AI-controlled drone swarms to inspect wind turbines in the future

Traditionally, wind turbines have to be shut down before they can be inspected for damage. This means that these wind turbines do not generate energy during the shutdown period. Furthermore, inspection costs for wind turbines tend to be high. The DORBINE project, funded by the FFG, involves a research team from the University of Klagenfurt working with industrial partner AIR6 SYSTEMS to develop a new technology that uses artificial intelligence to control swarms of drones that inspect wind turbines while they are in operation.

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New patent for mini-helicopters that can operate autonomously for several days in a row

Drones that can monitor environments such as nature reserves for weeks on end, are no longer a far-off prospect: At the initiative of the California Institute of Technology, or Caltech for short (Pasadena, USA), five researchers, including three from the University of Klagenfurt, have now applied for a new technology patent in the USA.

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Modular sensor fusion receives the 2023 Innovation and Research Prize of the State of Carinthia

Stephan Weiss and Christian Brommer (from the Control of Networked Systems research group) have received the award in the category “Research Institutions” for their innovation “Modular Sensor Fusion”. The award was presented on 27 April by State Governor Peter Kaiser and KWF Executive Director Sandra Venus.

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Using robots to inspect and clean ships: Trials involving Wörtherseeschifffahrt vessels

Cleaning the hull of a container ship currently takes around eight days and costs between 100,000 and 200,000 euros. A team including researchers at the Department of Smart Systems Technologies aims to use autonomous robots for this task. Trials are currently underway on Lake Wörthersee.

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