“LA man discovers science-fiction death ray”. This was the shocking headline that appeared in a Los Angeles newspaper in July 1960. A few weeks earlier, on 16 May 1960, the American engineer and physicist Theodore H. Maiman at Hughes Research Laboratories had succeeded in making a synthetic ruby cylinder with reflective bases and a photographic lamp emit pulses of intense red light, the first physical implementation of laser.
Theodore H. Maiman with the first laser implementation
This milestone in photonics was the consequence both of centuries of study by great scientists such as Newton, Young, Manxwell and Einstein trying to understand and explain the nature of light, and of a frantic race since the 1950s between a dozen laboratories, led by Bell´s, to demonstrate experimentally that the stimulated emission of light predicted by Albert Einstein in his 1917 paper “The Quantum Theory of Radiation” was possible.
The termLASER or “Light Amplified by Stimulated Emission of Radiation” was coined by Gordon Gould in 1957 in his notes on the feasibility of building a laser. Gould had been a PhD student of Charles Townes, who, in 1954, had built the MASER, the predecessor of the laser, which amplified microwave waves by stimulated emission of radiation. In 1964, Charles Townes received the Nobel Prize in physics for his implementation of the MASER, Gordon Gould became a millionaire with the laser patent, and Mainman received recognition for having created the first implementation of a laser, as well as numerous academic awards.
A laser is a light source with special characteritstics of coherence, monochromicity and collimation. These characteristics make it possible to concentrate, with the help of optical lenses, a high intensity of energy in a minimum area. To achieve these characteristics, the lase4r makes use of the quantum mechanism predicted by Einstein whereby the generation of photons in certain solid, liquid or gaseous media is greatly amplified when these media are excited electrically or by light pulses.
During the 1960s, in addition to Maiman´s solid-taste laser, other lasers were developed, such as the He-Ne laser in December 1960 and the CO2 laser in 1961, whose active medium was gases, or the diode laser in 1962. Although in the beginning the laser was said to be ” a solution for an undefined problem”, the number of applications of the laser rapidly increased to a great extent, making it an indispensable tool in most fields of science and manufacturing. We can find examples of this industry, where its multiple uses for cutting, welding or for surface treatments of a large number of materiales has made it indispensable, or in the communications sector, where its use as a transmitter of information by means of pulses of light through optical fibres has made it possible to achieve unimaginable data transfer rates without which the current digital transformation would not be possible.
Nowadays, the development of new lasers, their performance and applications continues to grow. For example, in recent years, green and blue lasers have become increasingly important in electro-mobility because their wavelenghts are more suitable for welding copper elements than other more common lasers.
Green laser for cutting and welding copper elements. Source: Cvecek, Kaufamnn Blz 2021. https://www.wzl.rwth-aachen.de/go/id/telwe?lidx=1
Since 2020 CARTIF is part of PhotonHub Europe, a platform made up of more than 30 reference centers in photonics from 15 European countris in which more than 500 experts in photonics offer their support to companies (mainly SMEs) yo help them to improve their production processes and products through the use of photonics. With this objective, training, project development and technical and financial advisory actions have been organized until 2024.
In addition, to be aware of what is happening in the world of photonics, we encourage you to be part of the community created in PhotonHub Europe. In this community you can be aware of the activities of the platforms as well as news and events related to photonics.
The majority of plastics used in the world today come from non-renewable and non-biodegradable sources. In an effort to reduce the impact of plastics on the environment, alternative methods of production and waste management have been studied for decades. Several microorganisms have the ability to produce plastics naturally, using different substrates, which are biodegradable and biocompatible under certain conditions.
During the last few years, acidogenic fermentation for the production of volatile fatty acids (VFA) has been identified as a promising approach to utilise organic waste as a valuable resource. VFA have a wide potential for applications ranging from carbon source for biological nutrient removal processes to use as a bioenergy resource for the generation of hydrogen and liquid biofuels. VFA-rich streams produced from organic waste fermentation can also be used as biopolymer precursors in the bioplastics industry, as they are a suitable feedstock for the production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA).
