ELROB 2016
About
The military ELROB, which takes place for the sixth time now, enables you to get a glance at the latest R&D in the area of unmanned outdoor/off-road ground systems. The scenarios have been developed in closest co-operation with the military users and reflect the up-to-date requirements of the forces. This event offers the fantastic opportunity to mingle with the international experts from the user community, the industry and the R&D sector.
ELROB is a strictly non-profit activity! The event is organized and carried out only by non-profit organisations. All participation fees are completely redistributed among the participants to cover travel expenses.
The event will be accompanied by a comprehensive exhibition.
Important
Visitors must register in advance! For details see the How-to.
News
The official ELROB catalogue is available for download now. It provides lots of background information regarding the event, its organisers and the participating teams.
Have a look at the new ELROB 2016 promo video: https://youtu.be/h4rhdZ_MXf8
A couple of notable robotics manufacturers will offer special hardware discounts for ELROB participants:
- Clearpath Robotics is very excited to support the ELROB with an exclusive discount on the rugged Husky UGV and Grizzly RUV for competition participants. For additional details, please contact Clearpath directly at info@clearpathrobotics.com.
- Cobham is proud to support the ELROB 2016 with an exclusive discount on the new telemax R&D. Also available will be the sophisticated autonomy module which will give you unprecedented assistance in handling your EOD robot. For additional details, please contact Cobham/Telerob directly at andreas.ciossek@cobham.com.
- ELP is proud to support the R&D robotics community. We offer custom configurations for all ELROB 2016 visitors and participants from Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg. For additional details, please contact ELP directly at elp@elp-gmbh.de.
- MacroUSA is happy to offer a 25% discount over their MSRP on the robot line to all ELROB participants. For additional details, please contact MacroUSA directly at robin@macrousa.com.
- Med-Eng is very pleased to support the ELROB community by offering Remotely Operated Vehicles that can be configured to meet specific operational requirements. We invite ELROB delegates to learn more about our ROV Integrated Sensor Suite (ROVISS) capabilities for the deployment of most sensors used in EOD and Counter-IED missions. For additional details, please contact Med-Eng directly at med-engsales@safariland.com.
- Proytecsa is very happy to offer a discount to support the ELROB community. Please visit www.proytecsa.net to discover our unique features for C-IED missions and contact us to get a detailed proposal at info@proytecsa.net.
- Robotnik is supporting the ELROB offering to the participating teams some discounts in acquiring platforms like mobile robots and mobile manipulators. For additional details please visit http://www.robotnik.eu/robotnik-supports-elrob-2016-teams-with-discounts-on-their-robots/.
Organisers
The Austrian Armed Forces
The Austrian Armed Forces form the armed power of the Republic of Austria. Their Commander-in-Chief is the Austrian Federal President, while the Minister of Defence and Sports exercises his power of supreme command by way of his offices and subordinated commanders. In times of peace, the Army comprises professional soldiers, further employees and conscripts. The task force organisation also includes militia soldiers. The Armed Forces are divided into the air force, landbased and special forces. As a member nation of many international organisations, Austria is contributing to joint international peace keeping effort. Since 1960, more than 100,000 Austrian troops and civilian helpers have been participating in more than 50 international peace support and humanitarian missions. Since the end of the Cold War the number of missions has been growing rapidly. In addition to classical peace-keeping or peace support operations there is now a growing number of humanitarian and disaster relief operations to be taken care of.
Centre of Excellence for Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD COE)
EOD COE is one of the tools of the NATO Supreme Allied Command for Transformation aiming to improve military capabilities, value and efficiency throughout the Alliance and for the benefit of NATO partners. It deals with the whole EOD/IEDD spectrum as advise, expertise, support, EOD info management and EOD tasks. Its ambition is to become a multinational hub for EOD/IEDD issues, bearing on four pillars (education and training, technology management doctrine and standardization, lessons learned) likewise to provide support to NATO operations and transformation efforts with EOD expertise and assist in development of NATO wide EOD/IEDD tactics, techniques and procedures while remaining current in technology development as well as to improve relations, interoperability and a practical cooperation with partners, NATO command elements, member countries and international organization in the area of EOD.
Fraunhofer Institute for Communication, Information Processing and Ergonomics FKIE
The Cognitive Mobile Systems Department of the Fraunhofer Institute for Communication, Information Processing and Ergonomics FKIE is actively researching in the area of unmanned systems for more than 20 years. Our main expertise is the development and evaluation of complex human-robot systems. The main focus is on RSTA and CBRNE-reconnaissance missions using heterogeneous multi-robot systems. Working with such multi-robot systems is a competitive task for the operator. Even a single robot utilizes several different sensors and provides a high degree of mobility, which all need to be controlled by the operator.
CMS approaches this challenge through intelligent assistance functions. The operator is supported by these assistance functionalities on all levels, ranging from navigating a single robot to complex planning problems of multi-robot systems. Our key skill is the development of innovative tools for human-robot interaction and cooperation. For this purpose new developments are constantly integrated in experimental systems and evaluated in co-operation with security authorities and organizations as well as the military.
