CZECH BUSINESS AND TRADE
chitecture of chassis parts using lightweight constructions, drives and accumulators as well as research in the field of control systems of autonomous utility electric vehicles using Augmented Reality (AR) or Internet of Things for cooperation with other subjects. The project ends in 2022, at which time a functional prototype of a modular autonomous commercial electric vehicle should be developed in Liberec, which will contribute to higher productivity in freight transport, higher level of safety and, last but not least, lower environmental impact.
n SAMPLING ROBOT FOR
PRIMARY CIRCUIT PIPELINES OF DECOMMISSIONED NUCLEAR FACILITIES
A challenge for the not so distant future in many countries of the world will also be the dismantling of old nuclear power plants.
The lifetime of pressurized water-cooled nuclear reactors is about 50 years. Although it can be prolonged at the expense of large investments, it is necessary to prepare for their shut down in advance. For example it is being talked of the Czech nuclear power plant Dukovany shutting down around 2035–2037. Scientists from the CxI in cooperation with ONS Řež, a. s. developed a robot that can take samples from the primary circuit of a nuclear reactor and deliver them for radioactivity analysis. The unique robotic equipment is thus designed to help detect
radioactivity before and after decontamination, which will precede the dismantling of decommissioned nuclear power plants not only in the Czech Republic, but anywhere in the world. A robot designed to move in the pipeline is equipped with two independent telescopic brush probes for sampling. “We have chosen a brush with diamond grains as the sampling probe. It has sufficient hardness and durability to be able to grind the inner surface of the steel pipe even with possible deposits. At the same time, there is no undesirable contamination of the sample with abrasives, because the diamond in its nature is a crystalline carbon. In addition, brushing produces fine dust samples that are ideal for analysis” says František Novotný, Head of the CxI Department of Mechatronic Systems, who is in charge of developing a unique robot. When the robot returns from a pipeline, a worker in protective clothing can easily
remove the brushes and replace them with new probes. Experts from the CxI and ÚJV Řež worked on its development within the
project Knowledge Base for Decommissioning of Nuclear Power Plants, which is co-financed by the European Union.
n AUGMENTED REALITY CxI is one of the few Czech scientific workplaces that work with Microsoft HoloLens glasses for AR. For one of the car design companies, CxI scientists are developing for example a prototype scene for the preparation of a clay model of the car. The HoloLens designer's field of vision displays a car of which voice and hand movements can change colour and components such as wheels, headlights, rear view mirrors, and so on. Special glasses not only provide a realistic look at the future visage, but also lead to a significant cost reduction in prototype preparation. In addition, this environment can easily be designed to function as a virtual showroom in which
the end customer simply “projects” and selects the components of their car. All of this can be done in a classic virtual environment, but as Jan Kočí, the Head of Research from the CxI Laboratory of System Integration, points out: “the ability to change viewpoints and browse through visible 3D space gives the whole process dynamism and a great deal of flexibility.“ CXI in cooperation with CTU also investigates a construction, engineering project where AR should be applied in all phases of construction, beginning with the project and integration into BIM tools to the comparison of the projected state with the real one. AR is also planned to be used in the passportization of older buildings and digitization of their actual condition.
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