InFuse (OG3)

Common Data Fusion Framework for Space Robotics

InFuse aims to develop a comprehensive data fusion toolset for robot sensors (aka Common Data Fusion Framework, or CDFF) that will serve in the context of many space robotics applications, on planetary surface as well as in orbit or other space environments. The InFuse CDFF will be developed relying on the expertise of partners having substantial experience with a wide range of sensors data handling and processing techniques (perception and navigation related) and a wide range of robotic applications – both in space and terrestrial conditions.

Duration: 01.11.2016 till 01.01.2019
Donee: German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence GmbH
Sponsor: European Union
European Commission
Website: https://www.h2020-infuse.eu/
Partner: Space Applications Services NV., Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und, Raumfahrt, Magellium, Strathclyde University, Laboratoire d’Analyse et d’Architecture des Systèmes
Application Field: Space Robotics
Related Projects: ESROCOS (OG1)
European Space Robot Control Operating System (11.2016- 01.2019)
Related Software: pySPACE
Signal Processing and Classification Environment written in Python
Rock
Robot Construction Kit

Project details

InFuse is a European project developed in the context of the Horizon 2020 PERASPERA (Plan European Roadmap and Activities for Space Exploitation of Robotics and Autonomy) call on Space Robotics Challenges (SRC). Inside the SRC the projects are referred as Operational Grants (OG) and each one focusses to a particular open challenge in the Space Robotics development.

InFuse makes provision for a convenient and effective articulation with the other Horizon 2020  Space Robotics Challenge (SRC) common building blocks – in particular: OG1 (RCOS), OG2 (Autonomy Framework) and OG4 (Inspection Sensor Suite). The solution proposed in InFuse to wrap and handle data fusion techniques and their produced data will make their adoption easy and effective by a wide range of users, both among the SRC stakeholders and in the wider space robotics community. In particular, InFuse will not only provide access to an extensive set of robust data fusion capabilities, relevant both for On-Orbit and planetary scenarios, but will also include a data fusion orchestration and products management tool allowing to control the data fusion processes and to retrieve conveniently (on-demand) products such as maps, models of the environment or objects, science relevant data, etc.   

The potential impact of InFuse is huge, as such a tool will be relevant and useful in a wide range of robotic applications and user communities – not only in the Space Robotics SRC activities and more widely in the space robotics area, but also in many non-space domains (e.g. marine, aerial, terrestrial robotic applications). No such comprehensive data tool exists so far: InFuse will be a European asset that many industrial, research and academic roboticists in Europe (and farther) may benefit from.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/H2020Infuse

Videos

Field Trials Morocco: EU partner test new software with DFKI rover SherpaTT

The objective of the Strategic Research Cluster (SRC) on Space Robotics Technologies funded by the European Union is to enable major advances in space robotic technologies. Among others, these technologies are needed for future robotic missions to explore the surfaces of Mars, Moon and other celestial bodies. At the first stage of the SRC implementation (2016–2019), several research & development projects ("operational grants") established core technologies for space robotic systems. Since lab environments cannot adequately simulate the harsh environmental conditions a space exploration robot will be confronted with, field tests in terrestrial Mars or Moon analogues are imperative.

Publications

2021

Building a Lunar Infrastructure with the Help of a Heterogeneous (Semi)Autonomous Multi-Robot-Team
Shashank Govindaraj, Wiebke Brinkmann, Francisco Javier Colmenero, Irene Sanz Nieto, Alexandru But, Matteo De Benedetti, Leon Cedric Danter, Mercedes Alonso, Enrique Heredia, Simon Lacroix, Dominik Kleszczynski, Joseph Purnell, Kevin Picton, Nabil Aouf, Luis Lopes
In In Proc. of. 72nd International Astronautical Congress 2021, (IAC-2021), (IAC-2021), 25.10.-29.10.2021, Dubai, n.n., Oct/2021.

2020

Common Data Fusion Framework: An open-source Common Data Fusion Framework for space robotics
Raúl Domínguez, Mark Post, Alexander Fabisch, Romain Michalec, Vincent Bissonnette, Shashank Govindaraj
Editors: David Portugal, Francisco Rico
In International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems, SAGE Journals, volume 17, number 2, pages 1-15, Mar/2020.

2019

pytransform3d: 3D Transformations for Python
Alexander Fabisch
In Journal of Open Source Software, The Open Journal, Journal of Open Source Software, volume 4, number 33, pages 1159, Jan/2019.
Space Robotic Systems and Artificial Intelligence in the Context of the European Space Technology Roadmap
Wiebke Brinkmann, Florian Cordes, Christian Ernst Siegfried Koch, Malte Wirkus, Raúl Dominguez, Alexander Dettmann, Thomas Vögele, Frank Kirchner
In Proceedings of Space Tech Conferences, 19.11.-21.11.2019, Bremen, o.A., 2019.

2018

Internal Simulation for Autonomous Robot Exploration of Lava Tubes
Raúl Domínguez, Sascha Arnold, Christoph Hertzberg, Arne Böckmann
Editors: Automation and Robotics Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Informatics in Control
In ICINCO 2018, (ICINCO-2018), 29.7.-31.7.2018, Porto, SCITEPRESS, volume 2, pages 144-155, Jul/2018. ISBN: 978-989-758-321-6.
A Common Data Fusion Framework For Space Robotics: Architecture And Data Fusion Methods
Raúl Domínguez, Romain Michalec, Nassir W. Oumer, Fabrice Souvannavong, Mark Post, Shashank Govindaraj, Alexander Fabisch, Bilal Wehbe, Jérémi Gancet, Alessandro Bianco, Simon Lacroix, Andrea De Maio, Quentin Labourey, Vincent Bissonnette, Michal Smí¨ek, Xiu Yan
In Proceedings of the 14th International Symposium on Artificial Intelligence, (iSAIRAS-2018), 04.6.-06.6.2018, Madrid, ESA, Jun/2018.
InFuse Data Fusion Methodology for Space Robotics, Awareness and Machine Learning
Mark Post, Romain Michalec​, Alessandro Bianco, Xiu Yan, Andrea De Maio​, Quentin Labourey, Simon Lacroix, Jeremi Gancet​, Shashank Govindaraj, Xavier Martinez-Gonzalez​, Iyas Dalati, Raúl Domínguez, Bilal Wehbe, Alexander Fabisch​, Enno Röhrig, Fabrice Souvannavong, Vincent Bissonnette, Michal Smí¨ek, Nassir W. Oumer, Lukas Meyer, Rudolph Triebel, Zoltán-Csaba Márton
In 69​th​ International Astronautical Congress (IAC), (IAC-2018), 01.10.-05.10.2018, Bremen, o.A., 2018. International Astronautical Federation.

2017

InFuse : a comprehensive framework for data fusion in space robotics
Shashank Govinderaj, Jeremi Gancet, Mark Post, Raúl Domínguez, Fabrice Souvannavong, Simon Lacroix, Michal Smisek, Javier Hidalgo-Carrio, Bilal Wehbe, Alexander Fabisch, Andrea De Maio, Nassir Oumer, Vincent Bissonnette, Zoltan-Csaba Marton, Sandeep Kottath, Christian Nissler, Xiu Yan, Rudolph Triebel, Francesco Nuzzolo
In Proceedings of ASTRA 2017, ESA-ESTEC, (ASTRA-2017), 20.6.-22.6.2017, Leiden, ., 2017.

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