NATO IST-107-RTG-052
This NATO Research Task Group on „Standards Promoting Interoperability for Coalition UGVs“ validates UGV standards issued by the previous RTG on „Applied Interoperability and Autonomy for Military Unmanned Systems“. The specified STANAGs and other standards will be implemented on physical robots. The mission goal is the acquisition of ISR data and the storage and publication of this data such that it is available to coalition members. The RTG will reach these objectives via a staged process, where each demonstration stage builds upon the previous. The stages include the definition of the ISR mission, the implementation of the standards, their implementation and test on a single physical robot, and finally an implementation and test within a coalition environment. The result will emerge in a „Concept Capability Demonstrator“ that shows the interoperability between the involved systems.
Currently, the following nations are involved in this activity: Germany, Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, Canada, Poland and Finland.
European Robotics
European Robotics is a non-profit organization, which aims to bridge the gap between users‘ requests, industry activities and current research in the field of Hazardous Materials Incident Response Operations (HAZOPER) – all with a special focus on ground robotics. Any interested party is invited to take part and contribute. All activities of European Robotics are carried out on a purely honorary and complimentary basis.
To promote new and future-oriented innovations, European Robotics has been the scientific co-organiser of the European Land-Robot Trials (ELROB) since the foundation if this robotic competition in the year 2006. On the one hand, members of European Robotics always play an active part in the scenario and task design. On the other hand, European Robotics awards special Innovation Prizes for the ELROB participants. The purpose of these prizes is to support new ways of solving the challenges at hand and to reward impressive and novel scientific solutions as well as their practical implementations and integrations in robust and functioning robot systems usable for the HAZOPER domain.
European Robotics is a co-operation between representatives of potential end-users, industry and smaller manufacturers, and the research community.
Chief Judge Team
Prof. Dr. Henrik I. Christensen
- KUKA Chair of Robotics at the College of Computing
- Director of the Center for Robotics and Intelligent Machines
Dr.-Ing. Michael Gustmann
- Operations Manager of Kerntechnischer Hilfsdienst GmbH
Grzegorz Motak
- Lieutenant Colonel POL Army
- NATO EOD Centre of Excellence, Deputy Head of Technology Department
Joan and Kenneth Pink
- C.Eng C.MarEng M.I.MechE M.I.MarEST A. I
- ExpE Snr Project Engineer and technical lead for QinetiQ’s Project GHOST
Dr. Frank E. Schneider
- Fraunhofer FKIE, Head of European Robotics
- Chair of NATO RTG-042 / IST-089
Special Guests
Albert Efimov
- Head of the Centre for Robotics Studies at Skolkovo Foundation
- Head of Skolkovo Fund Robotic Center
Prof. Sergey Tsarichenko
- Head of Robotics Centre of the All Russian Fire Research Institute
- Ministry of Russian Federation for Civil Defense
Prof. Alexander Lopota
- Director and Chief Designer of the Central Research Institute of Robotics and Technical Cybernetics
Sponsors
Schedule & Deadlines
Important Deadlines:
Registration for participation:
7 February 2016 (extended)
Registration for the exhibition:
20 April 2016
Advertisements in the ELROB Catalogue:
1 May 2016
Registration for visitors:
20 May 2016
Preliminary Schedule:
Mon, 20 Jun | Tue, 21 Jun | Wed, 22 Jun | Thu, 23 Jun | Fri, 24 Jun |
---|---|---|---|---|
Official Opening Ceremony 10:00 - 11:00 | Urban Recon 9:00 - 17:30 | Mule / Transport 9:00 - 17:30 | Search & Rescue / MedEvac 9:00 - 17:30 | Departure Teams and Exhibitors 9:00 - 11:00 |
Team Briefing Convoying 11:00 - 11:30 | EOD / IED 9:00 - 17:30 | EOD / IED 9:00 - 17:30 | EOD / IED 9:00 - 17:30 | |
Convoying / Movements 11:30 - 17:30 | ||||
Exhibition / Static Display 9:00 - 17:30 | Exhibition / Static Display 9:00 - 17:30 | Exhibition / Static Display 9:00 - 17:30 | Exhibition / Static Display 9:00 - 17:30 | |
Team Briefing Urban Recon 17:30 - 18:00 | Team Briefing Mule 18:00 - 18:30 | Team Briefing MedEvac 18:00 - 18:30 | ||
Get-Together 18:00 - 20:00 | Social Event BBQ 19:00 - 22:00 | Award Ceremony & Farewell 18:30 - 19:30 |
Please keep in mind that this schedule is preliminary. Check regularly for changes!
