The closure of the UNEXMIN H2020 project

UNEXMIN – Underwater Explorer for Flooded Mines – started in February 2016 and, after almost 4 years of progress, ends this October 31st. In the end the project has achieved what it promissed, supported by a multi-disciplinary team of European partners. The outcomes include, among others, the UX-1 prototypes, a new technology line made available to explorer flooded mines in a secure, cost efficient way and a robust and unique Inventory of Flooded Mines in Europe.

However, and despite the official closure of the UNEXMIN project naming, the team will continue to develop and perfect the technology to the needs of the market and customers. For this, a brand new project, that will bring the UX-1 technology line closer to the market is on the pipeline. Also, a joint company, supported by UNEXMIN’s partners will exploit the technology – and it is available for work!

Find below some of the most important achievements of the UNEXMIN project, if you want an overview of what the team has done and reached over the past 45 months.

Please continue to follow the UNEXMIN website for further news, as well as the social media channels. They will be kept alive with information whenever possible: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube.

Last but not least, the UNEXMIN team would like thank all of those who followed the project, who supported the development of the technology and who contributed to make UNEXMIN a reality and a success story in the European Raw Materials panorama.

For any inquiry, about the project and/or any business opportunity, please do not hesitate to contact the project team through the Contact form.

UNEXMIN joins PIPEBOTS and ROBOMINERS for a Joint Workshop

On the 17th of October 2019, the UNEXMIN, PIPEBOTS and ROBOMINERS projects organised a joint robotics workshop to discuss common challenges, find similarities and deliver plans for future collaboration.

First the three projects were present by their respective coordinators, which allowed all the participants to get a better understanding on the scope and worklines of each consortia. To this, a series of talks and discussions were held and it was during these that common challenges were found and ways for collaboration agreed upon. The 4 discussion themes focussed on 1) Robotics, 2) Sensing, 3) SLAM/Navigation and 4) Communications.

Before the end of the event Intellectual Property Rights issues, joint publications and even possible joint projects were discussed.

The three projects, including UNEXMIN (that despite ending soon wants to continue development), decided to meet again for more joint workshops following the success of this first attempt.

Time to wrap up and share results

After a 4-year journey, that started in the beginning of 2016, it is now time to finalise the UNEXMIN project. The results and outcomes from this innovative project are being put together, reports written, and the future decided. UNEXMIN officially ends on the 31st of October, but the project is going to stick around – although with a different look.

UNEXMIN has developed three robots, tested the technology in 5 trials around Europe, created a very comprehensive Inventory of Flooded Mines in Europe, produced dissemination material, organised a Final Conference and much more during the project lifetime. The consortium did its best to deliver what was promissed and the results and outcomes prove its success – UNEXMIN was recently considered a “H2020 success story”.

The project will end at the end of October, but until then there is still a lot to be done. Most notably, the consortium will deliver these reports:

  • Physical and VR models
  • Technology brokerage workshop
  • Research Roadmap
  • Project reports

A list of publicly available reports can be consulted and downloaded here.

After the official deadline, UNEXMIN will still be around, although with a different name. There is room and willingness to continue to develop the innovative exploration technology and the UX-1 robots while expanding the market for the technology there will be offered as a service. For this effect, a joint company was already created – UNEXMIN GeoRobotics.