Research projects on prestigious list
Top from left: Andreas Papadimitriou, George Nikolakopoulos and Jerker Delsing. Bottom from left: Jurate Kumpiene, Taoufik Najeh and Jan Lundberg.
Luleå University of Technology has four research projects at the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering' (IVA) 100 list 2022. This year's focus is technology in the service of humanity. The selected research projects are all considered to have significant potential to benefit through commercialization, business and method development or societal impact.
– Researchers and the business community need to find each other and collaborate on the societal challenges we face. With the 100 list, we build bridges between academia and business that provide research that has the potential to change the world greater opportunity to be turned into actual benefit, says Tuula Teeri, IVA's president.
This year's research projects are, according to IVA's criteria, selected for the list because they aim to "ensure that new and future innovations do not threaten but enable better management and distribution of the earth's limited resource; increased sustainability and circularity, increased equality, democracy, security, health and well-being of all mankind."
This is the fourth time that IVA presents the 100-list. The selected research projects from Luleå University of Technology 2022 are:
Arrowhead Tools
Europe's largest project for automation and digitization of industry, coordinated by Luleå University of Technology and involving 80 partners. Test applications show 30-95 percent lower costs or development time.
Arrowhead Tools has further developed a microservice architecture to also include the actual engineering process from specification to installation, maintenance, evolution and training. The microservice architecture is a cornerstone of simplified engineering that can take place both in design and run time, which is a major change compared to today's automation system.
Involved researchers highlighted by IVA are Jerker Delsing, Cristina Paniagua, Ulf Bodin, Olov Schelén and Jan Van Deventer.
– The appointment can create greater acceptance – our research really contributes with basic knowledge that benefits society, says Jerker Delsing, professor of Cyber-Physical Systems.
Human oriented Proximity Detection
Research for enabling safe and continuous mining machines operation in co-existence with humans.
To address the emerging need for a safe environment that allows autonomous vehicles and humans to co-exist in the mining industry, AI-based solutions for localization and proximity detection are a necessity. This research is enabling a totally novel framework for allowing a safe co-existence of Humans and mining machines, while ensuring for an autonomous and reactive operation from the machines towards a true synergy and seamless unification in day-to-day activities.
Highlighted by IVA are George Nikolakopoulos, professor of Robotics and AI, and doctoral student Andreas Papadimitriou.
– This is the fourth time in a row that we have been included in the IVA 100 list. I think it is a great honor for all the members of the Robotics and AI subject that contributed to this success, says George Nikolakopoulos.
– All these years we are putting a lot of effort into overcoming the existing limitations of the technology and to create new solutions. It is a great honor for us when our scientific work, in which we invest a great amount of time, is recognized and included in the IVA's 100 list, says Andreas Papadimitriou, doctoral student in Robotics and AI.
Risk-free contaminated sites – can we achieve that?
In Sweden, there are more than 80 000 potentially contaminated sites (areas of land) due to human activities. This project aims to develop soil remediation techniques which enable to treat contaminated soil on a large scale in a cost-efficient way by using low-voltage electrical current to spread iron oxides from corroding electrodes that bind contaminants in any type of soil, including complicated-to-treat clays. Using this principle, metal contaminants stay in soil, but are immobilized and “neutralized”, while organic contaminants get destroyed by electricity-induced formation of free radicals. Toxicity of immobilised metals is substantially reduced, which in turn decreases risks to human health and the environment.
Involved researcher highlighted by IVA is Jurate Kumpiene, professor of Waste Science and Technology.
– To be selected to IVA's 100 list is a great honor and confirms that our ideas and research can meaningfully contribute to the development of business and society at large, she says.
The Digital S&C
The project's goal is to strengthen the reliability and punctuality of train transport by implementing a digital condition monitoring solution.
Large and complex rail networks are vulnerable to adverse weather events and major shocks. There is no way to completely eliminate disruptions, but this project can improve passengers' and goods' resilience, provide redundancy to rail networks and implement digital monitoring solutions that keep the trains safe and a more sustainable public means of transport.
Involved researchers highlighted by IVA are Taoufik Najeh and Jan Lundberg.
– It is the biggest and most significant recognition so far in my career - thank you so much IVA, says Taoufik Najeh, researcher in Operation and Maintenance.
– It is very honoring for me that my project is noticed by IVA. My and Taoufik's work in the project has shown that my idea and invention is completely correct and has a great potential to be able to develop into a real innovation for the benefit of the railway, says Jan Lundberg, professor in Operation and Maintenance.