Schedule & Deadlines
Important Deadlines:
Registration for participation:
15 February 2022
Registration for visitors:
1 May 2022
Preliminary Schedule:
Team Arrival, Exhibition Setup, Preparations and Tests
Official Opening Ceremony
Team Briefing Convoying
Convoying / Movements
Exhibition / Static Display
Team Briefing Urban Recon
Get-Together
Urban Recon
EOD / IED
Exhibition / Static Display
Team Briefing Mule
Social event BBQ
Mule / Transport
EOD / IED
Exhibition / Static Display
Team Briefing MedEvac
Search & Rescue / MedEvac
EOD / IED
Exhibition / Static Display
Award Ceremony & Farewell
Departure Teams and Exhibitors
Please keep in mind that this schedule is preliminary. Check regularly for changes!
Scenarios
Regarding the scenarios we can give you a first glimpse:
Reconnoitring of structures
Reconnaissance and disposal of bombs and explosive devices (EOD/IED)
In order to take part in this scenario make sure that you fully read and understand the radiation protection instructions. Every team member has to confirm that by signature before entering the scenario!
Instructions how to build your own radiation detector for the scenario can be found using „PIN Diode Geiger Counter“ as input for your favourite search engine, see example.
Participating Teams
The number of teams is strictly limited to 20. The deadline for team applications has been extended to February 15th, 2022!
Team | Convoying / Movements | Urban Recon | Mule / Transport | Search & Rescue / MedEvac | Bomb Disposal (EOD/IED) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
ELP | x | x | x | ||
AVRORA | x | x | x | x | |
IMM | x | ||||
Cobham | x | x | x | ||
bebot | x | x | x | ||
FKIE | x | x | |||
ARTOR | x | ||||
MuCAR | x | x | |||
Smart Military Vehicles | x | x | |||
NIC Instruments | x | ||||
Austrian Technology | x | x | x | x | x |
TNO – NLD EODD | x | x | |||
activeROBOTICX | x | x | x |
Click on the team names to get detailed team information.
Participating Teams
- Convoying / Movements
- Urban Recon
- Mule / Transport
- Search & Rescue / MedEvac
- Bomb Disposal (EOD/IED)
Official Results
Scenario | Winner |
---|---|
Transport / Convoying | 1. MuCAR, 2.Smart Military Vehicles, 3. Austrian Technology |
Reconnoitring of urban structures | 1. Cobham, 2. TNO – NLD EODD, 3. Austrian Technology |
Transport / Mule | 1. MuCAR, 2. Smart Military Vehicles, 3. ARTOR |
Search & Rescue (SAR) / MedEvac | 1. Cobham, 2. ELP Kobra, 3. ELP |
The ELROB 2016 trials have been evaluated based on a publicly available scoring scheme which can be downloaded here. Detailed result tables for all scenarios are available here. For further information have a look at the official rules.
Additional rewards in the following categories
- Best Scientific Solution: ARTOR
- Best Creative Solution: TNO – NLD EODD
- Best Team Effort: Austrian Technology
How-To and Rules
How to register as a visitor:
- Download and fill in the Visitor Registration Form.
- Return the form directly to the local organizer.
- Download and fill in the Photograph, Video and Documentation Release Form.
How to register as an exhibitor:
- Download the Static Display Information and contact the local organizers. Further details can be found on the Static Display section.
How to apply for participation:
- Visit web site and read scenario descriptions and rules.
- Fill in and sign the Team Application. Send the document to the POC.
- Fill in and sign all of the following forms (Team Information and Scenario Selection, Vehicle Specification Sheet, Radio Specification Sheet) and send the documents to the POC.
- Wait for confirmation.
- Fill in and sign all of the following forms (Team Membership Roster, Technical Paper, Photograph, Video and Documentation Release Form) and send the documents to the POC.
- Pay the non-refundable registration fee of 500€ (resp. 250€ for early registered university teams).
- (Optional) Provide material for the ELROB catalogue.
Official Rules:
A draft version (12 May 2016) of the ELROB competition rules can be found here.
Exhibition / Static Display
ELROB offers the possibility to present robotics-related products and equipment in an accompanying display, which consists of an exhibition (static display) and live demonstrations (dynamic display). This exhibition will take place in parallel to the trials ( see schedule ), i.e. 20 – 24 June 2016.
We offer you:
- different sizes of exhibition tents at the static display – and/or
- the possibility to participate in the dynamic display. There you can actively present your material and interact with the audience.
The fee for the static display at ELROB 2016 will depend on the requested exhibition size and the further equipment you need (desk, chairs, catering etc.). Participation in the dynamic display is free of charge. See Static Display Information for details or contact the local organizer.
Venue and Travel Information
Venue:
The event will take place at the ABC- & Katastrophenhilfeübungsplatz „Tritolwerk“, a CBRNE trainig facility of the Austrian Armed Forces in Eggendorf, Austria.
Location:
Exact position of the ELROB 2016 area on OpenStreetMap!
Accommodation:
There are many hotels in Wiener Neustadt, e.g.
Transport:
By plane: International Airport Wien-Schwechat (VIE)
Distance to Tritolwerk is about 55km.
By train: Austrian Federal Railways
Closest stops to Tritolwerk: Theresienfeld or Obereggendorf, both about 2km away. From Wiener Neustadt Station it’s 8km by car, from Vienna Central Station 45km.