problems in harder-to-reach places of the body.
including developing new inspection techniques, sensors, statistical and mechanistic models, intelligent fixtures, and decision-making tools.
#Save energy: commercial cooler chills beverage in just 50 seconds! Commercial fridges and freezers keep food fresh and beverages cool.
They are vital to modern commerce but troublesome for the environment. European industrial researchers set out to turn these power-hungry machines into a green technology of the future.
The trademarked-Texcooler they developed can chill a standard-sized beverage in under a minute.
This is super-fast and means small quantities can be chilled on demand, saving huge amounts of energy.
Supermarkets, convenience stores, service stations, restaurants, hotels wherever you find people with money to spend, you will find fridges,
freezers and chilled vending machines filled with goods to sell. They are convenient and essential for preserving
and serving food and beverages that meet the expectations of customers and relevant authorities. But there is a big problem with these handy machines they consume massive amounts of power.
That whirring sound coming from the corner of a convenience store is a drinks fridge struggling to cool itself
Combined, commercial refrigerator/freezers like these are estimated to consume 85 TWH (terawatt hours) of electricity every year.
That is roughly equivalent to the total yearly output of eight or nine late-generation nuclear power plants. This places a huge burden on power grids and the environment
and does not appear to be slowing. The fact is, advances in refrigeration technology have struggled to offset the increasing number of units being introduced each year.
For example, vending machine sales (EU-27) are expected to continue growing, from 126 000 in 2009 to 200 000 in 2020.
The technology developed delivers considerable energy savings while, at the same time, keeps up with growing consumer demand. Game-changing green technology like this could have a direct impact on the EU 2020 commitment to reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions while improving overall energy security,
the team suggests. EU Member States are preparing a combination of voluntary and mandatory initiatives to force a step change in energy consumption and the use of commercial refrigerated equipment.
Probably the most prominent of these is the Energy Using Products (EUP) Directive which is expected to enter into force in 2014.
Up to 90%energy saving Rapidcool developed an autonomous, modular-cooling apparatus for cooling drink cans and bottles from room temperature to around 4°C in some 50 seconds.
The project trademarked V-Tex technology recorded energy savings of 80-90%compared with open-front commercial refrigerators.
Their modular system is easy to clean (and thus to meet hygiene standards), simple to use,
With V-Tex, notes the team, you get a cold drink every time with considerable reductions in energy use,
Kelvin Hall, founder and managing director of Enviro-Cool Ltd (UK), who owns the patents, says:
hese patents were filed worldwide because of the massive appeal and environmental benefits of this green technology. The Rapidcool project will be significantly beneficial to all SMES involved.
persistent multi-modal interfaces to the Internet')moves on from traditional task-based interaction to social interaction.
COMPANIONS sought to bring to the internet a tailor-made, conversational interface that recognises its user. A key component of the research was machine learning developing software with the ability to learn without explicitly programming it to modify the way it behaves.
The technology will be particularly beneficial for those living alone. More than a third those living in advanced societies will live alone by the mid-to late-2020s
of which 50percent will be pensioners. It will be particularly important for this group to have access to a virtual interactive companion
This interaction will help reduce depression (loss of companions is considered a key trigger of depression among the elderly),
and act as an alternative access point to resources on the internet. The team English Companion is able to listen to long statements
or remarks in English and respond appropriately to what the user is saying. The Companion can also engage the user by responding,
expressing interest and empathy something the users often need to receive. This ability to express interest and empathy is new and exciting.
The Companion does this by analysing a person voice and the content of his or her dialogue before responding.
automatic speech recognition; natural language understanding; natural language generation; and text to speech synthesis. The Companion can be combined with current dialogue management techniques so as to deliver natural-sounding dialogue.
The Senior Companion is designed to engage users in dialogue on news, photos and funny stories. It can find tagged photos of users on the internet
and create a timeline bringing together life events and special memories. The Health and Fitness Companion focuses on improved wellbeing,
The Companion does not have to be accessed on a traditional computer. It can be used via a mobile phone
a computer shaped like a head or even a handbag, the team suggests. Project details-Project acronym:
COMPANIONS-Participants: United kingdom (Coordinator), Sweden, Spain, United states, France, Czech republic, Finland, Italy-Project FP6 34434-Total costs:#
#Massive study closes in on cancers risk markers Cancer research has taken a huge leap forward with scientists now able to identify more than 80 genetic markers found to increase the risk of breast ovarian and prostate cancer.
