On 30 June 2022, the Fonds Nationale de la Recherche (FNR) in Luxembourg announced the winning images of this year’s Science Image Competition. The annual contest aims to give a wider exposure to the role of images in scientific research, to reveal how scientists work, give a face to research, and engage with the public. This year, two of the winning images were taken by researchers at the University of Luxembourg’s Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT).
As part of the competition, entrants needed to submit an image of their research to fit into one of four categories, including Object of Study (where researchers capture a research object), Scientists in Action, Places and Tools, or Science Outreach Activities.
In the Scientists in Action category, researchers from the Automation and Robotics (ARG) research group captured doctoral researcher Paul Kremer modifying an experimental testing station that he designed. This type of instrument is used to test a grasping mechanism, which can later be mounted on a drone, pictured in the foreground of the image. It was taken by recently graduated doctoral researcher Dr. Philippe Ludivig, who also had an additional winning entry this year, as well as in last year’s edition of the competition. The jury of the competition described the image as ‘timeless’ but also ‘puzzling’, noting that the daily work of a scientist can take on a different meaning from the perspective of a non-specialist.
In the category of Places and Tools, Dr. Ludivig, working in collaboration with Dr. Jose-Luis Sanchez Lopez, Dr. Hriday Bavle, Muhammad Shaheer, and Ahmed Mahfouz, submitted another image of a Boston Dynamics ‘Spot’ robot dog. Currently part of SnT’s partnership with Luxembourg construction company Stugalux, after they became the first in Europe to purchase two of these robots. SnT’s ARG research group is working with Stugalux to refine its implementation into their many construction sites. The robotic dog was described as futuristic, based on its likeness to a living animal in its posture.
The winning images, of which there are 14 this year, are currently on exhibition at the Luxembourg Science Center in Differdange until September 2022.