Luleå University of Technology, LTU, is the leader in Europe with its robotics team working with NASA. On Thursday, they showed their self-driving drones in the tunnels inside Mjölkuddsberget in Luleå.

Environment without GPS signal

It is dark and chilly and far beyond the reach of mobile coverage and GPS. The drone who will find her way through the tunnels is no ordinary drone but the result of several years of research. About 70 percent of the drone therefore consists of sensors that will sense the road, upwards, downwards and to the side.

At the demonstration, two from the robotics team go a bit behind the drone, but they do not control but just go and keep track of security.

In the case of a mine, for example, the drone is able to see new obstacles, such as more stones or blocks of stone on the way out.

- It looks pretty simple now. We just start the drone, enter some things in the computer and then the drone leaves. But behind this lies years of development work and testing in both the laboratory and the mining environment, says Dariusz Kominiak, a member of the robotics team at LTU.

Dark and moist and dusty

- In lab environments, most sensors will work perfectly, but when we take them to a dark, humid and dusty environment, they stop working. They don't provide data, we can't trust them. So we have to have sensors that are tested in a real environment, ”explains Dariusz Kominiak.

In a recent iron ore mine test, for example, the dust was magnetic. It was said to be the engines of drones that contain very strong magnets. Battery life is relatively short and needs to be extended. Nevertheless, Dariusz Kominiak believes that a market product could be ready for testing within two years.

A long-term collaboration with NASA / Jet Propulsion Laboratory has also been initiated. The idea is that autonomous drones should be used for exploration of planets.

Leading in Europe

- There are other drone groups, but I think that since NASA contacted us we are far ahead in the autonomous parts. I could say that we are quite far ahead of the others, says Dariusz Kominiak.

George Nikolakopoulos, professor of robotics and automation, is delighted with the collaboration.

- It is an honorable and prestigious collaboration for robotics research at LTU. Now we have the opportunity to perform basic research in robotics and artificial intelligence with one of the world's best research organizations, known for its pioneering activities in space exploration.