ACIDRONES, the EU-funded project supported by Rima Network (Grant agreement ID: 824990), ends this month. This project has been carried out by VES and Buqueland, two companies from the south of Spain with international projection. This innovative project combined artificial intelligence systems with virtual reality and aerial robotics.
During the last year we have succeeded in developing a prototype aircraft that can perform ship inspections. The aircraft has manipulation capabilities, so it is able to take measurements as reliable as a human. In this final phase of the project, the team has validated and demonstrated the performance of the system in several relevant environments. It has been flown on the hull of a ship in the port of Sotogrande, and has been tested inside and outside ship-like tanks.
VES is a young technological spin-off based in the south of Spain. Since it’s born in 2019, it has provided inspection services with drones for the industry. The company, with basement in Algeciras, accounts with an engineering team in Seville, which has the support of CATEC and the University of Seville, pioneers in the research of unmanned aerial systems. VES has participated previously in national and international projects such as AERIAL-CORE or ICDRONE.
Buqueland is a company based in Cadiz with a presence in the industry over Spain and in many international industries in the world. It offers Complete services of Quality, Inspection, and Control by non-destructive testing, and dimensional control. Buqueland operates in both new and in-use facilities and constructions in sectors such as industrial, maritime, offshore, Eolic, and petrochemical. Moreover, the company has collaborated with the University of Cadiz in a research project in the use of X-Ray techniques for inspection of ships and cargo.