To address the growing problem of bio-waste generation and the increasing demand for bio-based feedstocks, the ELLIPSE project is working in the biotechnology sector with the aim of valorising heterogeneous waste streams generated in significant quantities in Europe, slaughterhouse waste (contained in the belly or rumen) and paper and pulp sludge, to produce cost-effective polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) for agricultural and personal care applications, through co-processing with other organic wastes such as sludge from the dairy industry and glycerol from the biodiesel industry, as well as nutrient recovery to produce bio-based fertilisers. The integration of these waste streams as biorefinery feedstocks will reduce landfill waste volumes, open up new pathways for the production of chemicals and bioplastics and, at the same time, create additional income for the related industries that generate them, with the added benefits of water recycling, reduced soil degradation, groundwater contamination and methane emissions.
PHA belongs to a family of 100% bio-based polymers with versatile biodegradability properties in most environments, recyclable and exhibiting a wide range of physical and mechanical properties depending on their chemical composition, from the very flexible poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) to the rigid polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), showing similar properties to some fossil-based materials such as polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) and better gas and liquid barrier properties than other bioplastics such as polylactic acid (PLA), being a good biodegradable and compostable alternative in agricultural and personal care applications.
One of the objectives is to maximise the production of VFA derived from acidogenic fermentation by optimising the process using innovative technologies, such as the use of an anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR). The project contributes to the circular economy by promoting sustainability and zero waste by demonstrating the technical feasibility of recovering nutrients from the waste stream (digestate) through a hybrid autotrophic-heterotrophic process of microalgae cultivation, which results in the production of a biofertiliser.
The project has 5 phases dealing with pre-treatment of waste and obtaining VFA, production of PHA, possible applications of bioplastics, life cycle analysis study and exploitation of the results.
Pliot plants of the ELLIPSE project
In Pilot 1, pre-treatment and valorisation of sludge from the processing of slaughterhouse waste for the production of rigid packaging and plastic mulch will be carried out. A co-digestion of raw materials will be carried out in order to ensure the most optimal conditions for producing VFA.
Pilot 3 will be developed simultaneously with Pilot 1 to recover N and P nutrients for biofertiliser production. Different technologies will be validated:
The biological technology of the hybrid autotrophic and heterotrophic microalgae culture system, and the physical methods of pressure-drive membrane technology (ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis) and membrane contactors, to recover ammonia, as ammonium sulphate.
Pilot 2 will treat and recover waste from the paper industry to produce bioplastic coatings for the personal care and agricultural sectors.
The demonstration of the possibility to transform complex bio-waste stream into high-value bio-based and biodegradable products in multiple sectors, accompanied by the validation of multiple end-of life routes for the biobased and biodegradable products achieved within the project will provide novel and tangible results for further promoting public awareness and acceptance of biodegradable and bio-based solutions. Apart from all this, during ELLIPSE project the pulp and paper industry will be able to utilize products (PHA coated paper for flexible packaging as counterpart of current PE coated paper) produced from its wastes. This is a good showcase for circular economy and has the potential to increase awareness and acceptance of bio-based solutions.
These days we are seeing news in the media1 about the possibility of blackouts in the coming years. This news has its roots in a report published by Red Eléctrica de España entitled “National Resource Adequancy Assessment“2 .
It summarises the conclusions of the latest analysis of the system´s ability to safely meet demand. The indicator used to make these estimates is the loss of load expectation (LOLE) indicator. This index measures the number of hours during which, in a given geographical area and in a given period of time, energy production will not be sufficient to meet demand. A LOLE of 0.94 hours/year, is considered acceptable,which means that 99.99% of the time production has to meet demand. However the Red Eléctrica de España report estimates that the LOLE could be 5.63 hours/year in 2024, 6.26 hours/year in 2025 and as high as 7.14 hours/year in 2027 if the planned energy storage is not implemented. In terms of energy deficit, these LOLE translate into 9.38 GWh/year in 2024, 12.9 GWh/year in 2025 and 15.68GWh/year in 2027. The cause of this energy deficit in the Spanish electric system would be the possible dismantling of a certain volume of combined cycle plants that would no longer be profitable due to competition from renewable generation. It would be interesting to know whether the LOLE could be even more adversely affected by the expected closure of Spanish nuclear power plants.
