Smart hardware integration with advanced robot programming technologies for efficient reconfiguration of robot workcells

Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing, vol. 66, pp. 101979

Abstract

The manufacturing industry is seeing an increase in demand for more custom-made, low-volume production. This type of production is rarely automated and is to a large extent still performed manually. To keep up with the competition and market demands, manufacturers will have to undertake the effort to automate such manufacturing processes. However, automating low-volume production is no small feat as the solution should be adaptable and future proof to unexpected changes in customers’ demands. In this paper, we propose a reconfigurable robot workcell aimed at automating low-volume production. The developed workcell can adapt to the changes in manufacturing processes by employing a number of passive, reconfigurable hardware elements, supported by the ROS-based, modular control software. To further facilitate and expedite the setup process, we integrated intuitive, user-friendly robot programming methods with the available hardware. The system was evaluated by implementing five production processes from different manufacturing industries.

Authors 14

1. Timotej Gašpar corresponding

   Jožef Stefan Institute · Jožef Stefan International Postgraduate School

   Affiliation as printed

   Humanoid and Cognitive Robotics Lab, Department of Automatics, Biocybernetics and Robotics, Jožef Stefan Institute Jamova cesta 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

2. Miha Deniša

   Jožef Stefan Institute · Jožef Stefan International Postgraduate School

   Affiliation as printed

   Humanoid and Cognitive Robotics Lab, Department of Automatics, Biocybernetics and Robotics, Jožef Stefan Institute Jamova cesta 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

3. Primož Radanovič

   Jožef Stefan Institute · Jožef Stefan International Postgraduate School

   Affiliation as printed

   Humanoid and Cognitive Robotics Lab, Department of Automatics, Biocybernetics and Robotics, Jožef Stefan Institute Jamova cesta 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

4. Barry Ridge

   Jožef Stefan Institute · Jožef Stefan International Postgraduate School

   Affiliation as printed

   Humanoid and Cognitive Robotics Lab, Department of Automatics, Biocybernetics and Robotics, Jožef Stefan Institute Jamova cesta 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

5. Thiusius Rajeeth Savarimuthu

   University of Southern Denmark

   Affiliation as printed

   Mærsk McKinney Møller Institute, University of Southern Denmark, 5230, Odense M, Denmark

6. Aljaž Kramberger

   University of Southern Denmark · Jožef Stefan Institute · Jožef Stefan International Postgraduate School

   Affiliation as printed

   Humanoid and Cognitive Robotics Lab, Department of Automatics, Biocybernetics and Robotics, Jožef Stefan Institute Jamova cesta 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

   Mærsk McKinney Møller Institute, University of Southern Denmark, 5230, Odense M, Denmark

7. Marc Priggemeyer Aachen Institute for Man-Machine Interaction

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute for Man-Machine Interaction, RWTH Aachen University, Ahornstraße 55, 52074 Aachen, Germany

8. Jürgen Roßmann Aachen Institute for Man-Machine Interaction

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute for Man-Machine Interaction, RWTH Aachen University, Ahornstraße 55, 52074 Aachen, Germany

9. Florentin Wörgötter

   Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Göttingen · University of Göttingen

   Affiliation as printed

   Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Third Physics Institute, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Friedrich-Hund-Platz 1, 37077 Göttingen, Germany

10. Tatyana Ivanovska

    Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Göttingen · University of Göttingen

    Affiliation as printed

    Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Third Physics Institute, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Friedrich-Hund-Platz 1, 37077 Göttingen, Germany

11. Shahab Parizi
    Affiliation as printed

    Blue Ocean Robotics, Niels Bohrs Allé 185, 5220 Odense SØ, Denmark

12. Žiga Gosar
    Affiliation as printed

    Elvez d.o.o., Ulica Antona Tomšiča 35, 1294 Višnja Gora, Slovenia

13. Igor Kovač

    Jožef Stefan Institute · Jožef Stefan International Postgraduate School

    Affiliation as printed

    Humanoid and Cognitive Robotics Lab, Department of Automatics, Biocybernetics and Robotics, Jožef Stefan Institute Jamova cesta 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

14. Aleš Ude

    University of Ljubljana · Jožef Stefan Institute · Jožef Stefan International Postgraduate School

    Affiliation as printed

    Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Tržaška cesta 25, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Humanoid and Cognitive Robotics Lab, Department of Automatics, Biocybernetics and Robotics, Jožef Stefan Institute Jamova cesta 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia