The evolution of service robotics applied to the smart cities of the future to guarantee more liveable and safer cities This is the topic of the meeting “Droni: prospettive di ricerca e scenari applicativi (Drones: research prospects and application scenarios)”, promoted today by the Polytechnic University of Turin and Telecom Italia in the Piedmont capital, with the aim of outlining the state of innovation in the sector, from a legal and regulatory point of view too.
This initiative, the fruit of collaboration between the two parties, aims to experiment, for the first time in Italy, the use of Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) - so-called “drones”- as instruments for monitoring security in smart cities. Thanks to the Cloud Robotics platform, it will in fact be possible to manage next generation drones from a control centre, residing within the TIM 4G mobile network, and supply innovative “Fly4Smart City” services such as environmental monitoring, or the control of urban spaces where citizens will be able to live in greater safety (for example public parks).
This project, implemented by the Telecom Italia Joint Open Lab CRAB (Connected Robotics Applications laB) and the Department of Electronics and Telecommunications at the Polytechnic University of Turin, finds valid application in all urban contexts where drones could become an integral part of the objects connected to the web, representing in this way one of the most significant emerging technological trends, capable of aiding the performance of specific activities in emergency or danger situations too.
Today's meeting, held in Turin at the city's Polytechnic University, was attended by Marco Gilli, Rector of the Polytechnic University of Turin, Cesare Sironi, Head of Innovation Telecom Italia, Riccardo Delise, Program Manager RPA ENAC (Italian Civil Aviation Authority), Fulvia Quagliotti, Associate Professor Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering - DIMEAS (Polytechnic University of Turin), Juan Carlos De Martin, Co-Founder and Co-Director of the NEXA Center for Internet & Society Department of Control and Computer Engineering - DAUIN (Polytechnic University of Turin), Monica A. Senor, partner "Studio Legale Catalano Penalisti Associati" law firm, Davide Scaramuzza, Professor of Robotics at the Artificial Intelligence Lab, Zurich university. The two people in charge of the project Marcello Chiaberge, Adjunct Professor Department of Electronics and Telecommunications – DET (Polytechnic University of Turin) and Marco Gaspardone, Head of Telecom Italia Joint Open Lab CRAB illustrated the project's progress.
Turin, 7 July 2014
