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GLOBAL WATCH MISSION REPORT

Mechatronics in Russia:the story so far

NOVEMBER 2006

Global Watch Missions

DTI Global Watch Missions have enabled smallgroups of UK experts to visit leading overseastechnology organisations to learn vital lessons aboutinnovation and its implementation, of benefit to entireindustries and individual organisations.

By stimulating debate and informing industrialthinking and action, missions have offered uniqueopportunities for fast-tracking technology transfer,sharing deployment know-how, explaining newindustry infrastructures and policies, and developingrelationships and collaborations.

Disclaimer

This report represents the findings of a missionorganised by De Montfort University with the supportof DTI. Views expressed reflect a consensus reachedby the members of the mission team and do notnecessarily reflect those of the organisations towhich the mission members belong, De MontfortUniversity, Pera or DTI.

Comments attributed to organisations visited duringthis mission were those expressed by personnelinterviewed and should not be taken as those of theorganisation as a whole.

Whilst every effort has been made to ensure that theinformation provided in this report is accurate and upto date, DTI accepts no responsibility whatsoever inrelation to this information. DTI shall not be liable forany loss of profits or contracts or any direct, indirect,special or consequential loss or damages whether incontract, tort or otherwise, arising out of or inconnection with your use of this information. Thisdisclaimer shall apply to the maximum extentpermissible by law.

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Mechatronics in Russia:the story so far

REPORT OF A DTI GLOBAL WATCH MISSION

NOVEMBER 2006

CONTENTS

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MECHATRONICS IN RUSSIA: THE STORY SO FAR – A MISSION TO RUSSIA

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3

1 INTRODUCTION 41.1 Background 41.2 Specific objectives 41.3 Benefits to the UK 41.4 The mission 51.5 The report 5

2 BACKGROUND: RUSSIAN 6SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

2.1 Introduction 62.2 Structure of Russian R&D of 6

robotics and mechatronics2.3 Higher education sector 62.4 State Academy of Sciences 72.5 State Research Centers 72.6 Large Russian state companies 82.7 Small private companies 82.8 Framework for collaboration 9

3 MECHATRONICS: ROBOTICS 11TECHNOLOGY

3.1 Introduction 113.2 Overview 113.3 Industrial robotics and manipulators 123.4 Wheeled and tracked robots 153.5 Climbing and walking robots 173.6 Flying and swimming robots 19

4 MECHATRONICS – DEFENCE 20AND AEROSPACE SECTORS

4.1 Introduction 204.2 Overview 204.3 Application to homeland security 214.4 Microsensors 244.5 Unmanned aerial vehicles 254.6 Night vision 254.7 Vibration modelling and 26

aerodynamic testing

5 MECHATRONICS – INDUSTRIAL 27APPLICATIONS

5.1 Introduction 275.2 Applications where uniqueness or 27

advanced performance is claimed 5.3 Development projects which may 28

lead to uniqueness5.4 Technologies which appear to be 29

fully developed and which may offercost or capability advantage comparedto those available in the UK market

6 CONCLUSIONS 32

APPENDICES 34A Mission team details 34B Host organisation details 38C Itinerary 42D One-day workshop 43E Scientific practice workshop 44F List of exhibits 45G Glossary 47H Acknowledgments 49

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Russia’s traditional strengths in aerospace,defence and specialist machinery areincreasingly exploiting mechatronics designapproaches, combining mechanical devices withelectronics and software control systems. Arecent DTI Global Watch Mission to Moscowand St Petersburg explored some of the latestdevelopments.

Mechatronics is used extensively in robotics,aircraft and other systems that require intelligentmechanical elements. The mission, co-ordinatedby the Mechatronics Research Centre at DeMontfort University (DMU), focused on aerospaceand defence and specialist technologies related toindustries such as oil and gas.

In Moscow the team attended a speciallyorganised workshop at the Moscow StateTechnological University ‘Stankin’ (MSTU‘Stankin’) where research organisations andcompanies presented their mechatronicsprogrammes and capabilities. Many weredeveloping devices for inspection of oil and gaspipelines, medical uses and manufacturing.Research & Manufacturing Corporation TARIS, aprogressive small company that makes roboticsystems for sewer, water main and pipelineinspection, oil well visual inspection and otherapplications was also visited.

At Bauman Moscow State Technical University(Bauman MSTU), which has a long history ofcollaboration with DMU, researchers aredeveloping robots for emergency applicationssuch as bomb disposal, nuclear incidents etc.They are also working on micro gyroscopesand accelerometers for autonomous deviceseg unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

The Technical University, Moscow State Instituteof Radiotechnics Electronics and Automatics,

was visited and some innovative techniques foreducation in mechatronics and robotics wereseen as well as innovative work on autonomouscontrol systems for mobile robots.

The State Academy of Sciences (SAS) Institutefor Problems in Mechanics, Laboratory ofRobotics and Mechatronics is working withother institutes to develop ‘gecko’ robots thatuse nano-fibres to provide ‘stickiness’ to walkon walls and ceilings. New types of movementare being explored to enable them to operate inawkward spaces.

In St Petersburg the team visited the RussianState Scientific Center for Robotics andTechnical Cybernetics, which developed roboticssystems for the Russian space programme. Thecentre is working with St Petersburg StatePolytechnic University (SPbSPU) to educate anew generation of robotics and mechatronicsengineers. Projects include UAVs and roboticsnakes made of modular elements that cansimulate a real snake’s movements.

A second workshop at SPbSPU involved severaluniversities and research institutes. Interestingapplications included large mechatronic figures(or animatronics) and automated stage sets fortheatres, including the Marynsky Theatre, homeof the Kirov Ballet.

The mission presented an excellent opportunityfor the delegation to assess mechatronicstechnologies in Russian research institutes anduniversities across a range of applications and toidentify leading edge technologies that couldfind future applications in UK industry. It wasnot possible to assess mechatronics in largeaerospace and defence companies as accesswas not achieved despite assistance from theRussian Ministry of Industry and Energy.

1.1 Background

The Global Watch Service aims to monitoroverseas science and technologydevelopments in specialist domains with aview to enhancing the UK’s capability andcompetitiveness through co-operation andpartnership. Russia has long been recognisedas having a world-class research capability inscience and technology. Political andeconomic developments since the 1990smean much of this knowledge base is nowpotentially accessible to UK organisations.This mission to Russia aimed to review thestate of the art in mechatronics and explore arange of science and technology issuesrelated to the development of mechatronicstechnologies, and where appropriate look toestablish collaborative links. Areas of interestincluded novel aerospace and defencetechnologies, specialised machinerytechnologies and robotics which aligned wellwith several of the declared Russian scienceand technology innovation priority areas,namely; aviation and space technologies;novel weapons, military; and specialisedmachinery and production technologies.

1.2 Specific objectives

The mission was established to:

• Study the mechatronics technologies, skillsand capabilities underpinning the Russiascience and technology base in theproposed sectors.

• Gain a better insight into the current stateof the art and future developments ofthese mechatronics technologies.

• Identify suitable mechatronics technologiesfor potential transfer to the UK, or forcross-fertilisation between sectors.

• Actively seek opportunities to establishcollaborative links with the Russianorganisations.

Other more general objectives included to:

• Share the lessons learnt and explore arange of technological and business issuespertinent to mechatronics applications inthe proposed sectors.

• Identify any regulations and policy aspectsgoverning the development ofmechatronics in Russia and their influenceon collaboration between the twocountries.

• Disseminate the mission findings and toimprove the flow and quality of informationto the UK’s industrial and academiccommunities.

1.3 Benefits to the UK

As the UK suffers from increased shortagesof scientists and engineers, and in order tomaintain the excellence of our science base,we must now seek greater levels ofinternational collaboration. Russia remains anarea of very considerable potential that couldbe better exploited through enhanced accessto their technology market place.

The mission will benefit UK industry byoffering opportunities to access a range ofhigh quality intellectual property in keycommercial domains for our economy. Thefindings and knowledge gained from themission will help identify sources oftechnology that will complement andenhance the UK’s activities in these areas, aswell as fostering potential collaborativeresearch and development betweenorganisations from both countries.

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1 INTRODUCTION

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In terms of market potential, Russia has thethird highest predicted economic growth afterChina and India, which presents considerableopportunities for UK organisations to supplyestablished and new products and services tothem.

1.4 The mission

The mission took place from 13-17 November2006 and the delegation visited eightorganisations in Moscow and two in StPetersburg. The intensive programme wasorganised as a series of visits and includedtwo workshops presenting the opportunity forthe mission team to meet with additionalrepresentatives of organisations that couldnot feature in the visit programme because oftime restrictions. The mission team also hadthe opportunity to meet a number of otherRussian organisations in a reception hosted atthe British Embassy. The aim was to providethe delegation with an opportunity to meet asmany of the key stakeholders in the Russianmechatronics community as possible in thelimited time available.

The mission team comprised:

• Bob Chesterfield, MBDA UK• Jim Thomson, Doosan Babcock• Pete Loftus, Rolls-Royce• Geoff Pegman, RURobots• Philip Moore, DMU• Seng Chong, DMU• Juan Matthews, DTI Global Watch Service

1.5 The report

This report has been structured bycategorising the information based ondifferent application areas of mechatronics. A specialist technology section focuses onrobotics technology, as this topic was astrong theme in many of the visitsundertaken. The origin of the informationsupplied is indicated wherever possible.

Exhibit 1.1 The mission members in Moscow. L to R: Seng Chong, Ekaterina Yudina (interpreter), Bob Chesterfield, Geoff Pegman, Pete Loftus, Philip Moore, Jim Thomson, Juan Matthews

2.1 Introduction

Russian science and technology is structuredquite differently to that in the UK. This structurehas a strong base of institutional research andan emerging university sector. These structuresactually stem from before the Soviet Unionwhen the SAS created research institutesseparately from the universities. During Soviettimes a new set of applied research instituteswas formed by Ministries and StateCommittees to support state industry. Now, 15years after the collapse of the Soviet Union,this large and under-funded structure isundergoing a period of rationalisation.

2.2 Structure of Russian R&D of

robotics and mechatronics

The diagram below gives some examplesrelevant to robotic and mechatronics of how

education, research, development, design andmanufacture are structured. This structurewas well developed in the Soviet Union aspart of the centrally planned economy. Inmany industrial sectors this has beendisrupted by the disastrous privatisations inthe Yeltsin era. Not all industry was privatised,however, and strategic industries related todefence and aerospace remain publiclyowned. Much of Russia’s key natural resourceindustries also have a large public componentand the recent purchase of Yukos productionhas moved a major portion of the oil industryback into public ownership. This means thatfor mechatronics and robotics the linksbetween academic and publicly fundedresearch with industry remain intact.

