Development of the Structural Simulator for the Calibration of the Virtual Reality Environment of the ITER Remote Handling Control System

Andrea Zoppoli; E. Kolokotronis; N. A.Pintos Cabrera; S. Esque; Hannu Saarinen; E. Ruiz Morales; D. Hamilton; G. Di Gironimo

doi:10.1109/TPS.2026.3700331

Development of the Structural Simulator for the Calibration of the Virtual Reality Environment of the ITER Remote Handling Control System

Andrea Zoppoli^*
, E. Kolokotronis
, N. A.Pintos Cabrera
, S. Esque
, Hannu Saarinen
, E. Ruiz Morales
, D. Hamilton
, G. Di Gironimo

^*Corresponding author for this work

BA4515 Remote maintenance for fusion

University of Naples Federico II
University of Padua
Association EURATOM-ENEA-CREATE
Fusion for Energy (F4E)
ITER Organization

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review

Abstract

Remote maintenance is a key function to ensure reliable, safe, and long-term operation of fusion reactors. However, handling heavy components in tight spaces is a challenging task. As part of its goals, the ITER project also has to demonstrate the feasible design, integration, and operation of a remote handling system (RHS) able to perform both preplanned tasks and recovery/rescue operations in case of failure or abnormal conditions. The ITER Remote Handling Control System (RHCS) is based on a man-in-the-loop concept due to the complexity of the tasks. In order to make more informed and aware decisions while supervising or teleoperating RH equipment movements, the operators are provided with both real images coming from on-site cameras and virtual renderings, thanks to the virtual reality (VR) system. Generally, VR renderings are made of rigid CAD models and do not consider the effects of dynamic factors on the RH equipment (RH) structure. This work shows the development activities of the structural simulator (SS) for the calibration of the RH VR models, aimed at accurately representing the real configuration the robots assume due to their own weight and the handled load.

Original language	English
Journal	IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/TPS.2026.3700331
Publication status	Accepted/In press - 2026
MoE publication type	A1 Journal article-refereed

Funding

Received 30 September 2025; revised 30 April 2026; accepted 1 June 2026. This work was supported in part by Fusion for Energy and in part by the EUROfusion Consortium through European Union via the Euratom Research and Training Program under Grant 101052200—EUROfusion. The review of this article was arranged by Senior Editor M. Kovari. (Corresponding author: A. Zoppoli.) A. Zoppoli is with the Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, 80125 Naples, Italy, also with Create Consortium, 80125 Naples, Italy, also with the University of Padua, 35127 Padua, Italy, and also with Fusion For Energy, 08019 Barcelona, Spain (e-mail: [email protected]).

Keywords

ITER
remote handling
robot calibration
structural simulation
virtual joints (VJs)
virtual reality (VR)

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10.1109/TPS.2026.3700331Licence: CC BY

Cite this

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abstract = "Remote maintenance is a key function to ensure reliable, safe, and long-term operation of fusion reactors. However, handling heavy components in tight spaces is a challenging task. As part of its goals, the ITER project also has to demonstrate the feasible design, integration, and operation of a remote handling system (RHS) able to perform both preplanned tasks and recovery/rescue operations in case of failure or abnormal conditions. The ITER Remote Handling Control System (RHCS) is based on a man-in-the-loop concept due to the complexity of the tasks. In order to make more informed and aware decisions while supervising or teleoperating RH equipment movements, the operators are provided with both real images coming from on-site cameras and virtual renderings, thanks to the virtual reality (VR) system. Generally, VR renderings are made of rigid CAD models and do not consider the effects of dynamic factors on the RH equipment (RH) structure. This work shows the development activities of the structural simulator (SS) for the calibration of the RH VR models, aimed at accurately representing the real configuration the robots assume due to their own weight and the handled load.",

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AU - Esque, S.

AU - Saarinen, Hannu

AU - Morales, E. Ruiz

AU - Hamilton, D.

AU - Di Gironimo, G.

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N2 - Remote maintenance is a key function to ensure reliable, safe, and long-term operation of fusion reactors. However, handling heavy components in tight spaces is a challenging task. As part of its goals, the ITER project also has to demonstrate the feasible design, integration, and operation of a remote handling system (RHS) able to perform both preplanned tasks and recovery/rescue operations in case of failure or abnormal conditions. The ITER Remote Handling Control System (RHCS) is based on a man-in-the-loop concept due to the complexity of the tasks. In order to make more informed and aware decisions while supervising or teleoperating RH equipment movements, the operators are provided with both real images coming from on-site cameras and virtual renderings, thanks to the virtual reality (VR) system. Generally, VR renderings are made of rigid CAD models and do not consider the effects of dynamic factors on the RH equipment (RH) structure. This work shows the development activities of the structural simulator (SS) for the calibration of the RH VR models, aimed at accurately representing the real configuration the robots assume due to their own weight and the handled load.

AB - Remote maintenance is a key function to ensure reliable, safe, and long-term operation of fusion reactors. However, handling heavy components in tight spaces is a challenging task. As part of its goals, the ITER project also has to demonstrate the feasible design, integration, and operation of a remote handling system (RHS) able to perform both preplanned tasks and recovery/rescue operations in case of failure or abnormal conditions. The ITER Remote Handling Control System (RHCS) is based on a man-in-the-loop concept due to the complexity of the tasks. In order to make more informed and aware decisions while supervising or teleoperating RH equipment movements, the operators are provided with both real images coming from on-site cameras and virtual renderings, thanks to the virtual reality (VR) system. Generally, VR renderings are made of rigid CAD models and do not consider the effects of dynamic factors on the RH equipment (RH) structure. This work shows the development activities of the structural simulator (SS) for the calibration of the RH VR models, aimed at accurately representing the real configuration the robots assume due to their own weight and the handled load.

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KW - virtual joints (VJs)

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Development of the Structural Simulator for the Calibration of the Virtual Reality Environment of the ITER Remote Handling Control System

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