Neither has the EU-funding of EUR 12 million, which has played a significant part in making this global effort a tremendous success. The main findings of the project COGS('Collaborative Oncological Gene-Environment Study')have been published in a special issue on genetic risk factors
for cancer in the prestigious scientific journal Nature Genetics. The research was led by scientists at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, the University of Cambridge and the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) in the UK,
with support from more than 160 research groups worldwide. This international network brought together five global studies on 100 000 patients with breast, ovarian or prostate cancer.
Another 100 000 healthy volunteers comprised a control group. Scientists took DNA from all 200 000 subjects
and compared those with cancer, and those without, to assess each individual's inherited risk.
Overall, the study found that common genetic variation links all these cancers. This can be described as a genetic'spelling mistake'
where an A g, C or T in the genetic code has been replaced with another letter. The spelling mistake is called Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP.
Each alteration was seen to raise the risk of ovarian, breast or prostate cancer by a small amount,
although a small minority of men with several markers saw their risk of prostate cancer increase more than fourfold.
Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men worldwide, contributing to 14%of all new cancer cases.
It is predicted that the number of cases will almost double to a figure of 1. 7 million by 2030.
Results of the studies on women revealed that with certain spelling mistakes the risk of breast cancer,
In addition, the test also identified those with a smaller than average risk of developing the cancers.
One of the study authors, Professor Doug Easton from the University of Cambridge who led several of the studies,
'We're on the verge of being able to use our knowledge of these genetic variations to develop a test that could complement breast cancer screening
and take us a step closer to having an effective prostate cancer screening programme.''With this new information, researchers now have a clearer picture of the total number of genetic changes that can explain the risk of getting these cancers.
The next step is to calculate the individual cancer risk, which will help to better understand how these cancers start
and grow so that new treatments can be developed. It is possible this could lead to a DNA screening test within five years.
COGS coordinator Professor Per Hall from the Karolinska Institutet says:''COGS is the largest genotyping project in the world targeting identification of genetic changes that influence the risk of common cancers.
The collaborative efforts have been tremendous and the key to its success.'Other financial contributors to the COGS project are the Märit and Hans Rausing Initiative against Breast cancer, the Swedish Research Council, Cancer Research UK and the Cancer Risk Prediction
Center (CRISP). Project details Project acronym: COGS Participants: Sweden (Coordinator), Germany, United kingdom, Australia, Netherlands, Spain, Denmark, France, Finland, Belgium Project FP7 223175 Total costs:#
#16 703 903 EU contribution:##11 715 501 Duration: May 2009-January 201 r
#A machine which can read your mind e have developed so called brain-computer interfaces which allow the user to control different devices and programmes without hands, by means of the user thoughts.
That is how Christoph Hintermüller of the Project Management and Research team at g. tec Guger Technologies sums up a machine
which can quite literally read the mind. It is intended for disabled patients, and the system made up of electrodes
which sit on the scalp translates user intentions into electronic commands. brain-computer interface captures various electrical impulses from the head of the user,
and decodes them into specific tasks and actions, continued Christoph Hintermüller. That allows the user to play an online computer game, hands-free.
The user selects the commands by simply looking at the blinking arrows on the screen.
The frequency of the flashing is reproduced in the brain cortex and read by the electrodes. s soon as we have understood the electroencephalography patterns produced by the groups of neurons in the brain,
we can map the brain activity to any commands for any device, like a television or a motorised system for the home, said Arnau Espinosa Manzanal of the Research and development department,
g. tec Guger Technologies Developed within a European research project, this technology makes home electronics more accessible.
A user can navigate through various on-screen menus by simply focusing attention on the commands.
This way even severely disabled people can compose text messages to communicate with others in social networks on the Internet.
With further improvement, this system will allow to remotely control robotic assistants and even personal transportation vehicles such as electric wheelchairs. he system will be developed further to easier integrate with many more systems and programs,
and also to use additional electrical and mechanical impulses from the whole body, because some patients still have residual motor functions
Robert Meijer, a Professor of Applied Sensor Networks, at the University of Amsterdam, who is coordinating the Urbanflood project said:
here are 48 sensors constantly telling us how this dam is feeling and how it behaving.