2.3 Higher education sector

Russia’s higher education sector remains

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2 BACKGROUND: RUSSIAN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Exhibit 2.1 Structure of Russian R&D of robotics and mechatronics (examples)

Saint PetersburgState Polytechnical

University

Bauman MoscowState Technical

University

Moscow Institute ofRadiotechnology, Electronics

and Automation

Moscow StateTechnological

University ‘Stankin’

Basic research

Education

SAS Institute ofControl Sciences

SAS Institute ofMachine Studies Institute of High

Technologies andExperimental

Machine-BuildingKurchatov Center

Russian StateScientificCenter for

Robotics andTechnical

Cybernetics

SAS MechanicalEngineering Research

Institute

Appliedresearch

Central ResearchInstitute for

Machine Building

National ResearchInstitute for Aviation

Central Scientific andResearch Institute

‘Elektropribor’

Design bureauDesign Bureau ofSpecial Machine

Building

SukhoiDesignBureau

Central DesignBureau for

Machine Building

Almaz CentralMarine Design

Bureau

Smallcompanies

Granit-7 Corp State ProductionCenter Geophysika

Research & ManufacturingCorporation TARIS

ServotechnicaLtd

SiberiaMechatronics Ltd

End users(often state

owned)

SpaceEnergia

KhrunichevProgress

AviationTupolev IIyshin MiG

NuclearMayak

RosatomstrolRosenergoatom

Natural resourcesGazprom Rosneft

Norilsk Nickel

ManufacturingAvtovaz

TitanUral Tool Plant

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strong and about 50% of Russian youngpeople go to just over 1,000 Russian highereducation institutions. The number of scienceand engineering graduates per year iscurrently about 350,000 and most of thesewill have completed six year specialist’s ormaster’s degrees. Russian higher education isvery broad and the mathematical training isexcellent. Post-graduate work is currentlybuoyant and growing at about 10% a year,with about 7,500 students per yearcompleting science and engineering PhDlevel qualifications. The best of these comefrom the 200 or so state universities andstate technical universities. The missionvisited three of the six highest rankedtechnical universities in Russia – BaumanMSTU that is strongly linked with aerospace,MSTU ‘Stankin’ which historically is linkedwith machining (stankom in Russian meansmachine tool) and SPbSPU. The fourthuniversity visited, Moscow State Institute ofRadiotechnics Electronics and Automatics(MIREA), is more vocationally oriented.

Traditionally universities in Russia have notbeen majorly concerned with research, andpostgraduate studies were carried out incollaboration with research institutes andindustry. This has now changed and a vibrantuniversity research sector has grown over thelast 15 years mainly as a way of increasingincome and the necessity of providing post-graduate projects when access to industryhas become more difficult. The mission teamwas pleased to find, at least in themechatronics area, university and industrycollaboration remains important, furthermorethe team saw evidence of independentuniversity research that has also helpedcreate new industry.

2.4 State Academy of Sciences

Basic research is carried out mainly by the464 institutes of the State Academy ofSciences (SAS). By its nature mechatronics isan applied subject but there is still major

activity in several engineering and controlsystem institutes and the mission saw someof the best examples in the three SASinstitutes visited. The three institutes werevery different in their outlook and conditionsbut all were involved in quite applied work interms of production of prototype and evenproduction equipment and software.

In September 2004 the Russian Ministry ofEducation of Science issued a concept paperrecommending a complete restructuring ofRussian science. At the moment there areover 5,000 organisations involved in researchand 1,800 of these receive some publicbudgetary support. The proposal was todouble public research expenditure (from thecurrent value of about £7 billion per year) butto concentrate this on a limited number ofinstitutes and to increase standards andaverage salaries. Many scientists have tomoonlight by working in private companies inorder to survive and the Russian Governmentwould like to have professional researchers,who would concentrate on generating theknowledge base required to expand theeconomy. There was a strong reaction tothese proposals from the SAS and it has takentwo years for the situation to be resolved. On6 December 2006 a new law was passed totransfer control of the SAS to government.Approximately 200 institutes will receivefunding for basic research and the rest witheither work on a customer-contractorrelationship with industry; will be privatisedand have to compete for research; merge; orclose. New agencies (reporting to the Ministryof Education and Science) for science andinnovation, and basic research will manage thechanges. University research structures will beformalised and some academic researchinstitutes may be transferred to universities.

2.5 State Research Centers

In addition to SAS institutes there are 58State Research Centers that are fundedseparately as centres of excellence. For

mechatronics and robotics there are threethat stand out – the Russian State ScientificCenter for Robotics and Technical Cybernetics(RTC) in St Petersburg, which the missionvisited, the Kurchatov Research Center, whichhas a special Institute for High Technologiesand Special Machine Building that hasadvanced robotics capabilities, and theCentral Research Center ‘Elektropribor,’ thatdesigns advanced electronic instrumentationfor navigation and control of missiles, spacevehicles, aircraft and ships. Moving towardsdevelopment of systems directly for industrythere are specialist research institutes anddesign bureaux funded by the ministries (ormore correctly agencies for particularindustries like RosCosmos for space,RosAtom for nuclear power and RosProm fordefence and other industry). Getting accessto these organisations, like the NationalResearch Institute for Aviation, the CentralResearch Institute for Machine Building andthe Design Bureau for Special MachineBuilding of RosCosmos and the CentralDesign Bureau for Machine Building ofRosAtom, proved difficult so an assessmentof their scientific potential was not possible.

2.6 Large Russian state companies

The large Russian state companies likeaircraft companies, space launcher andspace craft constructors and weaponssystem manufacturers are large verticallyintegrated groups with a lot of their ownR&D, design and experimental testingcapabilities. They still also rely on technologyinput from universities, R&D institutes anddesign bureaux and also source technologyfrom outside Russia. However, when theywere approached through the RussianMinistry of Industry and Energy they werefound not to be interested in direct co-operation on knowledge transfer and so itwas difficult to asses their capabilities in the

robotics and mechatronics area. Thissituation has been found in other technologyareas. There is, however, no doubt about thesuccess of the Russian aerospace anddefence industries. RosCosmos has set up aCenter for Transfer of Technology and this ismainly directed at using IP and skills fromRussia’s space industry in other industrialsectors. The nuclear sector is a special caseas there is a range of non-proliferationprogrammes to help with the safe control ofnuclear materials, the decommissioning ofweapons and submarines, and thediversification of nuclear scientists into otherindustries. DTI is very active in this area aspart of the G8 Global Partnership forreduction of weapons of mass destruction.1

Through one of these programmes, the DTIClosed Nuclear Cities Partnership,2 someskills in the area of mechatronics at aRussian nuclear weapons design andmanufacturing site have already be used in aproject with a UK company for a healthcareapplication.

The Russian Government is now reviewingthe status of the state companies. It isexpected that over the next three years manyof them will be partly or wholly privatised –not by issuing share vouchers to staff, as wasdone disastrously by Yeltsin, but by floating onthe Russian and foreign stock markets. Somesmaller companies may be sold. We hopethis will mean that technology co-operationwill become easier.

2.7 Small private companies

Most encouragingly the mission found anumber of small private companies, spun outfrom universities and research institutes thatwere active in mechatronics and robotics. Adriving force for this is the growth of the oiland gas industry over the past seven years andthe demand for equipment for inspection and

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1 www.dti.gov.uk/energy/environment/soviet-nuclear-legacy/programme-portfolio/page13298.html

2 www.cncp.ru

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repair of pipelines. Private companies are nowalso involved in nuclear, security, entertainmentand medical applications of mechatronicsystems. Most of these companies werecreated either during perestroika at the end ofthe Soviet period or soon after the collapse ofthe Soviet Union. During these periods a largenumber of companies was created afterrelaxation of the constraints on privateenterprise. The ones that have survived havedone so after a series of economic crises – the last one being in 1998 when the Roubledevalued. The companies were also createdwith little access to investment capital andhave grown largely using revenue.

2.8 Framework for collaboration

Russia has participated in the EuropeanFramework Programmes (FP) since FP5.Russian allocations for FP5 and FP6 were notfully subscribed, probably due to difficulties inidentifying partners. Collaboration websiteshave not yet been developed for FP7 but youcan use the partner search facilities createdfor FP5 and FP6 by the Russian Center forScience Research and Statistics.3 Nationalcontact points have been established forsome key EU programmes areas.

The reduction in funding for science in theearly 1990s led to concerns that scientistswith military skills would emigrate tocountries where their knowledge would be athreat to security. In response the EU and theUSA set up a number of programmes tosupport research. The most important ofthese are the International Association for Co-operation between Scientists of the NewlyIndependent States (INTAS)4 and the

International Science and Technology Center(ISTC).5 INTAS provides research grants forcollaborations with European countries andcan also assist with involvement in EU FPs.ISTC has substantially funded research butalso allows companies in donor states tocarry out very cost-effective research inRussia through its partner programme.

Limited assistance in contacting Russian R&Dorganisations can be obtained through theScience Section of the British Embassy inMoscow.6 Local support in Russia can also beobtained from Innovation and TechnologyCenters that have been established in mostregions where there is a significant sciencebase. As Russia is such a large country andhas such a diverse science activity theForeign & Commonwealth Office (FCO)Global Opportunity Fund recently decided tosupport the formation of a British-RussianInnovation Network,7 which links to theRussian Technology Transfer Network8 thatconnects to a large number of innovationstructures in Russia. These networks can helpfind partners and make contact with localinnovation infrastructure in Russian regions.

The Knowledge Transfer Networks (KTN)9 willin future have a remit to review overseastechnology and make appropriate links. Forother DTI programmes to support innovationand knowledge transfer see the DTIinnovation webpages.10 Assistance in enteringthe Russian market can be obtained from UKTrade & Investment (UKTI),11 that has localstaff in the Embassy in Moscow and in theConsulates General in St Petersburg andEkaterinburg, who can find business partnersand carry out market surveys. New services

3 www.fp5.csrs.ru, www.fp6.csrs.ru

4 www.intas.be

5 www.istc.ru

6 www.britemb.msk.ru

7 Russian Site www.brin-net.ru, English site www.brin.org.uk

8 www.rttn.ru

9 http://ktn.globalwatchonline.com/epicentric_portal/site/KTN/menuitem.f981218737f76ebc0a255921eb3e8a0c/

10 www.dti.gov.uk/innovation/index.html

11 www.uktradeinvest.gov.uk

are soon to be announced by UKTI for specificassistance to companies working intechnology areas for the high growth marketsthat include Russia.

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3.1 Introduction

Most of the mission visits undertaken inMoscow and St Petersburg featuredexamples of robotics technology. This isunsurprising as robotics is a prime example of mechatronics in a relatively easilyaccessible form and, in the case ofeducational institutions, with much appeal tostudents. Nevertheless it was understood bythe mission team that what was viewed wasmerely a selection of the available technologyand by no means a comprehensive overview.It was also the case that the length of timeavailable for each visit did not permit an in-depth review of the technologies. Howeverthis latter point was offset somewhat by theuseful presentations and follow-up materialreceived at most venues.

Many of the application drivers for roboticsare familiar to those in the UK. These includedefence, security, medical and healthcare,industrial automation and nuclear clean-up.Less significant application drivers that werestill in evidence included industrial inspection(including utilities), food manufacture,underwater robots and space robots,although the latter was probably under-represented in what was shown versus theknown position of Russia in this area. Perhapssurprisingly, there was little evidence of robotassistants within the home, particularlyassistance for the elderly, being an applicationdriver despite this being a growing area ofinterest within Europe and most of the rest of the world. Those few applications aimed atthe home setting seemed mainly to comeunder the classification of edutainment(educational entertainment) devices.

3.2 Overview

Despite the high profile, as its most basic arobot is simply a device to deliver a tool or asensor to a position to carry out a task. Thepart that makes it a robot is that it eithermust be reprogrammable or must be capableof adapting to its environment or the task.This very broad description leads to a widerange of machines that can be considered tobe robotic and, largely, the full gamut ofpossibilities were on display during the visitswith perhaps the only notable exceptionbeing the category of cognitive robots, ierobots with the ability to perceive theirenvironment and plan strategic actionautonomously. Whether this is because suchresearch is not a major activity in Russia, orwhether these simply were not at theinstitutes visited or not presented, the teamdoes not know. It may be that as the subjectof the mission was mechatronics this mayhave swayed the hosts towards apresentation of more electromechanicalsystems.

Overall a common theme that came throughnearly all of the presentations was a goodcompetence in sound engineering principlesleading to the development of robustequipment. The major impression left wasthat of the very practical nature of many ofthe systems and demonstrations at theuniversities and institutes. This was typifiedby Bauman MSTU which took on the designand assembly of bomb disposal robots forfield use by the military. Many of theinstitutes and universities had gained directexperience in the production of robust robotsafter Chernobyl, which seems to have had asimilar catalytic effect on field roboticscapability as Three Mile Island did in the USA.

3 MECHATRONICS: ROBOTICS TECHNOLOGY

Although many of the systems did not showparticular novelty over and above the systemsavailable in the West, this robustness,combined with the potential for cost-effectivesupply makes many of the systems ofpotential interest to UK companies andorganisations.

Another strong capability which emerged as acommon theme was a competence in controlengineering and particularly in algebraiccontrol methods. This draws upon a strongtradition within Russian science but also alegacy from previously not being able toaccess high power computing equipment.This could be of relevance once more asdemands for mobile robotics and powerefficient equipment may be met with moreefficient algorithms allowing lower processingcapacity to be used. However, it alsoappeared that this competency was moreevident within the established areas ofresearch than among some of the newerareas which, with the access to more moderncomputing, seemed to also be movingtowards numerical methods.

A final general theme of the robotics,although not central to this section, is thatseveral of the robotic platforms were used fordeploying novel sensor systems that greatlyenhanced the capability of the robot system.For instance two institutes used robots todeploy high performance radiation detectors.One such system was the radiation detectorfrom the Russian State Scientific Center forRobotics and Technical Cybernetics (RTC)which has a 360º, continuous monitoringcapability. This then allows a semi-autonomous mobile robot to outperformother robots in a task of finding hiddenradiation sources.

Given the range of robotic systems on displayit is useful to sub-categorise them accordingto their basic platform, ie:

• Industrial robotics and manipulators

• Wheeled and tracked robots• Climbing and walking robots• Flying and swimming robots

3.3 Industrial robotics and

manipulators

In common with the UK, Russia is not aleading producer of industrial robots.Nevertheless, technology R&D in the area ofmanipulation and industrial robotics seemedto be strong from the evidence shown to themission team. One of the strong themes inthis area was support for education inindustrial robotics. In this area MIREAdemonstrated two interesting systems. Thefirst was a system of small scale modularindustrial robotic (Exhibit 3.1) and associatedcomponents that could be assembled by thestudents in learning about the elements offlexible manufacture. Although simple indesign and relatively slow in operation (duemainly to high gearing) it was designed to berelatively inexpensive to manufacture andthus could be made available to manystudents to carry out experiments. Thisequipment was also seen on other site visitsin both Moscow and St Petersburg and hasapparently been sold to some 20 teachinguniversities and institutes.

Exhibit 3.1 Modular robotics for teaching

Linked to this modular physical system is aweb-based system for remote teaching thatalso features simulation of the roboticmodules, remote programming and remoteoperation. Thus the student can both learnabout programming the robot system with

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online teaching and help pages, and test theresulting code without needing significantaccess to the lab.

Although the web instructions were inRussian, the institute offered to translate the pages to English and that these and themodular robotic kit could be made available to UK institutions.

With regard to industrial applications MIREAalso demonstrated a manipulator armdeveloped at the institute that had thecapability of lifting a payload equivalent to its own mass. However, this was achievedthrough the use of high gearing and relativelyslow speeds, rather than any innovativedesign approaches.

The RTC at St Petersburg showed a generalpurpose (universal) manipulator (Exhibit 3.2)capable of both automatic and tele-operatedcontrol and aimed particularly at hazardousenvironments. This manipulator was sixdegrees of freedom (DoF) with a reach of justover 2 m and a mass of 55 kg and featured adistributed control system based on controllerarea network bus (CANbus). This latter featurewould seem to rule out this arm for use inhigh-radiation nuclear environments butcompared to, say, standard security

manipulators it would seem to have muchgreater dexterity and range of control.

RTC also gave details of a relocatablemanipulator (Exhibit 3.3), similar in concept tomanipulators being developed by NASA andEuropean Space Agency (ESA) for spacestation maintenance. The manipulator iscapable of attaching itself at either end to aspecial fixture. With a series of these fixturesthe manipulator could relocate its positioncarrying out tasks with the ‘free’ end usingend effectors.

Another space application manipulator is thatof a long reach manipulator for use on anorbital space station (Exhibit 3.4). This workwas presented by St Petersburg Institute forInformatics and Automation of the RussianAcademy of Sciences (SPIIRAS) that hadundertaken work related to the controlsystem for this arm.

On the medical front, several presentationswere given of both current and proposedExhibit 3.2 RTC universal manipulator

Exhibit 3.3 RTCrelocatablemanipulator

systems, including a neurosurgery robot fromSPIIRAS. Moscow State Industrial Universityshowed the use of a modified conventionalindustrial robot for both massage andrehabilitation. The modifications allowed theuse of force control methodology, althoughthe aspects relating to patient safety werenot entirely clear.

MSTU ‘Stankin’ has been involved with theoptimisation of parallel mechanism robots andmachine tools including a German hexapodmachining system and one novel machiningcentre featuring a scissor actuation thatdelivers both high forces and stiffness.

MSTU ‘Stankin’ is also involved incollaboration with KUKA Roboter that hasseen the creation of a Center for RoboticsTechnology at MSTU ‘Stankin’ featuringseveral of the latest KUKA industrial robots.

As well as the various physical systems therewas, as would be expected, much work beingundertaken in advanced control methods. Ofparticular note was one system at MIREA thatwas a combined hardware and software testbed for the development and evaluation ofcontrol schemes for drive systems. Thehardware can be configured with differing loadcharacteristics and the software assists withthe tuning and derivation of optimum controlparameters for a variety of control approachesincluding proportional-integral-derivative (PID),adaptive, fuzzy and neural controllers. Thesystem also assists the comparison of thevarious control approaches in order todetermine the optimal technique for the loadcharacteristics.

Also at MIREA, reference was made todynamic decoupling of multiple linkmechatronic systems (as in serialmanipulators) using existing computinghardware (PCs) and which did not require highprocessing requirements. While this was notdemonstrated, the potential here is significantand may warrant further investigation.

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Exhibit 3.4 Orbital space station manipulator

Exhibit 3.5 Robotic massage system Exhibit 3.6 Robotic physiotherapy

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3.4 Wheeled and tracked robots

The majority of applications for ground-basedmobile robots that were shown to themission team were for nuclear and securityuses. Indeed, the security needed to detectand neutralise threats containing nuclearisotopes meant that many of therequirements for these two applications were

very similar. BothRosAtom and RTC haddedicated mobileplatforms for thedetection and removalof gamma radiationsources. Both systems

feature radiation detectorsthat could both detect the direction

of the source and the levels of theenergy emissions across a spectrum,

allowing remote isotope identification. TheRosAtom system features a tracked vehiclewith a steerable gamma detector and amanipulator arm for the acquisition anddisposal of the detected threat. It isunderstood that the control mode of thevehicle is teleoperation.

The RTC system (the RTC-03) is a wheeledvehicle with the option of either four or sixwheels. It carried a fixed gamma detectorwith a 360º field of view with, it is believed,24 separate directional detection cells. It alsocarries a manipulator for dealing with thethreat and features tele-operation control but

Exhibit 3.7 Scissor action parallelmechanism machine

Exhibit 3.8 The KUKA industrial robots displayed Exhibit 3.9 RosAtom gamma detection robot

is believed to also feature a semi-autonomouscontrol mode. In a comparative test thissystem was able to detect and retrieve anisotope source in an overgrown open areawithin 12 minutes while a US system failed inthe task after taking 90 minutes. A furtherradiation detection vehicle is also beingmanufactured at Bauman MSTU.

One notable feature of the robots seen at theuniversities and institutes was the robustnessand ruggedness of the systems. While thesystems mentioned above were fielddeployable, perhaps most significant in thisarea was the work at Bauman MSTU wherefully robust bomb disposal robots weredesigned, assembled and tested. Only theparts manufacture was outsourced toindustry.

The Technological Design Bureau of AppliedRobot Technology has put together at least 11different robot types since 2000, ranging

from 20 kg to 19 tonnes. The main bombdisposal robot is the MRK-27 (Exhibit 3.10).This robot, like several others, has undergonefull environmental testing for temperature,humidity and vibration, and carries qualitycertification. This robot has also undergonetesting involving explosive damageassessments and has withstood a blast of600 g of TNT at 0.5 m and remainedfunctional.

As well as the robots, Bauman MSTU alsoundertakes development of various pieces ofancillary equipment including a hydro-destroyer capable of destroying a mine buriedto a depth of 100 mm in soil.

On the commercial front the mission teamvisited TARIS which develops, manufacturesand deploys mobile robots for pipelineinspection. As with many of the systemsviewed in Russia, these systems were notparticularly sophisticated from a control pointof view, but were rugged, well built and mostlikely more cost-effective than comparablesystem offerings from Europe or the USA. Aswell as the mobile platforms, TARIS designsand builds the inspection heads, whichfeature high resolution cameras and highintensity LED illumination. The robotsmanufactured by TARIS are designed for pipediameters from 90 mm to 1,800 mm and arein active use in many Russian cities.

