Consortium developing world's first 'intelligent' surveillance robots

They will communicate using wired and wireless technologies, not only with other robots, but supporting tele and videoconference with humans as well. The €1.2million ROBVIGIL project was set up to establish robots that can work as extensions of human operators and be remotely guided in real time, reducing risks for surveillance workers. The robots will have a battery life 16-24 hours and can be recharged onsite. The consortium has been set up by a number of Portuguese companies and is targeting the global market. The team are looking to exploit recent advances and investments in New Generation Networks (NGN), which allow large amounts of information to be transmitted in real time via optical fibre or wireless. NGN makes it possible to turn robots into extensions of the operator and establishes what the consortium describes as 'a new paradigm of cooperation between humans and machines'. The project is an initiative of the National Strategic Reference Framework, co-financed by the European Fund for Regional Development, through the Operational Programme. The ROBVIGIL project has a two year duration and the first experimental units will reach the market in 2012.