The underground sensors, developed within a European union research project, transmit measurements to data centres in several countries.
Boston, on the east coast of England, is one of the main test sites for the new technology.
at the UK Environment Agency said: oston has some good sea defences, but theye not high enough.
So when the surge comes through it means the walls can get over-topped, and potentially could fail.
Engineers involved in the study have designed several types of sensors, reliable and affordable enough to be put in damp soil embankments.
sensor is a measuring device that has electronic components inside a stainless steel container. It has a tiny opening through
and the movement of the sensors inside the dam. These indications can be followed in real time using any internet-enabled device.
A touch screen panel installed in a Boston café allows the public to see how the system works.
If the artificial intelligence anticipates a breach, it sends a warning to the responsible services that may otherwise be unaware of the weakening within the flood defences.
Mark Robinson said: urrently we use a visual walkover. It means probably two or three times a year we got people viewing the asset the dam from a visual point of view.
This technology allows us to actually understand how the bank is performing, so it looks at how it moving under pressure,
The software calculates how fast the site will be flooded if the dam fails, and even suggests the best ways to move citizens into safer areas.
and across the world to protect vulnerable cities from the imminent effects of climate change. Project details Project acronym:
The whey is used as a bio-coating a biodegradable film-for the plastic, offering additional protection while also being recyclable.
Tests ran on the Oxygen Transmission Rate (OTR) of the packaging showed that a layer of whey improved the protection level 30-fold compared to conventional plastic films.
Additionally, the plastic based on whey is easily recyclable because the whey product can be ashedoff from the plastic layers by treating it with special enzymes('protease'and'alcalase),
'the biological catalysts that help it decompose. For Europe packaging industry, such a recyclable product is important
because they have to comply with waste legislation. any packaging companies are trying to turn to greener solutions,
Also, the reuse of an existing waste product lowers the carbon footprint, she adds. e have finished the research and development,
#Water-friendly hydraulic technology to make heavy machinery greener Bulldozers, diggers, tractors: these heavy machines all apply the same basic hydraulic powers for their trays and claws.
The main breakthrough of the project has been applying nanotechnology to coat key parts of the hydraulic system,
sometimes toxic and are not readily biodegradable, "says project coordinator Pietro Luigi Cavallotti. Although biodegradable synthetic oils have been developed,
"However, HYDRO-COAT proved that you can substitute mineral oil with water in power hydraulics."The work of the research team focused on applying innovative coating to the pump parts, distributors, cylinders and other hydraulic components.
The first is a special Diamond Like Coating (DLC), which layers carbon on the pump,
#1 492 777 EU contribution:##1 101 124 Duration: October 2009-September 201 t
#A European Flood Alert System to protect Europe's cities In 2010, when a big flood hit Poland, the Czech republic, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia and Serbia, the situation was quite different.
And when these data reflect a danger for floods, EFAS informs the partners. In 2011 EFAS issued 9 alerts.
as meetings and training for members are organised, "The Danube is shared by 18 countries and our meetings have contributed to exchange of information between the authorities.
#Materials and drives for High & Wide efficiency electric powertrains-Reducing dependency on rare earth materials Presently, drives for Fully Electric vehicles and Hybrid electric vehicles develop their highest efficiency of around 935%within a speed range of usually 1
Hi-Wi projects is the developing an advanced electric traction motors for electric vehicles. The Hi-Wi acronym comes in fact from the project target of developing an electric architecture with both a higher efficiency and a wider application range
so that the vehicle can operate efficiently in all operating conditions. With the anticipated growth of the electric and hybrid vehicle market, the demand for permanent magnets that are central to this technology is certain to grow dramatically.
This has led already to a sharp increase in price for rare-earth metals (such as Neodymium (Nd),
Dysprosium (Dy) and Terbium (Tb)) because they are essential additives to produce high energy-product magnets.
Considering the resource distribution of rare-earth metals, European car manufactures have to face the problem of restrictive and vulnerable supply chains for rare earth metals
New technologies used in Hi-WI project guarantee several important improvements over current motor and vehicle architectures,
such as delivering higher energy efficiency (i e. more power with less battery consumption) over a wider spectrum of rotating speeds, decreasing resource dependency,
because they use a reduced amount of rare earth materials, the new electromotors will eliminate or simplify the mechanical gearbox normally associated with electric motors through so-called magnetic gears,
an innovation that might be developed further in the project and the resulting magnets will be smaller and lighter,
and will need less cooling, leading to cheaper electromotors and therefore cars. The motor architectures and the innovative materials studied in Hi-Wi project have the potential to reach way beyond the electronic vehicle market.