16


Exhibit 3.10 RTC gamma detection robot

Exhibit 3.11MRK-27 bombdisposal robot

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The pipeline robots are of a sealedconstruction and the smaller vehicles arearticulated to facilitate entry through existingentry-ways with 90º bends. As well asinspection, some of the robots can be fittedwith cutting and drilling equipment toundertake modifications inside the pipe.

Many other mobile robots were shown and/ordemonstrated to the mission team rangingfrom toy systems to large constructionvehicles. Work on the control of mobilerobots was also in evidence with severaluniversities have variation of simultaneouslocalisation and mapping (SLAM). Ofparticular note was a general purpose controlboard developed by MIREA which was used

as the basis for providing control to smallground, flying (both fixed wing and helicopter)and underwater robots. The control boardalong with a common set of tools allows therapid development of intelligent controlsystems for a wide range of applications.

Also of note were various operator consolesfeaturing in-house developed virtual realitydisplays, which were particularly prevalent onhazardous environment robots.

3.5 Climbing and walking robots

Although less common than the mobilerobots, several universities were involvedwith climbing and walking robots. Ofparticular note in this area was the workundertake at the SAS Institute for Problems inMechanics (IPM). The work here had involveddeveloping several wall climbing robots thathad been demonstrated both in the lab and inpractical applications.

One particular robot was a relocatablemanipulator, of similar concept to the RTCdevice. However, this robot did not need fixedattachment points and used vacuum grippersfor attachment, allowing it to walk alongfloors and climb walls (Exhibit 3.14). Thisability to affix one base and then move itsentire body to fix the other base gives thisrobot some unique walking characteristics.

Another notable system at IPM was a pipecrawling robot for very small diameter pipes.These devices are pneumatically actuated pipecrawlers for pipes with an internal diameter ofaround 1 cm. The actuation segments arequite short (again typically around 1 cm) andby linking several of these with flexibleconnections it is possible to get the robot totraverse pipes with quite a tight radius ofcurvature. Both unidirectional and bidirectionalversions of these small pipe crawlers hadbeen manufactured. These would seem thegood basis for a pipework inspection robot insystems such as boiler pipes.

Exhibit 3.12 TARIS pipeline robots

Exhibit 3.13 Generic mobile vehicle control board

A different kind of crawling is involved withthe snake robots developed at RTC. This is a16-joint, articulated robot with no fixed base.Movement is achieved through the co-ordinated motion of all joints. As well as the

development of the physical system, workhas been undertaken on the kinematics anddynamics of ‘limbless’ motion and from therethe development of control schemes toproduce the various schemes of locomotion

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Exhibit 3.14 IPM climbing robots

Exhibit 3.15 IPM relocatable manipulator Exhibit 3.18 ARNE 02 humanoid robot

Exhibit 3.17 RTC snake robot

Exhibit 3.16 Small pipe robots

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that are realisable with such a robot, egconcertina propulsion and sidewinding.

Other notable walking systems include theproject ARNE humanoid robot from SPIIRAS.This is a 23 DoF humanoid that weighsaround 60 kg and is 1.23 m tall.

Finally in this section, it is worth noting thatrobotics is making a contribution to theperforming arts in Russia. SPbSPU hasdeveloped a number of very large ‘robots’ forstage productions that, although controlledwith external wires, have a robotic kinematicstructure. These include two 5.2 m high metalrobots for the play ‘BOLT’.

3.6 Flying and swimming robots

Although several references were made toflying and swimming robots, no systemswere demonstrated to the mission team.Much of the work in this area by theinstitutions visited involved development of

control systems, rather than physical systemsand much of this appears to have beendemonstrated primarily in simulation. Ofparticular note here is the work MIREA hasundertaken with the SAS OceanologyInstitute in equipping the small GNOM tele-operated underwater vehicles with a controlsystem to allow semi-autonomous operation.These Russian-built vehicles areapproximately 30 cm long and would besuitable for small entry inspection tasks,particularly when upgraded for semi-autonomous operation.

Exhibit 3.20 GNOM Micro

Exhibit 3.19 Performance robots for the play ‘BOLT’

4.1 Introduction

The initial promise of the visits planned forthe mission that included visits to aircraftmanufacturers and centres of design andmachine building unfortunately could not bemet. Therefore, it was not possible to assessthe extent of the adoption of mechatronics inthese mainstream areas of the Russiandefence and aerospace sectors. However, thevisits to the institutes did offer an insight intodevelopments past and present in defenceand aerospace related areas.

Much of the defence technology presentedwas at the macro end of the scale in the formmainly of semi-autonomous wheeled andtracked robots developed for Russia’sRosAtom, Ministry for Emergency Situationsand their security services. There wastechnology presented in the micro region inthe form of silicon structure microsensors, ie inertial device gyros, accelerometers,pressure transducers etc, which can ultimatelybe configured into systems. An example isInertial Navigation Systems (INS) marketed bysuch companies as Gyrooptica Ltd.

Much of the technology presented directlyrelated to aerospace was in the form ofunmanned vehicle control and navigationsystems. Some of the enabling technologieswere also presented which includemicrosensors, runway inspection systems, nightvision systems, space vehicle vibration modellingand sensors for aerodynamic testing etc.

Research in the areas of non-wheeled/trackedrobotics was in evidence at several institutesvisited. At a research level, work associatedwith ‘limbless movement’, replication ofsnake locomotion, was being pursued which

seemed to parallel work being doneelsewhere in the world judging by thepresentations given. At the R&D level, workwas evident with climbing robots. Much ofthe technology shown seemed to be matureand was based on the use of a vacuum toprovide the grip to climb. There was,however, one exception with an approach thatreplicated the action of the soles of the feetand underside of the toes of the gecko usingmicro-fibres to grip the surface.

R&D into air vehicle control was alsoapparent. One example of research intoautonomous navigation was shown whichwas based upon multiple sensors and a‘learning’ capability that was aimed atestablishing a capability to fly challengingmissions through valleys and mountainpasses. The same system was also aimed atbeing able to make autonomous take-offs andlandings. An example of development thatwas declared as relevant to autonomousflight was a system to measure the‘cohesiveness coefficient’ of runways todetermine braking limits along their length.This information would be transmitted to anincoming air vehicle as part of the data toestablish the landing profile to be met.

4.2 Overview

Since there were no visits to mainstreamdefence and aerospace sector organisationsin Russia, it is not possible to review thedepth of use or penetration into companiesand centres that form these sectors. The onlysignificant encounter with the mainstreamwas with Khrunichev Space Research andProduction Center and the Salyut ProductionPlant, although an engineer from Energiaattended the seminar at MSTU ‘Stankin’.

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4 MECHATRONICS – DEFENCE AND AEROSPACE SECTORS

21


Khrunichev Space Research and ProductionCenter constructed the Proton rocket that isRussia’s major lift launch vehicle. It wasquickly established that mechatronics was nota subject or a technology that featured in itsneeds for production.

This lack of use of mechatronics was furtherreinforced by Energia Russia’s other majorconstructor of rockets that also said itcurrently did not employ mechatronicssystems.

On the basis that no definitive comment canbe made on the use of mechatronics by thedefence and aerospace sectors per se, thereview now considers the subject fromseveral points that are broadly related.

4.3 Application to homeland security

The research institutes that the missionvisited most involved in this field are:

• Bauman MSTU• Russian State Scientific Center of Robotics

and Technical Cybernetics, St Petersburg

The R&D presented was predominantlyrelated to wheeled and tracked robots rangingin weight from 20 kg to 24 tonnes.

The bulk of this work undertaken by theseresearch institutes has been for RussianFederation Government – Ministry ofDefence, Federal Security Service (FSB),Ministry for Emergency Situations, InteriorMinistry and RosAtom.

From the material presented, the origin formuch of the development was the disaster atChernobyl for which machines were rapidlydeveloped from existing models. The majoractivity in this development was hardeningagainst the radioactive environment whichwas reported as being undertaken with theRussian Federal Nuclear Center (VNIIEF) atSarov.

Exhibit 4.1 shows the machines developed byBauman MSTU for operations at theChernobyl site; Models Mobil Ch-XV andMobil CH-XV-2, 1986 and 1987 respectively.

Under different circumstances the BaumanMSTU machine shown in Exhibit 4.2 wasused in 1997 to assist at an accident atVNIIEF, Sarov.Another example of a machine that has been

directly used in homeland security is themachine shown in Exhibit 4.3 developed byRTC.

The role of the machine was to search for andrecover a source of radiation that had beenburied in woodland in Grozny, ChechenRepublic in July 2000. Exhibit 4.4 shows thisoperation in progress.

Exhibit 4.1 Machines developed for operations at theChernobyl site

Exhibit 4.2 Machine used during 1997 accidentat the Russian Federal Nuclear Center

Since 2000 the machine has been evolved tothe standard shown in Exhibit 4.5.

The ionising source detector is configuredsuch that it searches in 12 segments of 30° inazimuth and of the order of 90° in elevationproviding the primary detection, ultimatelyhanding over to the other ‘vision’ systems topinpoint the object for retrieval and to controlthe tool deployed for recovery.

The ‘wireless’ communication is provided bytwo discrete links; one for the command andcontrol, and the other for the sensor data.Command communication is based on a UHFlink (430 MHz). An innovative idea is in thecommunication from items that may bedeployed as part of the ‘tool set’. Here the

additional item communicates back from the‘tool’ to the main onboard communicationsystem by means of WiFi as it was describedand the information is then relayed back tothe operator by means of the main UHF link.

In other applications machines of this typeare deployed in minesweeping and deminingroles and dealing with improvised explosivedevices. The MRK-47 machine from BaumanMSTU is shown in these roles in Exhibit 4.6using a combination of ground penetratingradar and a ‘shaped charge’ demining toolthat initiates burning of the explosive ratherthan detonating it.

The systems are proofed against explosivedamage. Typical tests involve investigating

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Exhibit 4.3 Mobile Robotic Complex RTC-03Razvedchik (Prospector)

Exhibit 4.4 Operation of the RTC-03 robot

Exhibit 4.5 Upgraded version of the RTC robot

23


blast/overpressure/fragment damage. Themission team was shown the results of a testagainst 600 g of TNT. Survival is against 5 gfragments at 800 m/s.

Another application mentioned by RTC wasthe potential role of robots in casualtyevacuation. The fact that the ‘vision system’elements can provide accurate location andranging and that the ‘grippers’ used arepressure sensitive means that the machinehas the potential to recover casualties fromhostile environments or locations.

A development pursued byBauman MSTU is systemagility, requiring thedevelopment of a wide rangeof configurations.

The MRK-26 shown in Exhibit4.7 was specifically designedfor RosAtom to enter nuclearpower stations with high, widebuilding thresholds.

The MRK-27VU shown inExhibit 4.8 was designed withgeometry changing axels toaccommodate the specificproblems of entering and

operating in buildings. A large number ofthese machines has been supplied to FSB,Ministry for Emergency Situations, InteriorMinistry and RosAtom.

