Cyborgs are back: Tatarstan made the unmanned route at KAMAZ and ENICS
Tatarstan participated in the International Industrial Trade Fair Innoprom, which is considered to be the main platform of innovation and industry in Russia. On the second day of Innoprom-2016 the Minister of Industry and Trade of Tatarstan Albert Karimov presented the projects of future economic epoch – the developments of unmanned vehicles. We should not expect the mass use of them in businesses in the nearest future, however, it is expected the receiving of federal subsidies in the supervisory body, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation.
The first Tatarstan signatory of Innoprom-2016
On Tuesday, the International Industrial Trade Fair Innoprom-2016 continued its work at the exhibition center Ekaterinburg-Expo. The second day was distinguished by the extensive business programme, which included the signing of many important agreements, the participation in business forums, the plenary discussions. Thus, the chairperson of the Board of the Engineering Cluster of Tatarstan Sergey Mayorov signed a cooperation agreement with the president of the Russian Association of Robotics Vitaly Nevelsky. The agreement provides the exchange of commercial, technical and other information in the field of industrial and service robotics and mechanical engineering. As Sergey Mayorov told Realnoe Vremya, the annual turnover of the mechanical engineering cluster, which unites 79 companies of small and medium businesses of RT, has reached 20 billion rubles, which give the possibility to replace manual labour in factories by automated robots. This was the first agreement of Tatarstan at Innoprom-2016.
But the main event of the day was the meeting of the Industry Coordination Council chaired by the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia Denis Manturov, which was attended by the key speakers of the forum. The main agenda was the development of the industrial Internet in Russia. However, the participants significantly transformed the original topic, looking at it through the prism of a fantastic future of the 'hardware' production. The Minister of Industry and Trade Albert Karimov said that 'Industry 4.0 is the transition to the creation of Smart Factories, where each component of the production system will become an active user of the Internet'. 'In the smart factories the machines will understand their environment and will be able to communicate through the single network protocol with each other, as well as with logistics and business systems of the suppliers and the consumers. Such system is able to control the production process without human intervention,' he said.
Anyway, these introduction words were only the prelude to the presentation of the main thesis of Karimov. He declared that Tatarstan is going to strengthen its competencies in the development of unmanned vehicles in the framework of the implementation of the projects of the National Technology Initiative.
Despite the apparent commercial virtuality, this direction is strongly supported by the federal authorities. Last fall, four 'road maps' of the National Technology Initiative (NTI) were approved by the Presidium of the Council for Economic Modernization and Innovative Development headed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. From the budget for their implementation it was promised to allocate 10 billion rubles in exchange for that the first projects of unmanned vehicles must begin to operate in 2016. However, it is unknown when this money will be allocated, but, judging by the frequency of discussions of this topic at major federal forums, the defence is still ahead.
Unmanned experiments of Tatarstan
The Minister of Industry and Trade Albert Karimov reported on all achievements in this field. According to him, now the active research in the field of automation of vehicles is carried out by KAMAZ PJSC, which has developed a prototype of an unmanned vehicle. 'A year ago the company began the first testing of the unmanned vehicle. The company by 2020 plans to start the production of experimental-industrial batches of long-haul tractors and buses with a system of ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) for transportation on fixed routes. In 2017, it is planned to produce the first robotic vehicles for emergency ministry, in 2018 — robotic chassis KAMAZ for the mining industry'.
According to Albert Karimov, Kazan companies such as the Scientific-Production Association Experimental Design Bureau named after M. P. Simonov JSC , ENIKS CJSC and Experimental Design Bureau Aviaresheniya have the competencies in the field of development and production of unmanned aircraft systems for various purposes. In particular, Experimental Design Bureau (OKB) named after M. P. Simonov is developing the project 'The creation and putting into operation of the complex of aerial monitoring of extended infrastructure of the Arctic and other regions on the basis of unmanned aircrafts with a takeoff weight of more than 7 tonnes'. It is important that the project received a positive assessment of the Expert Council of the National Technology Initiative AeroNet. ENIKS focuses on the development of the complexes of short-range aerial reconnaissance, which are also supplied to the stations 'North pole'. The company Aviaresheniya has competences in the field of development of unmanned aircraft-complex for agriculture. Presumably, this fall the company will present the first model of the complex for spraying the fields with chemical solutions. The company Cognitive Technologies works for the needs of agriculture: together with the manufacturer of combine harvesters Rostselmash and the agro holding Soyuz-Agro they are implementing the project for the creation of 'smart' agricultural holding Agropolis. The aim of the project is the creation of unmanned tractors and combines, the first industrial prototypes of which will be developed until 2018. In short, by this time, and perhaps earlier, Tatarstan will have presented the practical results of their experiments. It is possible already now those equipment is being developed that will be necessary after 10 years.
'Blind spots' of Albert Karimov
Albert Karimov also mentioned 'the blind spots' that may hinder the rapid development of the market of unmanned vehicles. 'For the development of breakthrough innovative technologies we must have at least a breakthrough legislation. Unmanned cars must legally be tested on public roads, and unmanned aerial vehicles — in the air,' he said.
Albert Karimov: 'Unmanned cars must legally be tested on public roads, and unmanned aerial vehicles — in the air.' Photo: Maksim Platonov
The problem of training the certificated basis for the use of unmanned aircrafts in the common (unsegregated) airspace has not been solved yet. Now in Tatarstan at the OKB named after Simonov it has been developed the certification basis of unmanned aircrafts with a takeoff weight of up to 7.5 tonnes. The specified certification basis will ensure the creation of systems for air monitoring of infrastructure objects and transport communications.
Speaking about the issue of driving safety of the unmanned vehicles on the roads, he noted the absence of so-called 'smart' roads and, as a consequence, the necessity to provide the roads with intelligent systems. Meanwhile, the experts believe that for unmanned vehicles it will be enough to 'see' fresh, wear-resistant markings and clear signs that will always be accurately read by the machines.