Permanent magnet machines have a paramount importance in many other fields. Just to mention one, they are at the core of the electric generators used in all wind generators.
The project coordinated by The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Cambridge, UK has 7 participants from 4 countries i
#New smart robots to improve inspection of nuclear plants Nuclear power accounts for one sixth of the European union (EU)' s energy consumption,
and there are power plants in 14 of the 27 member states. Safety is a priority and there are regular maintenance checks on every aspect of the plants.
But what happens if cracks appear in the machinery that are so small and deep that they escape the human eye?
And how can one check every corner of a nuclear reactor when some areas are shrouded, by necessity in radiation?
"The Nozzleinspect robot can identify any cracks, porous walls or other defaults inside the material to a greater degree (30%more precise than any other technology),
which are made from steel, can be particularly susceptible to cracks from thermal fatigue and stress corrosion.
Most inspections are carried out with conventional ultrasonic testing that requires frequent changes of the probes in a high radiation environment,
and facilities can be shut down for days while human operators physically carry out recalibration tasks. Faster, cheaper and more accurate inspection systems are considered
and motion control programming. The partners involved in the project (most of which are SMES) will benefit
Liaptsis says the prototype has improved also the accuracy of the monitoring it is 30%more precise than current probes-helping provide better data about the nozzle's life span and deterioration rate
#Developing new weapons in the fight against cancer Cancer causes some 13%of deaths worldwide.
Of these deaths some 90%are caused not by the original cancer but by its spread to other parts of the body.
These secondary cancers known as metastases are caused most often by'circulating tumour cells'(CTCS) which escape from the primary tumour and travel around the body in the bloodstream.
Supported by European union (EU) funding, the three and a half year project brought together 9 partners from 5 EU Member States, with expertise in both clinical and technological areas.
The project consortium focused on achieving this by combining three emerging technologies nanotechnology, optical technologies,
and provide clinicians with currently unavailable information about the risk of metastatic relapse and the best therapy.
In the words of the CAMINEMS project coordinator, Dr Jean-louis Viovy of the Curie Institute in Paris, the key to the project was contained in the microfluidics techniques. icrofluidics is the equivalent for biology of microcircuits and microprocessors for the electronics industry
the greatly improved quantity and quality of information that can be gathered about the cells opens up the possibility of more complex diagnosis and treatment of cancers.
With cancers often behaving differently in different patients, and displaying different characteristics, the technology developed by CAMINEMS should allow clinicians to move closer to the ideal of personalised medical diagnosis and treatment.
The more advanced a cancer is, the more difficult it is to treat. The new CAMINEMS technology could help detect sooner
if a cancer is developing resistance to a treatment, and thus save precious months or years in switching to a new,
it provides the user with a basic kit which allows specific biological elements to be switched in or out.
The tool can thus be adapted according to whatever specific test the user wishes to conduct. ll the biology is contained in magnetic particles that we put in the system at the moment of operation.
This means we can decide, case by case or patient by patient, which biological question we shall ask,
says Dr Viovy. The effect of this is to provide a system with greatly enhanced cost-effectiveness
able to closely follow the rapid evolution of targeted therapies. Having created the system and established its effectiveness,
Work is now underway to develop a second-generation, preindustrial prototype, and to find partners for its eventual commercialisation.
the development of technology transfer mechanisms, finance for innovation; and finally, innovation management and sectoral support.
which were critical to its success. Training sessions and workshops crucial for future innovators were organised across the MEDA region and beyond.
and distributed to a database of relevant stakeholders. Crucially, high level meetings between key European and Mediterranean innovation figures were organised these were vital for exchanging examples of best practice."
"Medlbtikar has achieved many notable successes. They include a feasibility study on the Regional Innovation Financing Facility (RIFF) in each beneficiary country.
This study resulted in recommendations that addressed various deficiencies in financing schemes across the MEDA region.
Morocco and Tunisia access to"a network of over 2, 500 economics and technology experts in over 40 countries.
the Medlbtikar also participated with international organisations such as the World bank and UNESCO. When Medlbtikar finished in 2010
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