Another area worthy of note is that of systempower. Most machines, especially small ones,tend to be powered down a cable carryingDC which necessarily limits the range ofoperation and risks snagging of cables overthe difficult terrains they have been designedto operate in. Later and larger machines fromRTC and Bauman MSTU carry batteries astheir power source. The typical duration ofthese machines is of the order of three to

four hours. The batteriesare standard lead-acidvehicle starting batteries,described by customers assimple and easilyreplaceable.

When asked aboutalternate sources of powerthe only trend commentedupon was the investigationof use of small internalcombustion engine dieselgenerator sets.

Exhibit 4.6 The MRK-47 machine from Bauman MSTU

Exhibit 4.7 MRK-26 designed for RosAtom to enter nuclear power stations

4.4 Microsensors

A number of references were made to thedevelopment of silicon micro-machinedsensors, which could be applicable for inertialnavigation, air data or aerodynamics researchapplications.

While not directly identified during the visit asbeing defence sector related, it is reasonableto make the connection between the materialshown and its general application in someareas of defence.

It was not clear if the material presented wasworld-class or world-leading. Indeed, a simpleinternet search shows many organisationspursuing micro-electro-mechanical systems(MEMS) – microsensors, smart matter/dust etc.

Both SPbSPU and Bauman MSTU presentedwork in the field of microsensors. SPbSPUpresented a variety of work on microsensorsand had applied this to aerodynamic probemanufacture. It presented inertialmicrosensors in terms of collaboration withGyrooptica to develop compact (assumed assuch though no dimensions were given)inertial navigation systems (INS) as shown inExhibit 4.9.

From the limited detail supplied, the onlydevice which appeared to have novelcapability was a very high sensitivity, lowfrequency response angular accelerometerpresented by Bauman MSTU, with the workundertaken by its Gyro and NavigationSystem Department. Images (see Exhibit4.10) were shown of elements produced.

Prof Konovalov inferred that low-cost small

24


Exhibit 4.8 MRK-27VU with geometry changing axelsfor entering and operating in buildings

Exhibit 4.9 Inertial microsensors for development ofcompact inertial navigation systems

Exhibit 4.10 Elements produced by Bauman MSTUGyro and Navigation System Department

25


navigation systems based on micro-technology, ie gyros and accelerometersdeveloped by his department, may besuitable for use in aircraft, helicopters andeven for a man-pack based system. Suchtechnology requires further enquiry.

The Bauman MSTU’s inertial sensorsappeared to be state-of-the-art. It hasdeployed extremely high sensitivity, lowfrequency (0.2 seconds of arc at sub Hzfrequencies) accelerometers in themonitoring of the response of buildings tosurrounding construction work and trafficflows. They have also used similar technologyto conduct gravitational surveys from aircraftreplacing two-year land-based surveys with atwo-hour survey, and to map the gravitationalinfluence of the passage of the moon on thephysical geography of the region. Resolutionsof the order of a few milli-G were mentioned.

4.5 Unmanned aerial vehicles

UAVs were mentioned on a number of thevisits. The presentation material given to theteam by the Russian State Scientific Centerof Robotic and Technical Cybernetics seemedmost extensive in terms of the scope of workon navigation, control and remote sensing byUAVs. The team also saw significant spacesystems activity, including development of agamma ray proximity sensor for spacecraftdocking and vehicle soft landing as well asspacecraft operational, navigation, and controlsystems. Exhibit 4.11 shows the only UAVproject described briefly during the visit andconsisted of the development of camera-based surveillance systems for UAVs.

A rich area for mechatronics that was notrevealed in any depth was that associatedwith unmanned vehicles – air, land and sea(underwater). There was a one-off (in passing)reference to hardware used in theirdevelopment; this was at SPbSPU in thecontext of ‘air velocity probes’ for micro air-vehicles. See Exhibit 4.12.

MIREA also described some student projectson the demonstration of UAV control systemsusing PC-based simulators. MIREA’sDepartment of Control Problems clearly hadsignificant work in the area of intelligentonboard control systems, listing UAV,underwater vehicles and wheeled robots asplatform areas. However, the interfacing ofthe intelligent system output to the array ofcontrol devices that these platforms mustfeature was not mentioned.

4.6 Night vision

Bauman MSTU described night visionsystems based on composite infrared andimage intensified visible images. The highgain, low noise image intensifier tubes weredesigned in house. The team has beenworking with a western luxury car maker todevelop the systems for automotive use andshowed helmets with the technology builtincorporated in place of a visor.

Exhibit 4.11Camera-basedsurveillancesystems for UAVs

Exhibit 4.12 ‘Air velocity probes’ for micro air-vehicles

4.7 Vibration modelling and

aerodynamic testing

The SAS Institute of Control Sciencesdescribed space vehicle vibration modelling.This needs to account for the situation wherethere is (literally) no ground reference.

SPbSPU mentioned that it had developedsensors for aerodynamic testing. Thisincluded a range of in-house sensor designsbased on MEMS (primarily pressure andaccelerometer) devices and probes fabricatedfor wind tunnel use.

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Exhibit 4.13 Night vision systems based on compositeinfrared and image intensified visible images

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5.1 Introduction

The prime purpose of the mission was toassess and benchmark Russian mechatronicstechnology against the state of the art in theUK. The team was introduced to examples ofboth applications and developments ofmechatronics relevant to the industrialsectors (primarily on power and process), inaddition to the two main sectors of defenceand aerospace.

This section of the report highlightsapplications and developments in the powerand process sector in Russia which may berelevant to UK industry. These are:

• Applications where ‘uniqueness’ or‘advanced performance’ is claimed.

• Development projects which may lead touniqueness.

• Technologies which appear to be fullydeveloped and which may offer cost orcapability advantage compared to thoseavailable in the UK market.

Several caveats are necessary:

• It is beyond the scope or competence ofthe mission team to fully judge claimsmade for uniqueness or advancedperformance of Russian technology. It hastherefore been necessary to take claims atface value.

• The number of Russian organisationsvisited was necessarily small compared tothe size of the Russian scientific andtechnological community, so that theexamples given cannot be claimed to bethe leading examples of a particulartechnology.

• Time did not permit discussion ofownership of intellectual property, so thatthere may be limitations on potential forexploitation by UK organisations.

The organisations visited by the mission teamwere generally university, academic andresearch institutes involved in thedevelopment of mechatronic and relatedtechnologies. While several of the instituteswere involved in projects indirectly relevant topower generation (particularly nuclear), nonewere institutes with the remit to specificallyserve the power sector in Russia.

5.2 Applications where uniqueness or

advanced performance is claimed

5.2.1 Condition assessment ofstructures

The Russian Federation has suffered recentfailures of building and bridge structures – forexample, in February 2006 the roof ofMoscow’s Baumansky Market collapsedunder the weight of a heavy snowfall killingmore than 50 people. Failures of this typehave driven development work at BaumanMSTU aimed at achieving maximum advancedwarning of impending structural failure. Ultra-high sensitivity miniature accelerometers andinclinometers have been developed which canbe used as to collect information on abnormaldeflections and vibrations of structuralcomponents. Achievable sensitivities down to0.1 arc second are claimed allowing riskconditions to be identified without the needfor additional test loadings to be applied to thestructure under investigation. Wirelesstechnology is used to transmit the data to acentral processing facility, allowing remotemonitoring of structures.

5 MECHATRONICS – INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS

The same devices may be relevant tomonitoring condition of structuralcomponents in the power and processindustries – temperatures up to 150ºC.

5.3 Development projects which may

lead to uniqueness

The SAS Institute for Problems in Mechanicshas a varied programme of workconcentrating on the construction and controlof mobile robots. It has developed a widerange of prototype robots aimed at deliveringcleaning, painting, inspection, welding,cutting and decontamination operations:

• Designs of robot aimed at crossingsurfaces ‘ground-wall’ and ‘wall-ceiling’ –both leg-locomotion and multi-links types.

• Wall climbing robots of the leg-locomotion,multi-links and sliding-sealing types fromlightweight devices up to manipulators forheavy-duty operations such as fire fighting.

• Tube climbing robots which useasymmetric vibrations to propel smalldevices inside tubes.

The above appear to be close to end use andwould seem to have application in power andprocess industries. Some of the designs arenovel and appear to offer capabilityadvantages over conventional approaches.

Possibly further from application, the SASInstitute for Problems in Mechanics is alsodeveloping in collaboration with the SASInstitute of Ultrapure Materials andMicroelectronics in Chernogolovka theapplication of gecko-style materials forgripping surfaces. Other activities are directedat space research problems such as thebehaviour of fluids in microgravity (includingcrystallisation), gas dynamics and heattransfer, behaviour of interplanetary gasesand plasmas, combustion in rockets etc.

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Exhibit 5.1 Robot design of leg-locomotion and multi-links types

Exhibit 5.2 Wall climbing robots

Exhibit 5.3 Tube climbingrobots

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5.4 Technologies which appear to be

fully developed and which may

offer cost or capability advantage

compared to those available in the

UK market

5.4.1 Robots for radiation survey anddecontamination

The Institute of Assembly Technology (NIKIMT)is one of the leading institutes supportingnuclear power generation in Russia. It hasdeveloped a family of wheeled and trackedvehicles for the following applications:

• The ‘Gamma Locator 3’ robot can measureradiation levels at a grid of points overlaidon a TV image of the area underinvestigation. At each grid point the activityassociated with isotopes of Am241, Cs137

and Co60 can be individually assessed.• The Mark 27 robot provides a platform for

deployment of a range of tools allowing‘pick and place’, machining and high

pressure cleaning (decontamination)operations to be performed in a nuclearenvironment.

RTC has also developed a robot, the RTC-03,whose main purpose is to locate and imagesources of gamma radiation. The robot carriesa detector for remotely locating the positionof gamma radiation sources. This appears tobe novel and is claimed to provide improvedresolution over conventional imagingsystems. The robot gripper has an additionalgamma sight, allowing precise location of agamma source. While its primary aim is todetect, locate and retrieve gamma sources indifficult environments (such as thosefollowing detonation of a dirty bomb), itsflexibility and capability may make it suitableas a platform for remote survey andcharacterisation prior to decommissioning ofnuclear plant, or for remote deployment ofinspection devices on operating nuclear plant.

Nuclear radiation

source detecting

• Azimuth• Distance• Source activity

Exactlocationranging

Exhibit 5.4 RTC-03 robot for radiation survey and decontamination

5.4.2 Devices for internal inspectionand remediation of piping

TARIS was the only fully ‘commercial’organisation visited as part of the mission.Founded in 1992 as a spin-out company fromBauman MSTU, TARIS supplies equipmentprimarily to the Russian water utilities, oil, gasand nuclear industries. It has externalaccreditation to ISO 9001 and experience ofobtaining CE marking for its equipment; acombination which is relatively uncommon forRussian organisations.

