SARESE

Symbiotic Autonomous Robot Ecosystem for Sustainable Environments

Overview

Symbiotic Autonomous Robotic Ecosystem for Sustainable Environments (SARESE) is a groundbreaking collaboration between The University of Manchester, the University of Glasgow, Bristol Robotics Laboratory, and the University of the West of England. The project focuses on advancing robotic cyber-physical systems and digital twins for critical mission environments. Originally launched as a virtual collaboration during the COVID-19 pandemic, the project team convened in August 2022 for a five-day technical sprint at the RAICo1 Facility in Whitehaven, West Cumbria, UK. This intensive sprint involved more than 20 engineers and researchers working to implement a fleet of robots and their digital twins in a simulated nuclear facility environment. The project’s outcomes include three research articles published in high-impact journals, marking significant contributions to the field of robotics and sustainable technologies.

Contribution

As a postdoctoral researcher, I led my sub-group in the development and integration of digital twins for each robotic platform and the primary environment. After the technical sprint, I continued improving on the user interface by developing a package based on the ROS-Unity framework. This included implementing various interface modes, such as a default flat-screen environment and a virtual reality environment, to improve situational awareness. As part of my research, I conducted a comprehensive user study (heuristic evaluation) involving nuclear robot operators from Sellafield in the UK and the Japan Atomic Energy Agency in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. The findings of this study were published in the tier-1 Journal of Field Robotics (Wiley). Additionally, I provided technical project management support to the team and served as the Scrum Master during the technical sprints, ensuring effective coordination and task execution.

Project team during the SARESE research sprint

Publications

• Cyber-physical-human systems for mobile robots in energy asset management: Current practices and future opportunities
  Energy and AI, 100570 (2025)
  Mitchell, D.; Baniqued, P.D.E.; Kivrak, H.; Blanche, J.; Bremner, P.A.; Harper, S.; Jiang, Z.; Lopez Pulgarin, E.J.; Paterson, J.; Carrasco, J.; et al.
• Multimodal immersive digital twin platform for cyber-physical robot fleets in nuclear environments
  Journal of Field Robotics 41(5), 1521-1540 (2024)
  Baniqued, P.D.E.; Bremner, P.; Sandison, M.; Harper, S.; Agrawal, S.; Bolarinwa, J.; Blanche, J.; Jiang, Z.; Johnson, T.; Mitchell, D.; et al.
• Lessons learned: Symbiotic autonomous robot ecosystem for nuclear environments
  IET Cyber-Systems and Robotics 5(4), e12103 (2023)
  Mitchell, D.; Baniqued, P.D.E.; Zahid, A.; West, A.; Nouri Rahmat Abadi, B.; Lennox, B.; Liu, B.; Kizilkaya, B.; Flynn, D.; Francis, D.J.; et al.