RAMI: an Inspection and Maintenance Competition for Underwater Robots

Abstract

In this paper we describe the Robotics for Asset Maintenance and Inspection (RAMI), a competition focused on Inspection and Maintenance (I&M) tasks for aerial and underwater robots. RAMI is one of the four challenge-led robotic competitions of Metrological Evaluation and Testing of Robots in International CompetitionS (METRICS) European project. It fosters the use of advanced perception and autonomy in I&M missions. Autonomy has the potential of increasing the spatial/temporal resolution of the inspection process, hence improving the operation persistence and the quality of the collected data. We report about the RAMI events dedicated to marine robots, which are organised by the NATO STO Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE) at La Spezia, Italy, in its protected sea water basin. In particular, we describe the challenge and the results of the 2022 season. RAMI challenges autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) in missions to be conducted in an Oil&Gas mock-up scenario, characterised by real-world conditions. The first field event was organised at CMRE in July 2022, and was accompanied, for the first time for CMRE, by a cascade competition (based on acquired data). The overall objective is to form new generations of researchers in the development of smarter robotic solutions for the vibrant Oil&Gas sector, and to expand the scoring method used in the European Robotics League (ERL) events to a metrological evaluation, in order to enable robotic system’s benchmarking. In the paper, we describe both competitions and our efforts to launch RAMI events after the COVID-19 pandemic.