Method and system for providing autonomous control of a platform

The present application provides a system for enabling instrument placement from distances on the order of five meters, for example, and increases accuracy of the instrument placement relative to visually-specified targets. The system provides precision control of a mobile base of a rover and onboard manipulators (e.g., robotic arms) relative to a visually-specified target using one or more sets of cameras. The system automatically compensates for wheel slippage and kinematic inaccuracy ensuring accurate placement (on the order of 2 mm, for example) of the instrument relative to the target. The system provides the ability for autonomous instrument placement by controlling both the base of the rover and the onboard manipulator using a single set of cameras. To extend the distance from which the placement can be completed to nearly five meters, target information may be transferred from navigation cameras (used for long-range) to front hazard cameras (used for positioning the manipulator)

Docking solutions for smart autonomous mobile units

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Engenharia Eletrónica Industrial e ComputadoresDocking solutions are key in the development of smart autonomous vehicles for industrial applications. Throughout the course of every autonomous vehicle workflow inside a factory, there will be moments where parking or picking cargo is needed. As these maneuvers require a precise positioning, without a correct approach, the maneuvers become ineffective jeopardizing all the automation of the process and as result, the maneuver success. Collaborating with the team of the sub-project P24 ”Autonomous Milk-Runs” result of a partnership between University of Minho and Bosch Car Multimedia Portugal S.A., this dissertation aims to conceive and develop docking maneuvers solutions for one of the prototype smart autonomous units, the stacker vehicles. In Bosch’s Braga Plant (BrgP) factory stacker vehicles are required to deliver packagings material and move finished goods within different areas on the warehouse. Stackers will then need to pick the products placed on pallets at the production lines end as the established workflow requires. This area consists in a long and narrow corridor where the stacker vehicles will need to maneuver correctly in order to pick the targeted pallets signalized by logistics. To develop a docking solution, the study of mobile vehicles kinematics, the development of behavioral based dynamics and the implementation of a pallet detection algorithm was needed to match the factory workflow and requirements. The proposed solution allows the stacker vehicles to respect their workspace constraints, with docking capabilities under multiple circumstances.Soluções de acostagem são importantes no desenvolvimento de veículos autónomos para aplicações industriais. Durante o curso das tarefas de um veículo autónomo dentro de uma fábrica, irão existir momentos em que parqueamento e o levantamento de cargas é necessário. Como estas manobras requerem um posicionamento preciso, se a abordagem não for a mais correta, as mesmas tornam-se obsoletas, colocando em causa toda a automatização do processo e, como consequência, o seu sucesso. Colaborando com a equipa do sub-projeto P24 ”Autonomous Milk-Runs” resultante da parceria entre a Universidade do Minho e a Bosch Car Multimedia Portugal S.A., esta dissertação aponta à conceção e desenvolvimento de soluções para manobras de acoplamento para uma das unidades autónomas inteligentes em análise, os empilhadores. Na fábrica da Bosch Braga Plant (BrgP), é requerido aos veículos empilhadores a entrega de bens finalizados dentro de diferentes áreas no armazém. Os empilhadores deverão então levantar os produtos colocados em paletes no final da linhas de produção, tal como o fluxo de trabalho estabelecido para estes indica. Esta área consiste em um longo e apertado corredor, onde os veículos empilhadores irão necessitar de manobrar corretamente de modo a levantar as paletes alvo sinalizadas pela logística. Para a desenvolver uma solução de acoplamento, o estudo da cinemática de veículos móveis, o desenvolvimento de uma dinâmica baseada em comportamento e a implementação de um algoritmo de deteção de paletes foram necessários de modo a cumprir com os requisitos e fluxo de trabalho impostos pela empresa. A solução proposta permite aos veículos empilhadores respeitarem o seu espaço de trabalho, tendo capacidade de acoplamento para circunstâncias múltiplas

Lift truck safety review

This report presents safety information about powered industrial trucks. The basic lift truck, the counterbalanced sit down rider truck, is the primary focus of the report. Lift truck engineering is briefly described, then a hazard analysis is performed on the lift truck. Case histories and accident statistics are also given. Rules and regulations about lift trucks, such as the US Occupational Safety an Health Administration laws and the Underwriter`s Laboratories standards, are discussed. Safety issues with lift trucks are reviewed, and lift truck safety and reliability are discussed. Some quantitative reliability values are given

Learning to understand spatial language for robotic navigation and mobile manipulation