I would like to reflect here on the possible mitigating effect that demand flexibility management could have. As is well known, demand flexibility is the ability of consumers to change their consumption profile in response to a request to do so. Ideally this would be done in exchange for some form of compensation, ideally financial. In a study3 we published a couple of years ago, we concluded that Spanish domestic demand could, thanks to its flexibility, be reduced by up to 2 GWh in winter and more than 10 GWh in the summer months. It is true that these figures would be given in an ideal situation and that they depend on the area of Spain we are looking at. A similar study4 provides more conservative estimates, but these can be as high as 3 GWh depending on various factors. In both studies, flexibility is provided by domestic electrical loads such as heat pumps, air conditioners or electric water heaters. Therefore, flexible energy depends on weather conditions and, of course, on the number of consumers who would like to participate in a demand flexibility management scheme. But above all, it will depend on whether regulation and business models evolve to make it a reality for households and small and medium-sized businesses to be able to offer their flexibility through a mechanism that remunerates them in a way that is not only cost-effective but also profitable. Ways to achieve this goal have been proposed, as in the case of the Entra partnership roadmap5, but Spain is still lagging behind other EU countries on this issue.
For large consumers, there are ways to sell their demand flexibility. In October 2022, the first auction of the new Active Demand Response Service (ADRS) was held, in which 699 MW were offered and 497 MW were allocated at a price of 69.97 €/MW. A new auction is planned for 2023, after the National Commission for Markets and Competition has revised the corresponding regulatory framework6. In addition to this, demand can participate in balancing markets, but the requirement to make minimum bids of 1 MW makes it impossible for non-big consumers to participate. Energy communities or aggregations of consumers are therefore practically excluded from this possibility.
A demand flexibility service that is taking shape is peak shaving. This service, still under study, will reduce peak demand and is designed to facilitate the integration of renewable energies. The service is presented as something that will contribute to energy savings. How much energy can be saved is, for the moment, a mystery. In conclusion, we could say that demand flexibility could mobilise significant amounts of energy, but it does not seem easy to cover the energy deficit that has been predicted in the National Analysis of Coverage of the Peninsular Electricity System, although it could help to alleviate it. To remedy it would require a vigorous regulatory, technological, commercial and social effort to convince as many consumers as possible of the benefits of demand response. This does not appear to be easy to achieve.
In a world where humans perform tasks that involve manipulating objects, such as lifting, dragging or interacting with them (for example, when we use our beloved mobile phones or we eat an apple), these actions are performed subconsciously, naturally. It is our senses that allow us to adapt our physical characteristics to the tasks instinctively. In contrast, robots act like little human apprentices, imitating our behaviour, as they currently lack the same awareness and intelligence.
To address this gap, Human Robot Interaction (HRI) emerged, a discipline that seeks to understand, design and evaluate the interaction between robots and humans. This field had its beginnings in the 1990s with a multidisciplinary approach but today its study is in constantly evolving and has given rise to important events1 that bring together visionaries in the field, who seek to promote this technology, bringing us ever closer to a world where artifical intelligence and humans understand each other and collaborate,transforming our near future.
Understanding the discipline of human-robot interaction is crucial. It is not a simple task; rather, it is tremendously challenging, requiring contributions from cognitive science, linguistics, psychology, engineering, mathematics, computer science, and human factors design. As a result, multiple attributes are involved:
Level of autonomy: decision making indepently
Exchange of information: fluency and understanding between different parts.
Different technologies and equipment: major adaptation between languages and models.
Tasks configuration: definition and execution of tasks efficiently.
Cognitive learning: abilities to learn and improve with time.
