The UMA Space Robotics Laboratory collaborates in the autonomy of the vehicles for the inspection of lava tubes 

Lava tubes on the moon are of great scientific interest when it comes to finding suitable areas for long-term missions, so that water, protection or stable temperatures are located. To investigate their potential for future space exploration, robot teams must have the ability to enter these caves. And that is the goal of the 'CoRob-X' project, a European consortium led by the DFKI (German Center for Artificial Intelligence Research), which has started to investigate how such autonomous robots can abseil and inspect a tunnel.  
The Space Robotics Laboratory of the Systems Engineering and Automation department (ISA) participates in the project with other institutions such as the Spanish GMV Aerospace and Defense, the 'Laboratoire Atmostphères, Milieux Observations Spatiales' (LATMOS), Magellium SAS (France), Sintef AS (Norway) and Airbus Defense and Space GmbH, Germany.
As explained by Prof. Carlos Pérez del Pulgar, the work of the UMA focuses on the autonomy of vehicles: planning the route that the autonomous rover takes until it reaches the place where the lava tube starts by avoiding obstacles. We are also responsible for the movement of a small crane that carries the robot and that allows another smaller vehicle to enter the tube.