Its product range includes robotic systems,comprising self-propelled pipe crawlers, TVcameras and lighting, data recording andcontrol equipment for internal visual

inspection and remediation of piping.Remediation includes cutting and grindingoperations to remove obstructions and toprepare internal surfaces, prior to pipe sealingusing an internal sleeving technique,applicable to pipe of diameter 200 mm to 900 mm and capable of withstanding 16 barpressure.

Modular designs with interchangeable wheelsets allow a relatively wide range of pipediameters and applications to be covered by asmall number of basic devices.

A floating module is available for partially filledpipelines from 400 mm to 1,500 mmdiameter.

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Exhibit 5.5 Multiple radiationsources recognition with the gammavisor

Exhibit 5.6 Devices for internal inspection and remediation of piping

Exhibit 5.7 A floating module

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‘Well tractor’ devices are supplied for well-logging along horizontal sections of oil andgas wells and travel up to 4.5 km.

5.4.3 Devices for nuclear plant remoteoperations

TARIS has developed flexible links-typemanipulators for CCTV inspection of difficultto access areas inside nuclear power plants.Although designed for specific inspectionswithin the Russian RBMK 1,000 reactor, its‘Scheme’ manipulator would seem suitablefor wider application. It can also supplyradiation tolerant video cameras that cansurvive doses greater than 1 MGy.

Also within the nuclear arena, TARIS hasdeveloped systems for cutting and extractingnuclear steam generator tubing.

Overall, TARIS has a product range andcapability for design, prototyping andmanufacture which appears broadlyequivalent to those of EU companiesoperating in the same markets. With thisbackground and with its recognised qualityaccreditation and experience of servinginternational markets TARIS would seem apotentially good partner for co-operationaimed at commercial business in the EU orRussian markets.

Exhibit 5.8 ‘Well tractor’ devices for well-logging

Exhibit 5.9 Flexible links-type manipulators for CCTVinspection of difficult to access areas

The mission provided the delegation with an excellent opportunity to see at first handRussian capabilities in mechatronics in arange of sectors through a cross section ofvisits to research institutes, universities andcommercial organisations. While there wasno particularly earth shattering technology inevidence during these visits and manyprojects reflect similar work in North Americaand Europe, there are a great many verycompetent engineers and scientists keen towork with the West. In some instances theteam saw original work and examples of newways of approaching problems. Coststructures in the research institutes were notclear but it is possible that theseorganisations could offer a very cost-effectiveresource for technology acquisition. There arevarious routes available to assist collaborationwith Russian partners and these includeexploiting existing relationships and networks,using UK agencies such as the ITSC forbrokerage services and in some casesexploiting existing academic partnershipswere links to Russia already exist (eg Rolls-Royce has potential access to Russianpartners through its ‘university technologycentres’).

In robotics, the Chernobyl accident has clearlybeen a significant driver for the developmentof hostile environment inspection and repairrobots, and most of these developments arenow commercially available in prototype form.There were some concerns about the needto qualify the products to western standardsand about the supportability but if the price isright, these issues could be overcome. Therewas a lot of interest in working with westerncompanies to offer support in, eg sensing anddata processing technology, but from whatthe team was shown, it was not clear that

there was any technology to offer, in advanceof that available in the West.

The aerospace industry has also been a majorcustomer for mechatronics expertise.Glimpses of this were seen in the visit toRTC in St Petersburg but the mission was notable to visit major aerospace companies. Theexception was Khrunichev Space Researchand Production, which apparently has littleexperience in mechatronics in controlsystems or manufacture. This visit was tightlycontrolled and ultimately not very informative.Other visits were requested under theauspices of the UK-Russia High TechnologyWorking Group chaired jointly by DTI and theRussian Ministry of Industry and Energy. TheRussian Ministry agreed to help facilitatevisits to aerospace organisations butunfortunately was unable to secureappointments for the mission team in thetimeframe available.

The growing oil and gas industry in Russia isalso an important customer. Here theemphasis is on providing cost-effectivesolutions from existing technology rather thandriving original research. Other applications inhealthcare, domestic and infrastructure areasare still at an early stage.

A wide range of management styles were inevidence across the organisations visited,some being in line with current westernpractice, some being very hierarchicalcommand and control styles. This reflects thelong journey taken by Russian organisationsin going from a Soviet to a market-orientatedenvironment. In SAS institutes anduniversities the degree of change has largelybeen controlled by the local management andhence is variable, in private companies

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6 CONCLUSIONS

33


western styles are driven by the need tomake a profit.

The team’s impression was that theengineers met in general were very stronganalytically and were able to apply thistheoretical foundation, reflecting the strengthand rigour of the Russian education base.There was also evidence that previous limitedaccess to computing facilities for much oftheir careers had stimulated very competentsoftware engineering capabilities, howeverthe next generation seem to operate insimilar ways to their western counterparts asadvanced computing facilities become morewidely available. If technical links areestablished with any of these organisations,secondments of UK engineers into theirlaboratories could provide very valuabledevelopment from contact with these seniorengineers and would be strongly welcomedby the institutes. Similarly secondments tothe UK would provide mutual benefits fromthe broadly based education of RussianEngineers and the need to learn westernpractice.

Although many of the systems did not showparticular novelty over and above thoseavailable in the West, their robustness,combined with the potential for cost-effectivesupply makes many of them of potentialinterest to UK companies and organisations.

Prof Philip Moore (Mission Leader)Professor of MechatronicsHead of Research & CommercialDevelopmentFaculty of Computing Sciences & EngineeringDe Montfort UniversityLeicester LE1 9BH

T: +44 (0)116 257 7053F: +44 (0)116 257 [email protected]

Dr Seng Chong

Academic Fellow and Mission Co-ordinatorMechatronics Research CentreFaculty of Computing Sciences & EngineeringQueens BuildingDe Montfort UniversityLeicester LE1 9BH


De Montfort University (DMU) in Leicesterwas the co-ordinator for the mission. DMUorigins date back more than 100 years, beingknown as Leicester Polytechnic until 1992.The university is now one of the largerinstitutions in the UK academic communitywith faculties in Computing Science &Engineering; Health & Life Sciences; Art &Design; Business and Law; and Humanities.The university was the highest performing of

the modern universities in the 2001 ResearchAssessment Exercise. Research at DMUreflects its roots and national and internationalexpertise, and forms a key element in itsmission. It underpins the intellectual strengthof the institution and plays an essential role ininforming the quality of its total academicprovision. The university has well establishedinternational links; those with Russia beingparticularly strong in the last 15 years or so.

The Mechatronics Research Centre (MRC) isone of the larger and most successfulresearch units within DMU; aiming toconduct high quality fundamental and appliedresearch within the integrated disciplines ofmechanical, computing/software andelectronic engineering that is innovative andrelevant to the needs of UK and Europeanindustry.

The MRC has sought and established aninternational reputation for its research work inthe general domain of computer controlledmachines and machine systems, systemsengineering and integration, and is one of theUK’s premier centres for mechatronicssystems research operating at a national andinternational level. The MRC has a sustainedtrack record of research sponsorship over thelast 12 years from a broad range of agenciesincluding the Engineering and PhysicalSciences Research Council, DTI, EuropeanUnion (FP), British Technology Group, TCS/KTP,DERA/QinetiQ, The Royal Society, the EastMidlands Development Agency and industry.Partner organisations in recent years haveincluded: Volvo; EDF Energy, Ford; Indesit/Hotpoint; Sony; Motorola; Severn Trent Water;Mars; Commonwealth SIRO IN FULL (CSIRO)and many others too numerous to mention.

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Appendix AMISSION TEAM DETAILS

35


Bob Chesterfield

Group Leader – Novel SystemsMBDA UK LtdBristol BS34 7QWUK

T: +44 (0)117 9316558 F: +44 (0)117 9316354 M: +44 (0)7764 [email protected]

MBDA is one of the world’s largest defencecompanies. Jointly owned by BAE SYSTEMSand EADS (37.5% each) and Finmeccanica(25%), the company's products include anextensive portfolio of air-to-air, air-to-ground,ground-to-air, anti-ship, anti-tank, submarine-launched, ship-launched and cruise missilesystems. Countermeasure systems includemissile-intercepting missiles, RF decoys,infrared flares, infrared missile detectors, andmissile-warning systems. Taken together,MBDA has some 45 different operationalsystems in use today. MBDA was formed bythe merger of Matra BAe Dynamics, EADS-Aerospatiale Matra Missiles and AleniaMarconi Systems.

Bob Chesterfield has spent the greater part ofhis career in the field of radio frequencyengineering, with the last 15 years specificallyrelated to high power microwaves (HPM)systems including the associated radiatingstructures, power systems and systemcontrol. This has required the need tounderstand the practicalities and possibilitiesof the systems engineering associated withthe technologies of HPM.

Jim Thomson

Director of Technology BusinessDoosan Babcock Energy Limited (FormerlyMitsui Babcock)Porterfield RoadRenfrew PA4 8DJUK

T: +44 (0)141 885 [email protected]

Doosan Babcock is a leading engineeringcontractor and project integrator for thenuclear and thermal power industries. It hasbeen at the heart of the UK nuclear industryfor more than 50 years. During that time ithas designed, manufactured, installed andcommissioned a wide range of nuclearequipment and plant for both the powergeneration and defence markets.

Doosan Babcock is the largest supplier ofoperational support for the nuclear powergeneration sector in the UK. At any giventime it has up to 1,000 securities cleared, andwhere required, suitably qualified,experienced and radiologically classified staffworking on large scale UK-based projects. Inaddition, it has more than 25 years’experience of performing high technologyremote non destructive testing and visualinspections on nuclear power plant in the UKand many countries overseas. With thisbackground it is interested in developments inrobotics and visualisation technology.

Peter Loftus

Head of Measurement CapabilityRolls-Royce plcPO Box 31SIN A-57 Victory RoadDerbyDE24 8BJUK

T: +44 (0)1332 247424F: +44 (0)1332 247928M: +44(0)7973486012 [email protected]

Rolls-Royce, the world-leading provider ofpower systems and services for use on land,at sea and in the air, operates in four globalmarkets – civil aerospace, defence aerospace,marine and energy. It is investing in coretechnology, capability and infrastructure thatcan be applied across these sectors to take acompetitive range of products to market.

The company has established strongpositions within programmes that will shapethe power-systems market for many years tocome.

The success of its products is demonstratedby the company’s rapid and substantial gainsin market share. The company now has a totalof 54,000 gas turbines in service worldwideand they generate a demand for high-valueservices throughout their operational lives.

The company seeks to add value for itscustomers with aftermarket services that willenhance the performance and reliability of itsproducts. Services revenue has grown by11% per year compound over the past 10years.