Here again, the type of interaction, is of particular importance, which is defined as a reciprocal action, relationship or influence between two or more persons, objects, agents, etc. and a key factor is the distance between human and robot, where it can be called a distance interaction, e.g. mobile robots that are sent into space, or a physical interaction, where the human being has contact with the robot.
Human-robot interaction levels according to standards defined in ISO8373//10218//15066 Source: V. Villani, et al., Survey on human–robot collaboration in industrial settings: Safety, intuitive interfaces and applications, Mechatronics 55 (2018) 248–266,http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mechatronics.2018.02.009
These attributes are just a sample of the complexities involved in these robotic interaction systems, where interdisciplinary collaboration is essential for their evolution.
The challenges of interaction between humans and robots
At the moment the challenges are related to the highly unstructured nature of the scenarios where collaborative robots are used, as it is impossible for a technology developer to structure the entire system environment. Among the most important challenges aspects related to mobility, communications, map constructions and situational awareness.
So, what is the next step in human-robot interaction? Challenges include getting them to speak the same language and improving and simplifying communication, especially for non-technologically trained people, not presupposing these prior skills and not needing complicated instruction manuals; also discovering new forms of interaction, through natural language, in the case of assistive robots, special care for proximity and vulnerability; in general improving interfaces, making them more agile and flexible, so that they can be easily adapted to different scenarios and changes in the environment.
On the other hand, a challenge that has become particularly important in recent times, is to take into account emotional needs, human values and ethics in human-robot interactions, as highlighted in this HRI definition above:
HRI definition (Human-Robot interaction)
is the science that studies people’s behaviour and attitudes towards robots in relation to their physical, technological and interactive characteristics, with the aim of developing robots that facilitate the emergence of efficient human-robot interactions (in accordance with the original requirements of their intended area of use), but are also acceptable to people and satisfy the social and emotional needs of their individual users, while respecting human values (Dautenhahn, 2013).
Inspired by this exciting field of work, CARTIF, in collaboration with FIWARE Foundationand other leading partners in Europe, will start in 2024 the EuropeanARISEproject, which aims to achieve real-time, agile, human-centric, open source technologies that drive solutions in Human-Robot HRI interaction by combining open technologies such as ROS 2, Vulcanexus and FIWARE. And where the aims is to solve challenges by funding experiments that develop agile HRI solutions with increasingly adaptive and intuitive interfaces.
ARISE will address many of the following challenges: (1) Application of collaborative robotics for disassembly of value-added products, (2) Picking of complex products in industrial warehouses, (3) Flexible robotic collaboration for more efficient assembly and quality control, (4) Intelligent reprogramming ensuring adaptability for different products through intuitive interfaces, (5) Search and transport tasks in healthcare environments, (6) Improving multimodal interaction around different functional tasks, (7) Robotic assistance in flexible high-precision tasks, and (8) Improving ergonomics and worker efficiency, thus generating a multidisciplinary framework that takes into account both technological and social aspects.
In addition, the ARISE project opens its doors to robotics experts so that they can collaborate in solving the various challenges, thus generating new technological components for the HRI Toolbox, such as ROS4HRI. This collaborative grand challenge aims to make it easier for companies to create agile and sustainable HRI aplications in the near future.
1ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) y Robotics Systems and sciences
Have you ever tried a car racing game? An F1 race, a rally, or if you`ve tried driving Assestto Corsa, maybe you know where I am going with this little reflection.
If you have ever done so, you will have experienced a sense of “realism” of behaviour . In fact, if you have tried any driving simulator, you will have noticed the degree of detail and realism inthe behaviour of the simulation, being able to recreate to perfection, from different engine power and power delivery, weight distribution and vehicle dynamics. It is even able to recreate the type of surface on which the car is driving, which implies differences in behaviour, as is logical due to irregularities and different friction factors, etc. We could speak of digital twins, digital representations that are faithful to reality and that behave imitating the real case in the physical world.
