Chief of Staff of the Navy visits INESC TEC

Chief of Staff of the Navy visits INESC TEC

On 1 March, INESC TEC welcomed the Chief of Staff of the Navy (CEMA), Admiral Mendes Calado, and a large delegation, aiming at connecting this institution with some of the most recent projects developed in the sea area.

22nd April 2019

After a brief institution presentation of INESC TEC by the Chairman José Manuel Mendonça, the focus was placed on the topic “TEC4Sea and INESC TEC's initiatives related to the ocean”, where it was possible to recall the past successful collaboration with the Navy and to show the works developed to explore the deep sea. This explanation, which was presented by Vladimiro Miranda, Associate Director of INESC TEC and Manager of the International Relations Office, allowed to catalogue the technological solutions of INESC TEC in order to meet the current challenges of the ocean and the continental shelf extension.

The delegation also had the opportunity to visit INESC TEC’s Laboratory for Robotics and Autonomous Systems, which is located at the School of Engineering of Porto (ISEP), where they had the live opportunity to see some equipments that were previously presented: the three TURTLE platforms for the deepwater, the deepwater submarine named DART (4000 m), the coastal water submarine MARES, the robotic catamaran named ROAZ and the support equipments to the underwater mining like UNEXMIN and EVA, the latter being the one that has recently operated in Borba on the Navy’s request.

The Admiral of CEMA was also interested in the drone that was developed for the Spilless project to respond to oil spills, which is equipped to spread 30 kg of cargo soaked in bacteria in order to degrade hydrocarbon slick.

As a result of the visit, the Navy and INESC TEC should further narrow their cooperation ties, by broadening a scope that so far was focused on the Portuguese Navy Research Center (CINAV) and the Hydrographic Institute (IH).

The delegation that accompanied Admiral Mendes Calado, included the Director of the Navy Cultural Commission, Rear Admiral João Valente dos Santos; the Advisor for the Innovation, Captain Costa e Sousa; the Director of the Calouste Gulbenkian Planetarium, Captain Silva Ramos; the Head of Division of the Operations of the Navy Military Staff, Captain Rodrigues Pinto; from the Division of the Operations of the Navy Military Staff, Commandant Anjinho Mourinha; and the First Lieutenant Tristão de Brito.

The researchers mentioned in this news piece are associated with UP-FEUP.