Rolls-Royce has a broad customer basecomprising 600 airlines, 4,000 corporate andutility aircraft and helicopter operators, 160armed forces and more than 2,000 marinecustomers, including 70 navies. The companyhas energy customers in 120 countries. Thecompany is a technology leader, employingaround 37,000 people in offices,manufacturing and service facilities in 50countries. Annual sales total £6.6 billion, ofwhich 54% is services revenue. The firm andannounced order book is nearly £25 billion,which, together with demand for services,provides visibility of future levels of activity.

Pete has pursued a career in measurementtechnology over more than 25 years at Rolls-Royce supporting to varying degrees almostall of the major civil and military enginedevelopment programmes.

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Geoff Pegman

Managing DirectorRURobotsPO Box 248ManchesterM28 1WFUK


RURobots is a small high technologycompany specialising in the production ofprototype equipment and solutions based on advanced automation and roboticstechnology. It works primarily in the nuclear,defence (bomb disposal) and constructionindustries, although it also providesconsultancy on food product handling to thefood industry.

Geoff Pegman is the Chair of the UK Instituteof Engineering & Technology ProfessionalNetwork on Robotics and Mechatronics andthe Honorary Treasurer of the BritishAutomation & Robotics Association. He isalso Vice President of the intergovernmentalInternational Advanced Robotics Programmeand Executive Committee member of theEuropean Robotics Technology Platform.

Dr Juan Matthews

International Technology Promoter,Advanced Materials, Process and EnergyTechnologies – Russia and UkraineDTI Global Watch ServicePeraPera Innovation ParkMelton MowbrayLeicestershireLE13 OPBUK

T: +44 (0)1235 206569M: +44 (0)7932 603873F: +44 (0)1235 [email protected]

Juan Matthews is one of 23 InternationalTechnology Promoters (ITPs) aiding UKcompanies find and access technology fromoverseas through regional and sectorknowledge. He is the first ITP for Russia andwas appointed in October 2001 to work withUK industry to help establish commercialpartnerships with Russian R&D organisationsand science-based companies.

Juan works closely with the Science Sectionof the British Embassy in Moscow and withthe British Council’s activities to supportinnovation development in Russia andUkraine. He has a background in materialsscience and previously worked on materialsmodelling at Harwell before becominginvolved in international business developmentfor AEA Technology. He is a Fellow of theInstitute of Physics and an Honorary Fellow ofthe Department of Physics and Astronomy ofUniversity College London. He joined the ITPprogramme after working for two years onTacis programmes in Russia.

Moscow State Institute of Radiotechnics,

Electronics and Automatics (Technical

University)

Prof Valery Lokhin78, Vernadsky Ave, Moscow, 119454, RussiaT: +7 (495) 434 9232F: +7 (495) 434 [email protected]

The institute is a technical university that bothtrains specialists in this area and alsoundertakes systems development work. Theteam was shown quite innovative work onneural control systems for intelligent controlof satellites, UAVs, autonomous underwatervehicles and nanomachines.

SAS Institute for Problems in Mechanics

Prof Felix Chernousko101-1, prosp Vernadskogo, Moscow, 119526,RussiaT: +7 (495) 434 0207F: +7 (499) 739 [email protected]

The institute covers a wide range of activitieson solid and fluid dynamics. The workconcentrates on the construction and controlof mobile robots. It has developed snake-likerobots and robots that can climb walls andceilings. One method it has developed is theuse of asymmetric vibrations to drive smallrobots in tubes and on vertical surfaces orceilings. It is also developing the application ofgecko-style materials for gripping surfaceswith the SAS Institute of Ultrapure Materialsand Microelectronics in Chernogolovka. Otheractivities are directed at space research

problems such as the behaviour of fluids inmicrogravity (including crystallisation), gasdynamics and heat transfer, behaviour ofinterplanetary gases and plasmas, combustionin rockets etc.

SAS Mechanical Engineering Research

Institute

Prof Yuri Baranov 4, M Khatitonjevsky per, Moscow, 101990,RussiaT: +7 (495) 623 4237 F: +7 (499) 624 [email protected]

The team met a large group of departmentheads from the institute but the meeting wasnot well focused and the team did not get asmuch out of it as with the other two visits.The institute is large (750 staff) and isinvolved in a wide range of projects in thenuclear, aerospace, marine and powerengineering sectors.

Moscow State Technological University

‘Stankin’

(MSTU ‘Stankin’)

Prof Jury V PoduraevDr Ivan L ErmolovVadkovsky per 3A, Moscow, 127994, RussiaT: +7 (499) 972 9401F. +7 (499) 972 [email protected]@stankin.ruwww.stankin.ru

The Department of Robotics andMechatronics of MSTU ‘Stankin’ has thefollowing areas of interest: industrial robotics,mobile robotics, mechatronics, complex

Appendix BHOST ORGANISATION DETAILS

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mechatronic systems, sensor and data fusion.Its department is supplied with modern typesof industrial and educational equipmentincluding four mobile robots and mobileplatforms, seven industrial robots and 10various mechatronics drives.

The department has steady links with nationalindustry as well as foreign companies inRussia. In 2006 the department started a jointTechnological Center with KUKA Roboterwhich has been also affiliated by thecompanies Sick AG and Schunk AG. Thiscentre keeps state of the art industrialequipment related to industrial robotics.

The department has participated in a numberof national and international R&D projectsincluding FP6 and joint Russian-Britishprogrammes as well as some other bilateralR&D co-operation programmes.

As a potential form of co-operation itsuggests collaboration in education, jointresearch projects and some engineeringprojects.

Research & Manufacturing Corporation

TARIS

Victor Ulyanko7/1, Plehanova Street, Moscow, 111141,RussiaT: +7 (495) 672 1855, 368 1418F: +7 (495) 672 [email protected] www.taris.ru

TARIS was established in 1992 based on theSpecial Robotics Laboratory under thesupervision of Dr Valery Shvedov of MoscowState Technical University named after NikolayBauman. A number of its hazardousenvironment mobile robotic systems wereengaged in the radioactive spillage clean-upafter the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclearpower station.

Now, TARIS is focusing on the roboticsystems development and manufacturing fornuclear power industry, municipal utilities,and the oil and gas sector. One of the keyactivities is the CCTV survey and local repairequipment manufacturing for the pipeline andwell industry.

TARIS is a leading CCTV inspection and localrepair robotic systems manufacturer for thepipeline industry in Russia. From 1998-2004TARIS designed and manufactured over 100robotic systems that are still in servicearound Russia.

Its research laboratory team including highlyqualified experts and its manufacturingfacilities allow the introduction of newtechnologies and the effective performance ofthe most complicated industrial projects.

Russian State Scientific Center for

Robotics and Technical Cybernetics

(RTC)

Boris Spassky21, Tikhoretsky prospect, St Petersburg,194064, RussiaT: +7 (812) 552 1325F: +7 (812) 552 [email protected]

The RTC is one of the largest researchcentres in Russia. The main directions of RTCactivity are technical cybernetics, robotics,photon equipment, special instrument-makinglaser technologies and intelligent controltechnologies in real time through the use oftelecommunications systems (telenetics). Theinstitute has production lines, research andexperimental test beds. Among the institute’sdevelopment projects are altimeters for softlanding systems; life-support systems forspace crafts; mobile robotic systems; earth-and air-based systems for radiationmonitoring; network communicators; and

laser equipment for marking, cutting andwelding.

The institute also works on space roboticssystems for the Russian space programmeand provided such systems for the Soviet andpost-Soviet space programmes. Projectsinclude UAVs for locative radioactivecontamination and robotic snakes made ofmodular elements that can simulate a realsnake’s movements. There was also softwarefor optical recognition and analysis, forexample systems for tracking objects andidentifying changes on video views. At thebeginning of October 2007 there will beaconference on mechatronics and robotics inSt Petersburg.

St Petersburg State Polytechnic University

(SPbSPU)

Prof Vadim Korablev29 Polytechnicheskaya st, St. Petersburg,195251, RussiaT/F: +7 (812) 297 [email protected] www.spbstu.ru

A second workshop at SPbSPU involvedseveral universities and research institutes.Interesting applications included largemechatronic figures (or animatronics) andautomated stage sets for theatres, includingthe Marynsky Theatre, home of the KirovBallet.

The university is working with the RussianState Scientific Center for Robotics andTechnical Cybernetics to educate a newgeneration of robotics and mechatronicsengineers.

Institute of Control Sciences SAS

(ICS)

Prof Dr Ing I B Yadykin 65, Profsoyuznaya str, Moscow, 117997,RussiaT: +7 (495) 334 9020F: +7 (495) 420 [email protected]

The Institute of Control Sciences a largeinstitute with a wide range of activities andparticular strengths in the software side ofcontrol and automation. The team was shownexamples of work relating to space robotics,control systems for gas turbines and analysisof gas turbine vibration.

Khrunichev Space Research and

Production Center

Valentin Polovtsev18, Novozavodskaya st, Moscow, 121087,RussiaT: +7 (095) 145 9435F: +7 (095) 795 [email protected]

The Khrunichev State Research andProduction Space Center was created by anRF presidential decree of 7 June 1993 on thebase of the largest producers of aerospaceand rocket technology: the KhrunichevMachine-building Plant and the Salyut DesignBureau. It is one of the world’s largestaerospace corporations leading theinternational market for space services.Khrunichev makes the Proton rocket, which isthe heaviest satellite launcher in Russia.

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Bauman Moscow State Technical

University

(Bauman MSTU)

Prof Alexander Chernikov5, 2nd Baumanskaya str, Moscow, 105005,RussiaT: +7 (095) 263 6560F: +7 (095) 263 [email protected]

At Bauman MSTU, which has a long historyof collaboration with DMU, researchers aredeveloping robots for emergency applicationssuch as bomb disposal, nuclear incidents etc.They are also working on micro gyroscopesand accelerometers for autonomous deviceseg UAVs.