Such is the degree of fidelity to reality, that the teams that spend the most moeny in the world to train their drivers, the F1 teams, train on virtual simulators (actually mixed, as the simulator is capable of transmitting dynamics to the driver).
The same could be said of airline pilots, who train for hundreds of hours on simulators that represent, with a very high degree of detail, the dynamics associated with flying an aircraft.
Figure 1. Image of a F1 simulator. Source: Fbrand
In industry, too, these virtual environments representing factories and their internal processes, known as digital twins, are being realised at an increasingly precise level of detail. And more and more companies, both on the customer side and on the side of the automation supplier, are implementing both the automation of a plant or process and simultaneously the digital twin. This is due to the benefits that can be obtained by having these tools available. For example, better decision making thanks to the possibility of prior simulation, flexibility and speed when implementing changes, more information in real time, improvements in maintenance.
If we train people on simulators and we emule processes and factories, can´not we do the smae with robots? Indeed, i think so.
If you have ever been involved in engineering in general, or in manufacturing processes, you will know that nowadays, the design of a product (service, building, road…) is done using specific design software, be it Autodesk, Blender or whatever, but it is done digitally.
Think of something you know perfectly well, a car. Because each and every one of its thousands of parts, whether they are in-house or supplied by suppliers, are correctly dimensioned (geothermally) and defined (properties, composition, materials…) digitally, both in 2D and 3D. If you integrate all the individual information in the concept, ‘car’, you would have there, the famous digital twin.
Now, extrapolating to a robot manufacturer (in this article, we are referring to service robots, not industrial robots), obviously although it is not as big an industry (as of today) and with as much baggage as the automotive industry, the design and manufacturing processes in the industry in general are very similar (in more incipient and modern industries, new trends are also integrated more quickly, primarily because of the size and culture), we can intuit that these companies may have or have a digital twin of their final product. With all the positive aspects that this entails for the company.
Figure 2. Virtual room for monitoring of assistive Robots
Well, at this point, you may ask, what does this have to do with Carlos Sainz training in a simulator? The answer is obvious, just as we train people to improve their skills using virtual environments, we are going to be able to train robot robots in such environments, with the great advantages that this entails. You will quickly see what I mean.
To train these robots, one of the techniques used is through the use of AI, putting the robot in a physical environment and trying to execute the tasks necessary to achieve the objective for which it has been programmed, and through deep learning, this robot learns to perform its mission better and better. For example: UNITED KINGDOM : Unveiling a robot that “learns on its own”.
Now, don’t just think of a simple robotic arm that performs simple tasks, and imagine more ‘futuristic’ robots, as in the illustration below (this is a commercial robot as of today).
Figure 3. Boston Dynamics robot.
If we have the digital twin (the most realistic and fully defined) of the robot, and we can recreate virtual environments that faithfully recreate physical environments, such as a city, a forest or the moon if you like. We will be able to train our robot in tasks and environments that could not be done otherwise (or would be more expensive, dangerous or outright impossible).
A couple of examples, a bit extreme, to make it easier to understand: We can recreate an area hit by a natural disaster and train these robots in rescue tasks. Or we can recreate Mars with its atmosphere, temperatures, gravity, terrain, etc., and see how the robot would behave in that environment.
Once the model is fully trained and satisfies the needs, the control model of the robot can be downloaded to the physical model. It can be trained as we have seen for events that have not yet happened. In this way, construction, material or design faults can be detected and fixed in the digital model, to check the effectiveness of the solution and subsequently improve the production process.
From the manufacturer’s side, the advantages of the digital twin and these training environments are clear. Flexibility, cost, time and risk savings, greater training capacity, greater customisation of the solution for the end customer, etc.
And for the end user, it would be very good, being able to train robots on specific tasks before they have to perform them, possibility of retraining on new policies, higher degree of personalisation, better training between unexpected agents.
I believe that this way of working could become a standard in the future. It is possible that tomorrow we will be training space miners to collect minerals on asteroids. Or we may be training robots to grow algae at depth.
