The main objective of AERIAL-CORE is the development of core technology modules and an integrated aerial cognitive robotic system that will have unprecedented capabilities on the operational range and safety in the interaction with people, or Aerial Co-Workers (ACW), for applications such as the inspection and maintenance of large infrastructures. The project will integrate aerial robots with different characteristics to meet the requirements of: (1) Long range (several kilometres) and local very accurate (subcentimetre) inspection of the infrastructure capability; (2) Maintenance activities based on aerial manipulation involving force interactions; and (3) Aerial co-working safely and efficiently helping human workers in inspection and maintenance. AERIAL-CORE technology modules will be based on Cognitive Mechatronics and apply cognitive capabilities to aerial morphing in order to combine long range endurance and hovering for local observations, manipulation involving force interactions, and co-working with humans. The project will develop: (1) Cognitive functionalities for aerial robots including perception based on novel sensors, such as event cameras, and data fusion techniques, learning, reactivity, fast on-line planning, and teaming; (2) Aerial platforms with morphing capabilities, to save energy in long range flights and perform a very accurate inspection; (3) Cognitive aerial manipulation capabilities, including manipulation while flying, while holding with one limb, and while hanging or perching to improve accuracy and develop greater forces; (4) Cognitive safe aerial robotic co-workers capable of physical interaction with people; and (5) Integrated aerial robotic system for the inspection and maintenance of large infrastructures. The system will be demonstrated in electrical power system inspection and maintenance, which is an application with a huge economic impact that also has implications in the safety of workers and in wildlife conservation.

Ventricular tachycardia (VT) is an unpredictable and potentially deadly condition and should be promptly treated with catheter ablation and medication, before irreversible and potentially fatal organ damage follows. Unfortunately, this combination of treatments does not prevent VT reoccurrence in 30-50% of VT patients and while they can undergo multiple invasive ablations, technical difficulties or refusal of the patient can lead to a lack of effective treatment options. A promising novel, non-invasive treatment option for VT is stereotactic arrhythmia radioablation (STAR). Besides being non-invasive, STAR can also be used to reach locations that are inaccessible for catheter ablation, which may potentially improve effectiveness of overall VT treatment. Small scale first in men/early phase trials have been performed for STAR, providing proof-of-concept for clinical safety and efficacy. However, patients with recurrent VT are not a homogenous group and each center deals with different inclusion criteria, imaging and/or target definition. Many questions remain and the available studies lack the power to clinically validate the approach and prepare for late stage phase III trials. The STOPSTORM consortium sets out to consolidate all current and future European efforts to clinically validate STAR treatment by merging all data in a validation cohort study, standardising pre-treatment and follow-up, in order to collect the data sets and statistical power needed to unanimously establish clinical safety, efficacy and benefit for STAR. The STOPSTORM consortium also sets out to refine protocols and guidelines, determine volumes of interest, define and model the optimal target region and target dose, also in relation to surrounding healthy tissues (i.e. organs at risk) and determine which patient population and underlying cardiopathies respond best to STAR. By doing so the STOPSTORM consortium paves the way to consensus and future late stage clinical trials for STAR.