The ARGOS robotics challenge – the evaluation phase is under way
This challenge competition, funded entirely by Total, calls upon ANR’s expertise and know-how in the management of calls for proposals.
Placing teams in competition with one another is central to the “challenge competition” funding instrument proposed by ANR, the aim of which is to encourage several teams to work simultaneously on the same given subject. The aim is to bring them to compare their respective approaches to a given scientific application or question. This instrument is therefore designed to stimulate creativity through the very notion of challenge put out to the teams and thus foster the establishing of benchmarks and standards for the comparison of scientific work.
Initiated in December 2013, ARGOS promotes the emergence of a new generation of autonomous or remote-controlled surface robots capable of moving around on onshore or offshore production sites, in potentially explosive environments, and of feeding back information.
31 files have been submitted to ANR by teams from 15 countries, thereby bearing witness to the international appeal of the programme. A number of projects are coordinated by foreign researchers. Unlike the conventional calls launched by ANR, Total will fund both the French and foreign partners.
Peer evaluation and equity of treatment
The ongoing evaluation process, which is based on both ad hoc peer reviews and the work of an evaluation panel, focuses above all on criteria of scientific excellence. The steering committee comprising qualified prominent figures from academic, industrial and institutional spheres, and members of Total will propose a list of projects to be funded by the company on the basis of the work of the evaluation panel.
The three to five selected teams will each receive the same minimum funding of €500k from Total. Three competitions will be organised in succession by Total with the teams to test the different modes of robot functioning.