Who knows what exciting missions we will send pre-trained robots on in the not-so-distant future.
Decarbonization is the “trending topic” of terms related to sustainability, energy and the environment. It is the process of reducing the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) released into the atmosphere. Decarbonization means reducing climate change and dependence on fossil fuels, which are precisely those that emit CO2 when burned (clear examples are fuel-oil and coal). Decarbonization implies the use of cleaner energy sources, but also the adoption of technologies and methods to protect the environment and to reduce these emissions (the so-called “carbon footprint”).
However, what does this have to do with Cultural Heritage? Well, you will be surprised for sure, but it turns out that Heritage contribuyes many important things to decarbonization: the preservation of historical buildings, the reuse of spaces, the promotion of sustainable mobility, the promotion of cultural tourism and technological innovation in the assessment and the conservation of historical assets. In other words, it turns out that offers an environmentally friendly approach to urban planning and rural development.
If we go into a little more detail, you will see that Cultural Heritage can play a significant role in decarbonization and the fight against climate change. Here we provide you five ways to do so, but I´m quite sure your are able to think of some more (please tell us):
Technological innovation applied to conservation1 of historic buildings (where CARTIF has a lot to say): here the sensitivity required by historic buildings implies the development of specific techniques and technologies, which have broader applications in reducing carbon emissions in other fields of construction and environmental management. The digitally based technical inspection, the preventive conservation and the intervention involving H-BIM avoid both ruin and/or demolition, as well as new alternative constructions, which significantly reduces the material and energy resources to be used for these purposes. Furthermore, and this is worthy of remark, the old buildings were designed and built up with techniques and materials that are inherently sustainable, taking advantage of aspects that we are “rediscovering” right now such as orientation, natural ventilation and the use of native materials.
Reuse of spaces: Historical sites and buildings can be suitable adapted for new uses and transformed into living or working spaces with a level of comfort appropriate to the 21st century, which in the medium-long term saves resources compared to the construction of new substitute structures. This reuse contributes to greater energy efficiency and the reduction of carbon emissions.
Adaptation and transcription of ancient professional techniques: historic places are examples of how antique societies adapted to environmental challenges (which have always existed) and how lessons learned in the past can be adopted today through proper understanding and technological shift of traditional techniques and uses (both materials and methods).
Promotion of sustainable mobility: The preservation of historic centres in cities increasingly promotes sustainable mobility. In fact, they were desgined to move on foot, on horseback or in wagons and carriages. Therefore, they absolutely favour pedestrian accesibility and the use of public transport instead of private vehicles. This reduces dependence on fossil fuels and decreases greenhouse gas emissions.
Development of sustainable cultural tourism: it is more than proven that sustainable cultural tourism can play an important role in the local economy and even in the region, encouraging more environmentally friendly practices such as waste management, conservation of biodiversity and the promotion of quality agri-food and crafts.
But, does Cultural Heritage really do that much? Obviously yes. Indeed, a lot. In line with the priorities of the European Green Deal and the EU´s climate ambition for 2030 and 2050, the European Cultural Heritage Green Paper emerged in 2021, where indeed it is already considered a driver of decarbonization and mirror upon which citizens see themselves as key actors in the actions needed on this regard.
Historic building and decarbonization is a bionmial over which the Cultural Heritage & Regeneration Committee of the European Construction Technology Platform has been working for years (CARTIF takes part of the Executive Board). Its latest strategic research agenda for the period 2021-2027, promptly refers to this. And it is an issue that has been deepen into recent plenary assemblies. It is no wonder when 24% of the residential buildings in Europe date back to before 1945, nearly half of them have historical value, and of this latter, 73% are located in cities, which is precisely where the alrgest carbon footprint is made.
From now on, will you see Heritage with an additional view further than cultural, religious and tourist ones? Another thing for you to know.
1 In line with UNESCO and ICOMOS usage related to tangible heritage, conservation is considered as the umbrella term to cover a range of preservation, conservation, restoration, (re)use, interpretation and management activities.
