FlexRoP

Märkte, in denen die Nachfrage nicht immer genau vorhergesagt werden kann, bzw. Unternehmen, die mit kleinen Fertigungslosen arbeiten, profitieren nicht von der erhöhten Produktivität durch Roboter. Der Trend hin zu individualisierten Serienfertigung verschärft die Problematik zusätzlich. Industrieroboter-Anlagen haben großen Platzbedarf und erfordern Sicherheitsinfrastruktur wie automatisierte Zäune und Türen. Das erhöht die Systemkosten sowie die Kosten für die Automatisierung und Programmierung der Anlagen. Produktion in kleinen Losgrößen bis hin zu Losgröße 1 Produkten erfordert Robotersysteme die mobil sind, ohne Schutzzaun arbeiten können – im Idealfall in Mensch-Roboter-Kooperation, und aufgrund sensorischen Fähigkeiten in der Lage sind ihre Programmierung an die a priori undefinierte Umgebungssituation (hinsichtlich Werkstückpräsentation, …) anzupassen. Das erhöht die Systemkomplexität enorm, da zu Anlagenbauern und Roboterprogrammierern im Extremfall Bildverarbeitungsspezialisten und Spezialisten zur Programmierung Sensordatenabhängiger Robotersoftware hinzukommen.

Im Projekt FlexRoP werden Systeme entwickelt, die flexibler und einfacher zu programmieren und die lernfähig sind.

Projektziele im Detail:

• Integration einer Assistenzroboterplattform mit erweiterten sensorischen Fähigkeiten
• Definition einer universellen Darstellung für die Fähigkeit (Skill), eine Montageaufgabe zu bewältigen.
• Implementierung automatischer und halbautomatischer Fähigkeiten zur Parametrierung der Skills über visuelle und kinästhetische Beobachtung von Menschen.
• Techniken zur Verallgemeinerung, um die in der Anlernphase erworbenen Fähigkeiten in unterschiedlichen Situationen anwenden zu können.
• Implementierung von Algorithmen zur Aktionssynthese, um Bearbeitungsprogramme aus Sensordaten ableiten zu können.

Projektname:
Flexible, assistive robot for the customized production.

Förderung:
FFG –  ICT of the Future

Laufzeit:  
1.09.2016 – 31.08.2018

The complexity of assembly processes and manufacturing processes in general is in-creasing with respect to flexibility, frequent changes of products and markets as well as shorter product life cycles. Currently, the adaptation of manufacturing processes requires significant resources and time. Instead of creating more and more complex technical systems the approach in industry is to strengthen the cooperation between humans and machines. This project focuses on the interaction between humans and robots in production environments.

Research deals with the development and evaluation of concepts for cognitive assistance systems that are based on a mutual understanding of the task and how it is to be split among humans and machines. This requires a suitable representation of the environment, the task and the objects and in a second stage methods and concepts to extend, parameterize, and adapt the system for future tasks.

Also, the machine has to be able to combine basic actions to complex tasks. This top-ics has not yet been addressed in production Research.

Project Name:    
Cooperation models for assistive human-machine interaction in the production process

Funding:    
BMVIT

Duration:   
01.07.2014 – 30.06.2017

The European robotics industry is moving towards a new generation of robots, based on safety in the workplace and the ability to work alongside humans. This new generation is paramount to making the factories of the future more cost-effective and restoring the competitiveness of the European manufacturing industry.

However, the European manufacturing industry is facing the following challenges:

• lack of adaptability,
• lack of flexibility, and
• lack of vertical integration.

The proposed SYMBIO-TIC project addresses these important issues towards a safe, dynamic, intuitive and cost-effective working environment were immersive and symbiotic collaboration between human workers and robots can take place and bring significant benefits to robot-reluctant industries (where current tasks and processes are thought too complex to be automated). The benefits that the project can bring about include lower costs, increased safety, better working conditions and higher profitability through improved adaptability, flexibility, performance and seamless integration. This project is planned for 48 months with a consortium of 15 partners from 7 EU Member States.

Results in brief: 

https://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/193465/brief/en?WT.mc_id=exp 

Project Name: 
Symbiotic human-robot collaboration for safe and dynamic multimodal manufacturing Systems

Funding:      
EU – H2020-FoF

Duration:    
01.04.2015 – 31.03.2019

NEXGEN_RWP articulates PROFACTOR’s goal to develop a new generation of robotic systems which can solve complex tasks efficiently even if framing conditions change. The further development of cognitive technologies will render possible the application of the system to a broad spectrum of use-cases in production environment.

Robots will be provided with semantic comprehension for available tasks like joining, assembly or other production tasks. The human activity will be recognized by multimodal (visual, tactile, etc.) sensory. Generalization of these tasks and processes by semantic data processing will ease adaptation to future tasks. A further challenge as far as cognitive robotic systems are concerned is the intuitive task based programmability of the system which guarantees ergonomic, beneficial and safe task execution.

Project Name:
Human-Robot Cooperation to enable a next generation robotic workplace

Funding:
FFG – IKT der Zukunft – 1. Ausschreibung

Duration:
01.10.2013 – 30.09.2015

The aim of the international research project LOCOBOT was to develop a low-cost “Robot co-worker” in a modular system that is suitable for industries with high production volume as well as for manufactures with low product volume and high customer specifications. The focus was on the development of a toolkit consisting of hardware and software components and a development environment, in which a robot assistant can quickly and easily be put into operation. The quick and easy configuration of the system was a pre- condition for development.

The main focus of PROFACTOR in this pioneering project included the topics of image processing, model-based engineering and the handling of parts. The focus was also built-upon findings of cognitive vision.

During the project, an assistance system consisting of hardware and software components was developed, which among other things dealt with improving workplace ergonomics. It is characterized by the position detection of work pieces in an unstructured environment and is equipped with a flexible robot arm. The gesture recognition process formed the basis for human-machine cooperation.

In the industrial use case the main challenge was picking heavier parts such as car batteries and starter motors. An excellent object localization and manipulation planner developed at PROFACTOR made it possible to visually localize the relevant components even in hard to reach and unstructured environments. The robotic ad-hoc process flow was then adjusted subsequently.

The results of the project allows greater flexibility, adaptability and scalability in production. The modular assistance system developed can be used in the sense of a “Plug & Produce” solution for various applications.

Project Name:
Low cost toolkit for building robot co-workers in assembly lines

Funding:
EU – FP7- FoF.NMP.2010-1 Plug and Produce components for adaptive control

Duration:
01.08.2010 – 31.07.2013