European Land-Robot Trial
European Land-Robot Trial ( ELROB ; German: European agriculture robot -Erprobung ) is a European event to test the capabilities of modern robots.
ELROB is not a competition like the American DARPA Grand Challenge , but a pure aptitude test of what European robotics is currently able to achieve . The scenarios simulate realistic deployment scenarios in the military and civilian areas, without simplifying them through artificial restrictions (e.g. clearly recognizable road markings). This results in enormous demands on their systems for the participating teams.
The first ELROB was carried out by the German Armed Forces in 2006 and took place from May 15 to 18, 2006 at the training area near Hammelburg . The aim of the first event was to promote the development of unmanned ground vehicles for military use that could be realized in the foreseeable future .
The idea for ELROB came from the organization "European Robotics", which has set itself the goal of bringing together science, industry and users of defense and security robots and thus promoting their further development.
According to Frank E. Schneider, Chairman of "European Robotics" and head of ELROB, the event will take place annually in the future. In even years in the form of the M-ELROB with a military focus and in odd years as the C-ELROB with a civilian focus.
Academic and commercial participants from European countries are admitted.
Civil ELROB
The civil ELROB (also abbreviated as C-ELROB) takes place every two years, alternating with the military ELROB. It was created to give teams (mainly from universities) who are not interested in military orientation an opportunity to participate. Since the military cannot be wooed as a potential client here, the arms industry's interest in the civilian ELROB is also less. Unfortunately, there has not yet been a team that only takes part in the C-ELROB. The whole organization of the C-ELROB is much more relaxed than that of the M-ELROB and the atmosphere is almost familiar. The teams see the C-ELROB less as a competition or an exhibition, but rather as an opportunity to test their systems in realistic field tests and to record fresh data from a completely different environment, from which they can then draw new knowledge.
The organizer sees C-ELROB as an opportunity to further develop research in certain core areas. This is achieved through the choice and design of the scenarios, which are defined together with the participants in user meetings before the event. Another intention is to stimulate the collaboration between research and industry, which has already happened with collaborations, particularly in the Camp Security Scenario.
Scenarios
Basically, it applies to the scenarios that they must always be managed with the highest possible degree of autonomy. In addition, the site is not known in advance, or only known for a very short time, so that the teams cannot create a detailed map of the area. The areas are described to the participants using GPS coordinates and aerial photographs.
Reconnaissance and surveillance
The task in the “Surveillance and Reconnaissance” scenario is to reach and investigate a predefined area as autonomously as possible. Points of interest (which are marked separately) should be found during the education. The position of the points is to be determined and a photo taken and passed on to the judges as the result. In addition, if possible, you should return to the starting point within the time.
The aim of the "Autonomous Navigation and Reconnaissance" scenario is to follow a predefined route that is a few kilometers long as autonomously as possible. During this trip, points of interest should be found and located, also autonomously. The position of the points and a photo should be given to the judges as a result.
Camp Security
The “Camp Security” scenario requires a predefined area to be monitored as autonomously as possible and to search for (marked) intruders. These intruders are supposed to be "captured", which means that the robot moves towards them and stops in front of them. A photo of the captured intruder and the position at which he was captured must be provided as the result.
Transport Mule
The task in the “Transport Mule” scenario is to move the robot back and forth between two defined points as often as possible. The idea is to install a shuttle service between two points that can, for example, take over the transport of goods. Again, as much autonomy as possible should be used.
Past civilian ELROBs
2007
The C-ELROB 2007 took place from August 13th to 16th in Monte Ceneri in Switzerland (Canton Ticino ). The area for the scenarios was partly on a truck test track run by the Swiss Army, which placed very high demands on the vehicles.
The "Autonomous navigation and reconnaissance" scenario appeared for the first time at this ELROB. It was introduced by popular demand in order to offer larger vehicles a scenario in which they can show their capabilities. There were also three versions of the “surveillance and reconnaissance” scenario. One took place in an urban area (and thus also within buildings), the second in a non-urban environment and the third placed particular emphasis on the connection of UAVs and UGVs . In 2007, all scenarios had a maximum duration of 45 minutes.
The result in 2007 was that there are now some semi-autonomous assistance functions and that it is possible to navigate even in difficult terrain. However, many teams were surprised by the reality and had serious problems with radio communication and the power supply.
A total of 14 teams took part in 2007, nine from Germany, two from Poland and one team each from Finland, Switzerland and Portugal.
2009
The civil ELROB 2009 took place from June 15th to 17th in Oulu , Finland . A former zoo and a piece of public forest near the University of Oulu were used as the site.
The scenarios were very much based on the military ELROB 2008. This was done at the express wish of the participants for more continuity in the scenarios so that they did not have to adjust to completely different conditions every year. Therefore, there were the following four scenarios on this civil ELROB: Surveillance and Reconnaissance, Autonomous Navigation, Camp Security and Transport Mule. In addition, it was agreed to mark all "interesting points" and also the intruders in the camp security scenario with ERICards , since computer vision should not be a focus of the event. The duration of the scenarios was limited to 60 minutes.
Ten teams came to Finland for ELROB 2009, seven from Germany and one each from France, Poland and Finland.
2011
The civil ELROB 2011 took place from June 20th to 24th in Leuven , Belgium .
