Yao Ren Robert Skilton
Piping systems that transport coolant and breeding fluid are naturally an essential part of the support system of the nuclear fusion power plants. Following a campaign of operations, the reactor is required to be shut down and maintained entirely. Pipes connected to the reactor components are to be cut, re-welded or re-joined, and inspected non-des…
PreprintWenxing Liu Hanlin Niu Robert Skilton Joaquin Carrasco
When transferring a Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) model from simulation to the real world, the performance could be unsatisfactory since the simulation cannot imitate the real world well in many circumstances. This results in a long period of fine-tuning in the real world. This paper proposes a self-supervised vision-based DRL method that al…
PurchaseAlice Cryer Alfie Sargent Fumiaki Abe Paul Dominick Baniqued Ipek Caliskanelli Hasan Kivrak Hanlin Niu Salvador Pacheco-Gutierrez Alexandros Plianos Masaki Sakamoto Tomoki Sakaue Wataru Sato Shu Shirai Yoshimasa Sugawara Harun Tugal Andika Yudha Robert Skilton
The maturation of Virtual Reality software introduces new avenues of nuclear decommissioning research. Digital Mockups are an emerging technology which provide a virtual representation of the environment, objects or processes, supporting the whole lifecycle of product development and operations. This paper provides a survey on currently available s…
PreprintAlice Cryer Alfie Sargent Fumiaki Abe Paul Dominick Baniqued Ipek Caliskanelli Hasan Kivrak Hanlin Niu Salvador Pacheco-Gutierrez Alexandros Plianos Masaki Sakamoto Tomoki Sakaue Wataru Sato Shu Shirai Yoshimasa Sugawara Harun Tugal Myles Verdon Andika Yudha Robert Skilton
The maturation of Virtual Reality software introduces new avenues of nuclear decommissioning research. Digital Mockups are an emerging technology which provide a virtual representation of the environment, objects or processes, supporting the whole lifecycle of product development and operations. This paper provides a survey on currently available …
PreprintOzan Tokatli Pragna Das Radhika Nath Luigi Pangione Alessandro Altobelli Guy Burroughes Robert Skilton
The nuclear industry has some of the most extreme environments in the world, with radiation levels and extremely harsh conditions restraining human access to many facilities. One method for enabling minimal human exposure to hazards under these conditions is through the use of gloveboxes which are sealed volumes with controlled access for perfor…
Preprint PublishedIpek Caliskanelli Matthew Goodliffe Craig Whiffin Michail Xymitoulias Edward Whittaker Swapnil Verma Robert Skilton
Maintenance and inspection systems for future fusion power plants (e.g., STEP and DEMO) are expected to require the integration of hundreds of systems from multiple suppliers, with lifetime expectancies of several decades, where requirements evolve over time and obsolescence management is required. There are significant challenges associated wit…
PreprintHarun Tugal Salvador Pacheco-Gutierrez Myles Verdon Ipek Caliskanelli Alfie Sargent Alice Cryer Ronan Kelly Alexandros Plianos Andika Yudha Qasim Kapasi Robert Skilton
Robotic systems that enable the operators to remotely manipulate delicate materials with high dexterity and sufficient force feedback will pave the path for improvements of the safe maintenance and decommissioning processes within the nuclear industry. Training the operators, however, for challenging conditions (e.g., low visibility, restricted …
Preprint PurchaseEmil T. Jonasson Jonathan Beouf Stephen Kyberd Robert Skilton
Just like most industrial or scientific installations, future fusion reactors will require more or less frequent maintenance. The expected environmental conditions, as well as the necessity of carrying out many maintenance tasks in parallel in result in remote robotic maintenance becoming a necessity in order to minimize the maintenance shutdown du…
Preprint PublishedEmil T. Jonasson Luis Ramos Pinto Alberto Vale Robert Skilton
Sensor technologies will play a key role in the success of Remote Maintenance (RM) systems for future fusion reactors such as ITER and DEMO. Understanding their limitations and suitability for use in a fusion context is crucial to the operation and maintenance of these reactors. In this paper, we evaluate three key types of sensor which are of p…
Preprint PublishedAlessandro Altobelli Ozan Tokatli Robert Skilton
In the last decades, several approaches have been presented to accomplish tasks with a robot or autonomous systems in a glovebox, nevertheless, in nuclear facilities, risky operations are still executed by humans that guarantee a high manipulation capability and dexterity. Inside the gloveboxes, robotic devices have to operate in cluttered envir…
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