ITHACA “AutomatIon of THe electricAl vehicle ChArging”
Developed under the 3rd Open Call of the H2020 Project SMART4ALL
The ITHACA project, developed under the SMART4ALL project, a collaboration between INFOCOM Ltd from Ukraine/Slovakia, IKEM CORP AD from Bulgaria, and Spain’s Centro Tecnológico de Automoción de Galicia (CTAG), aimed to automate the charging process of electric vehicles (EVs) using robotics. This initiative sought to enhance safety and efficiency, particularly benefiting vulnerable groups. The project incorporated technologies such as collaborative robotics, computer vision, 3D printing, and software development to enable automatic interaction with EV charging stations. INFOCOM Ltd, as the integrator, plans to incorporate the ITHACA solution into its UGV Chargers electric charging stations. The project concluded successfully after evaluation tests, as announced in January 2024. See also a video.
In ITHACA, a new solution based on the usage of a collaborative robot is proposed, using machine vision capabilities to detect the charging point, and using an ad-hoc gripper. The solution would be initially tested in pre-industrial facilities, and finally in a close-to-real scenario.
ITHACA is especially focused on vulnerable groups and also searching safety of the driver in certain situations, and efficiency in the process. Since the implementation of EVs and chargers will continue to exponentially increase in the next years, these kinds of functionalities are vital to give support to such sensitive social groups.