The university’s science and engineeringmajors often have an opportunity for studentsand graduates to participate in researchprojects that are conducted by sevenresearch institutes combining their resourceswith intellectual activity from educationalfaculties to form seven Research-EducationalComplexes:

• Materials and technology• Radioelectronics and laser technology• Informatics and control systems• Special machinery• Robotics and complex automation• Power engineering• Fundamental sciences

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Appendix CITINERARY

Date Time Event

Monday 13 NovMoscow

10:00 – 12:00 Visit to Moscow Institute of Radio Technology, Electronics andAutomation (Technical University)

13:15 – 15:00 Visit to SAS Institute for Problems in Mechanics

15:30 – 17:00 Visit to SAS Mechanical Engineering Research Institute

18:00 – 19:30 Reception at the British Embassy

Tuesday 14 NovMoscow

09:00 – 14:00 Workshop and tour at the Moscow State TechnologicalUniversity ‘Stankin’

14:15 – 16:15 Visit to Research & Manufacturing Corporation TARIS

Wednesday15 NovSt Petersburg

09:30 – 12:00 Visit to Russian State Research Center for Robotics andTechnical Cybernetics

13:15 – 17:30 Scientific practice workshop at the St Petersburg StatePolytechnic University (MEMS Center)

Thursday 16 NovMoscow

10:00 – 12:00 Visit to SAS Institute of Control Sciences

14:30-16:00 Meeting with the Khrunichev Space Research and ProductionCenter

Friday17 NovMoscow

10:00-12:00 Visit to Bauman MSTU

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Mechatronics: Successful Solutions for our Future

14 November 2006Moscow, Russia

Co-organised by:

Ministry for Industry and Energy of the Russian FederationMoscow State University of Technology ‘Stankin’ (Russia)

Department of Trade & Industry (UK)

De Montfort University (UK)

Russian presentations

Appendix DONE-DAY WORKSHOP

Title Presenter

Mechatronic projects at themechatronics and robotics chair

Prof Jury V Poduraev, Vice-Rector and Head Robotics and Mechatronics Department, MSTU ‘Stankin’

Robots for radiation environment DN Furseev, FGUP NIKIMT ITUZR (RosAtom)

Pneumatic mechatronic systemsdevelopment at MSTU ‘Stankin’

Prof Iljuchin JV, Cammozzi Pneumatica

Mechatronic systems for use in thefood industry

Prof Sherbina BV, Faculty of BioEquipment, Moscow StateUniversity of Applied Biotechnology

Servo systems for defenceapplications

AT Podkin, ZAO Servotechnika

Mechatronic approach to the designof medical robots

Dr VF Golovin and Dr M Rachlov, Moscow State IndustrialUniversityDr A Razumov, Russian Research Center of RestorativeMedicine and BalneologyProf Jury V Poduraev, MSTU ‘Stankin’

MINIPROMENERGORUSSIA

Appendix ESCIENTIFIC PRACTICE WORKSHOP

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St Petersburg State Polytechnic University

Mechatronics: Applications in Specialised Machinery

and Production

15 November 2006St Petersburg, Russia

DTI Global Watch Mission to Moscow and St Petersburg

Russian presentations

Title Presenter

Humanoid robot control Prof Lev A Stankevich, SPbSPU Computer Science Faculty

Novel electromechanical plant foronline testing of runway frictionproperties

Prof Victor V Putov, St Petersburg State ElectrotechnicalUniversity

Mechatronics and microtechnologies Prof Evgeny N Pyatishev, SPbSPU, Laboratory of MEMS, Nanoand Micro Systems Techniques

The principles of limbless movementand a mechatronics device for itsrealisation

Prof Alexander A Ivanov, SPbSPU and Central Research Instituteof Robotics and Technical Cybernetics

Control Systems Institute of StPetersburg Baltic Technical University

Prof Yury V Zagashvili, Baltic State Technical University

Mechatronics Department of StPetersburg State University ofInformative Technologies, Mechanicsand Optics

Prof Vladimir M Musalimov, St Petersburg State University ofInformation Technologies, Mechanics and Optics

Education programmes and R&D inmechatronics at the AutomaticMachine Department

Prof Vladimir A Dyachenko, SPbSPU

Adaptive control andintellectualisation of the mechatronicsystems

Prof Adil V Timofeev, St Petersburg Institute of Informatics SAS

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Exhibit Page Caption1.1 5 The mission members in Moscow2.1 6 Structure of Russian R&D of robotics and mechatronics (examples)3.1 12 Modular robotics for teaching3.2 13 RTC universal manipulator3.3 13 RTC relocatable manipulator3.4 14 Orbital space station manipulator3.5 14 Robotic massage system3.6 14 Robotic physiotherapy3.7 15 Scissor action parallel mechanism machine3.8 15 The KUKA industrial robots displayed3.9 15 RosAtom gamma detection robot3.10 16 RTC gamma detection robot3.11 16 MRK-27 bomb disposal robot3.12 17 TARIS pipeline robots3.13 17 Generic mobile vehicle control board3.14 18 IPM climbing robots3.15 18 IPM relocatable manipulator3.16 18 Small pipe robots3.17 18 RTC snake robot3.18 18 ARNE 02 humanoid robot3.19 19 Performance robots for the play ‘BOLT’3.20 19 GNOM Micro4.1 21 Machines developed for operations at the Chernobyl site4.2 21 Machine used during 1997 accident at the Russian Federal Nuclear Center4.3 22 Mobile Robotic Complex RTC-03 Razvedchik (Prospector)4.4 22 Operation of the RTC-03 robot4.5 22 Upgraded version of the RTC robot4.6 23 The MRK-47 machine from Bauman MSTU4.7 23 MRK-26 designed for RosAtom to enter nuclear power stations4.8 24 MRK-27VU with geometry changing axels for entering and operating in

buildings4.9 24 Inertial microsensors for development of compact inertial navigation systems4.10 24 Elements produced by Bauman MSTU Gyro and Navigation System

Department4.11 25 Camera-based surveillance systems for UAVs4.12 25 ‘Air velocity probes’ for micro air-vehicles4.13 26 Night vision systems based on composite infrared and image intensified

visible images5.1 28 Robot design of leg-locomotion and multi-links types5.2 28 Wall climbing robots5.3 28 Tube climbing robots

Appendix FLIST OF EXHIBITS

5.4 29 RTC-03 robot for radiation survey and decontamination5.5 30 Multiple radiation sources recognition with the gamma visor5.6 30 Devices for internal inspection and remediation of piping 5.7 30 A floating module 5.8 31 ‘Well tractor’ devices for well-logging5.9 31 Flexible links-type manipulators for CCTV inspection of difficult to access areas

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CANbus controller area network busCCTV closed-circuit televisionDC direct currentDoFs degrees of freedomDTI Department of Trade & Industry (UK)EU European UnionESA European Space AgencyFCO Foreign & Commonwealth Office (UK)FP Framework ProgrammeFSB Federal Security Service (Rus)HPM high power microwavesHz HertzICS Institute of Control Sciences SAS (Rus)INS inertial navigation systemINTAS International Association for Co-operation between Scientists of the Newly

Independent StatesIPM SAS Institute for Problems in MechanicsISTC International Science and Technology Center (Rus)KTN Knowledge Transfer NetworkLED light emitting diodeMEMS micro-electro-mechanical systemsmm millimetreMGy MegaGray – the SI unit of absorbed doseMHz MegahertzMoD Ministry of Defence (UK)MIREA Moscow State Institute of Radiotechnics, Electronics and Automatics (Technical

University)MSc Master of ScienceMSTU Moscow State Technical UniversityNASA National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNIKIMT Institute of Assembly Technology (Rus)PC personal computerPhD Doctor of PhilosophyPID proportional-integral-derivativeplc Public limited companyRosAtom Federal Agency for Atomic Power (Rus)R&D research and developmentRTC Russian State Scientific Center for Robotics and Technical CyberneticsSAS State Academy of Sciences (Rus)SLAM simultaneous localisation and mappingSPbSPU St Petersburg State Polytechnic UniversitySPIIRAS St Petersburg Institute of Informatics and Automation of RAS

Appendix GGLOSSARY

TARIS Research & Manufacturing Corporation TARISTNT trinitrotolueneUAV unmanned aerial vehicleUHF ultra high frequencyUKTI UK Trade & InvestmentVNIIEF Russian Federal Nuclear CenterWi-Fi Wireless FingerLinx

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The mission team wishes to extend itssincere thanks to the host organisations fortheir hospitality, openness and support thathelped to make this mission such a success.

The Department for the Military-IndustrialComplex of the Ministry of Industry andEnergy and the Federal Space Agency(RosCosmos) provided assistance in gainingaccess to several Russian centres and wewould like to thank Natalya Mokina of theMinistry for her support of the mission. Themission team is also grateful to Prof JuryPoduraev and Dr Ivan Ermolov the MSTU‘Stankin’ for introductions and help with visits,and for organising and hosting a workshop.

We wish to acknowledge the DTI GlobalWatch Service for the support and funding ofthe mission and its dissemination through theseminar. We also wish to acknowledge thesupport of the IMechE Mechatronics Forumand the IET Robotics and MechatronicsNetwork for promotion of the mission anddissemination of the findings to theirmembers.

We would also like to thank David Vincentand the Science, Environment and GlobalPartnership Section of the British Embassy inMoscow for hosting a reception at the startof the mission. We also wish to record ourthanks to Ekaterina Yudina, the mission's veryable interpreter, who accompanied us duringthe visits in Moscow.

Finally we offer particular thanks to JuanMatthews, Robert Dugon and Louisa Quilterof the DTI Global Watch Service andparticularly Mikhail Lachinov, Science andTechnology Officer at the British Embassy,Moscow, who ensured that all the meetings

and travel arrangements went smoothly andassisted on many occasions with experttechnical translation.

Appendix HACKNOWLEDGMENTS

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Grant for Research and Development – is available through the nine English RegionalDevelopment Agencies. The Grant for Researchand Development provides funds for individualsand SMEs to research and develop technologicallyinnovative products and processes. The grant isonly available in England (the DevolvedAdministrations have their own initiatives).www.dti.gov.uk/r-d/

The Small Firms Loan Guarantee – is a UK-wide, Government-backed scheme that providesguarantees on loans for start-ups and youngbusinesses with viable business propositions.www.dti.gov.uk/sflg/pdfs/sflg_booklet.pdf

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships – enableprivate and public sector research organisations to apply their research knowledge to importantbusiness problems. Specific technology transferprojects are managed, over a period of one tothree years, in partnership with a university,college or research organisation that has expertise relevant to your business.www.ktponline.org.uk/

Knowledge Transfer Networks – aim to improvethe UK’s innovation performance through a singlenational over-arching network in a specific field oftechnology or business application. A KTN aims to encourage active participation of all networkscurrently operating in the field and to establishconnections with networks in other fields thathave common interest. www.dti.gov.uk/ktn/

Collaborative Research and Development –helps industry and research communities worktogether on R&D projects in strategicallyimportant areas of science, engineering andtechnology, from which successful new products,processes and services can emerge.www.dti.gov.uk/crd/

Access to Best Business Practice – is availablethrough the Business Link network. This initiativeaims to ensure UK business has access to bestbusiness practice information for improvedperformance.www.dti.gov.uk/bestpractice/

Support to Implement Best Business Practice

– offers practical, tailored support for small andmedium-sized businesses to implement bestpractice business improvements.www.dti.gov.uk/implementbestpractice/

Finance to Encourage Investment in Selected

Areas of England – is designed to supportbusinesses looking at the possibility of investingin a designated Assisted Area but needingfinancial help to realise their plans, normally in the form of a grant or occasionally a loan.www.dti.gov.uk/regionalinvestment/

Other DTI products that help UK businesses acquire andexploit new technologies

Printed in the UK on recycled paper with 75% de-inked post-consumer waste content

First published in March 2007 by Pera on behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry

© Crown copyright 2007

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