2016
ELROB 2016 will take place from June 20 to 24, 2016 on the “Tritolwerk” practice area near Wiener Neustadt . The Austrian Armed Forces supports this competition as co-organizer and host and participates with a team.
Military ELROB
The organization of the military ELROB (also abbreviated as M-ELROB) is clearly geared towards identifying robot systems that can perform the tasks set by the military. Therefore, the tasks are very much based on real deployment scenarios of the German Bundeswehr and also on the expected conditions. For example, it is no surprise that due to the dense tree growth on the M-ELROB 2008, radio connections were only very unstable and could not be established at all over long distances.
Since the military is supposed to be the end user of the systems, the (industrial) participants have the advantage that they can meet the user, talk to him and demonstrate their systems in action. At the same time, they get to know the wishes of the customer and the scenarios point out possible problems with the systems.
Great importance is attached to ensuring that the systems involved can be implemented and used at short notice. Known technology should be used to deal with real problems. However, there are no guarantees for orders from the German Bundeswehr.
Scenarios
The scenarios of the military ELROBs correspond to real military situations such as reconnaissance and surveillance missions. Basically, the scenarios must always be managed with the greatest possible autonomy. In addition, the site is not known in advance, or only known for a very short time, so that the teams cannot create a detailed map of the area. The areas are described to the participants using GPS coordinates and aerial photographs.
Reconnaissance and surveillance
The task in the "Surveillance and Reconnaissance" scenario is to reach and clear a predefined area as autonomously as possible. Points of interest (which are marked separately) should be found during the education. The position of the points is to be determined and a photo taken and passed on to the judges as the result. In addition, if possible, you should return to the starting point within the time.
The aim of the "Autonomous Navigation and Reconnaissance" scenario is to follow a predefined route that is a few kilometers long as autonomously as possible. During this trip, points of interest should be found and located, also autonomously. The position of the points and a photo should be given to the judges as a result.
Camp Security
The “Camp Security” scenario requires a predefined area to be monitored as autonomously as possible and to search for (marked) intruders. These intruders are supposed to be "captured", which means that the robot moves towards them and stops in front of them. A photo of the captured intruder and the position at which he was captured must be provided as the result.
Transport convoy
In the “transport convoy” scenario, at least two vehicles should be navigated as quickly as possible to a destination several kilometers away. A load of around 50 kg is to be transported. One of the vehicles can be manned so that the task can be reduced to, for example, autonomously tracking a vehicle in front.
Transport Mule
The task in the “Transport Mule” scenario is to move the robot back and forth between two defined points as often as possible. The idea is to install a shuttle service between two points that can take over the transport of goods. Again, as much autonomy as possible should be used.
Past military ELROBs
2006
The military ELROB 2006 took place from May 15th to 18th, 2006 at the military training area near Hammelburg .
The first ELROB took place in 2006 and the first step was to get an idea of the possibilities that robotics can offer. There was one scenario for navigation in urban terrain, which also included penetration into buildings, and one for navigation in non-urban terrain with impassable areas and steep gradients. The scenarios fell into the "surveillance and reconnaissance" category and had a maximum travel time of 30 minutes.
In 2006, 18 teams took part, eleven from Germany, three from Great Britain, two from Switzerland and one team each from Portugal and France.
2008
The military ELROB 2008 took place from June 30th to July 3rd, 2008 at the military training area near Hammelburg .
The scenarios in 2008 were much more diverse than in 2006. There was "Surveillance and Reconnaissance", "Autonomous Navigation", "Transport Convoy", "Transport Mule" and "Camp Security". These scenarios required very different skills from the systems. In addition, due to the dense forest, a very stable radio connection was not possible. One version of the "surveillance and reconnaissance" scenario took place during the day and, after successful qualification, during the day for some participants also at night. The maximum duration of the scenarios was 60 minutes each.
The result of ELROB 2008 for the organizers was that remote-controlled UGVs are more or less ready for use, but are only suitable for use in the immediate vicinity of the operator due to the radio connection required. Autonomous assistance functions, such as waypoint navigation, are also available and make it much easier to use in poor radio connections.
17 teams came to ELROB 2008, eleven of them from Germany, two from Great Britain and one team each from Italy, the Netherlands, France and Finland. The participation of the autonomous vehicle MuCar-3 of the University of the Federal Armed Forces in Munich at ELROB 2008 is an episode of the documentary Plug & Pray , which examines the role of autonomous or semi-autonomous robots in society.
2010
The military ELROB 2010 took place from June 17 to June 20, 2010 on the training area near Hammelburg .
Next military ELROB
2012
The military ELROB 2012 will take place from September 24th to 28th, 2012 at the arsenal of the Swiss Army near Thun in Switzerland .
See also
Web links
- Official ELROB website
- Official European Robotics website
- Detailed description of the ELROB 2007 by Alan Winfield
- heise online - Exhibition of military robots (May 17, 2006)
- Technology Review - In the War of the Robots (May 19, 2006)
- heise online - Article about the C-ELROB 2009 ( Memento from June 18, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Robot competition at the “Tritolwerk” exercise area. Retrieved June 22, 2016 .
- ↑ Plug & Pray , documentary about the role of robots in society