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2011.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 103-108).This thesis focuses on understanding task-constrained natural language commands, where a person gives a natural language command to the robot and the robot infers and executes the corresponding plan. Understanding natural language is difficult because a system must infer the location of landmarks such as "the computer cluster," and actions corresponding to spatial relations such as "to" or "around" and verbs such as "put" or "take." each of which may be composed in complex ways. In addition, different people may give very different types of commands to perform the same action. The first chapter of this thesis focuses on simple natural language commands such as "Find the computer." where a person commands the robot to find an object or place and the robot must infer a corresponding plan. This problem would be easy if we constrained the set of words that the robot might need to reason about. However, if a person says, "find the computer," and the robot has not previously detected a "computer," then it is not clear where the robot should look. We present a method that uses previously detected objects and places in order to bias the search process toward areas of the environment where a previously unseen object is likely to be found. The system uses a semantic map of the environment together with a model of contextual relationships between objects to infer this plan, which finds the query object with minimal travel time. The contextual relationships are learned from the captions of a large dataset of photos downloaded from Flickr. Simulated and realworld experiments show that a small subset of detectable objects and scenes are able to predict the location of previously unseen objects and places. In the second chapter, we take steps toward building a robust spatial language understanding system for three different domains: route directions, visual inspection, and indoor mobility. We take as input a natural language command such as "Go through the double doors and down the hallway," extract a semantic structure called a Spatial Description Clause (SDC) from the language, and ground each SDC in a partial or complete semantic map of the environment. By extracting a flat sequence of SDCs, we are able to ground the language by using a probabilistic graphical model that is factored into three key components. First, a landmark component grounds novel noun phrases such as "'the computers" in the perceptual frame of the robot by exploiting object co-occurrence statistics between unknown noun phrases and known perceptual features.(cont.) These statistics are learned from a large database of tagged images such as Flickr, and build off of the model developed in the first component of the thesis. Second, a spatial reasoning component judges how well spatial relations such as "past the computers" describe the path of the robot relative to a landmark. Third, a verb understanding component judges how well spatial verb phrases such as "follow". "meet", "avoid" and "turn right" describe how an agent moves on its own or in relation to another agent. Once trained, our model requires only a metric map of the environment together with the locations of detected objects in order to follow directions through it. This map can be given a priori or created on the fly as the robot explores the environment. In the final chapter of the thesis, we focus on understanding mobile manipulation commands such as, "Put the tire pallet oii the truck." The first contribution of this chapter is the Generalized Grounding Graph (G3 ), which connects language onto grounded aspects of the environment. In this chapter, we relax the assumption that the language has fixed and flat structure and provide a method for constructing a hierarchical probabilistic graphical model that connects each element in a natural language command to an object. place., path or event in the environment. The structure of the G3 model is dynamically instantiated according to the compositional and hierarchical structure of the command, enabling efficient learning and inference. The second contribution of this chapter is to formulate the problem as a discriminative learning problem that maps from language directly onto a robot plan. This probabilistic model is represented as a conditional random field (CRF) that learns the correspondence of robot plans and the language and is able to learn the meanings of complex verbs such as "put" and "take," as well as spatial relations such as "on" and "to."by Thomas Kollar.Ph.D

Development and testing of docking functions in industrial settings for an autonomous mobile robot based on ROS2

This dissertation is the result of a six-months internship at G.D S.p.A. for the preparation of the thesis project. The final goal is to develop algorithms on the ROS2 framework that could be used to control an Autonomous Mobile Robot during the operations of detection and approach of a docking station with high precision, needed to operate a recharge of the AMR itself or some operation on the host machines. The automation of these operations ensures a substantial increase in safety and productivity within a warehouse or host machine lines since it permits to the AMR to work without requiring an operator for longer time or even to substitute the operator itself. The presented method uses both lidars and an onboard camera. The trajectory from the starting position to the approximate area of the docking station is computed using data obtained from the three lidars around the AMR body. The final approach is implemented by detecting an ARUCO code positioned on the dock assembly through a camera. A sequence of intermediate positions is defined according to the pose estimations, and then reached with a mix of standard navigation and a proportional position control in the very last part of the movement trajectory. The precision of the docking position turned out to have less than one centimeter error around the desired target, the orientation error is a fraction of a degree. The docking times vary based on how far the AMR is from the docking station, but the last phase of the procedure is always completed in around seventeen seconds. The solution is implementable and will be evaluated on the real platform in the coming months

Implementation and Usability of Automated Guided Vehicles: A Case Study of Wärtsilä Sustainable Technology Hub and Logistics Centre

Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV) are one concrete illustration of the Industry 4.0. AGVs are expected to increase the predictability, reliability, efficiency and safety of different logistics processes, and are capable of transporting different kinds of loads on predefined routes. They are increasingly implemented in a wide range of organizations globally and have achieved broad visibility over the past decade. However, a relatively limited number of case study -research exists in the context of AGVs implemented in the Finnish industry. Wärtsilä is implementing an AGV-system in its state-of-the-art facility, the Sustainable Technology Hub (STH). To create knowledge in the context of the implementation of the AGVs in the STH, a research question was defined: How can AGVs be implemented and utilized in an ever-changing corporate landscape? This thesis is written for Wärtsilä Finland Oy, which at the time of writing was establishing operations in the Sustainable Technology Hub in Vaasa. AGVs have a crucial role in the internal logistics of the facility, transporting predefined loads from the Logistics Centre to various locations of the STH. The study considers the implementation of the AGV-system in the facility, with four topics of research: implementation, uninterruptedness, responsibilities in problem situations, and lessons learned. Also, the purpose was to identify the aspects leading to a successful implementation of an AGV-system. The information was collected through a literature review, interviews carried out from the personnel involved in the project, in addition to observations made as a member of the project team. The research process started after the innovative technology had been decided to be implemented, and therefore, the phases leading to the decision are not considered in this study. As a result of the research, eight factors were discovered benefitting the implementation of an AGV-system. The interviews and observations helped identify the most likely reasons for interruptions in the AGV-system, thus helping the project team and other support staff to proactively avoid such interruptions. More so, such identification would lead to down time minimization of the individual AGVs thus maximizing their overall utilization rate.Vihivaunut (Automated Guided Vehicle, AGV) ovat eräs Teollisuus 4.0:n ilmentymistä. Vihivaunujen odotetaan kasvattavan logististen järjestelmien ennustettavuutta, luotettavuutta, tehokkuutta ja turvallisuutta, ja ne kykenevät kuljettamaan erilaisia kuormia ennaltamääritellyillä reiteillä. Vihivaunujärjestelmiä otetaan käyttöön enenevissä määrin erilaisissa organisaatioissa maailmanlaajuisesti ja ne ovat saavuttaneet laajaa näkyvyyttä viimeisimmän vuosikymmenen aikana. Kuitenkin, varsin rajallinen määrä tapaustutkimuksia on olemassa AGV:iden käyttöönotoista suomalaisessa teollisuudessa. Wärtsilä on ottamassa vihivaunujärjestelmää käyttöön huipputason tutkimus-, tuotekehitys- ja tuotantokeskus Sustainable Technology Hub:ssa (STH). Tiedon tuottamiseksi vihivaunujärjestelmästä STH:ssa, tutkimuskysymys määriteltiin seuraavasti: Miten AGV:t voidaan käyttöönottaa ja hyödyntää jatkuvasti muuttuvassa yritysympäristössä? Tämä diplomityö kirjoitettiin Wärtsilä Finland Oy:lle, joka kirjoitushetkellä aloitti toimintaansa STH:lla Vaasassa. AGV:illä on keskeinen rooli keskuksen sisälogistiikassa, kuljettaen ennalta määriteltyjä kuormia Logistiikkakeskuksesta useisiin eri kohteisiin STH:lla. Tutkimukseen sisältyy AGV-järjestelmän käyttöönotto neljän painopistealueen näkökulmasta: käyttöönotto, keskeytyksettömyys, vastuut ongelmatilanteissa sekä opitut asiat. Lisäksi tunnistettiin menestyksekkääseen AGV-järjestelmän käyttöönottoon liittyvät tekijät. Tiedot kerättiin kirjallisuuskatsauksen, käyttöönottoprojektissa mukana olleiden haastatteluiden, sekä projektitiimissä mukana olleen tekemien havaintojen kautta. Tutkimusprosessi alkoi innovatiivisen teknologian käyttöönottopäätöksen jälkeen, joten siihen johtaneita tekijöitä ei käsitellä työssä. Tutkimuksen tuloksena tunnistettiin kahdeksan AGV-järjestelmän käyttöönottoa hyödyttävää tekijää. Haastattelut ja havainnot auttoivat tunnistamaan todennäköisimpiä syitä katkoksille AGV-järjestelmässä, auttaen projektitiimiä ja tukihenkilöstöä proaktiivisesti välttämään katkoksia. Lisäksi, tunnistaminen auttaisi minimoimaan yksittäisten AGV:iden toimintakatkosten kestoja sekä maksimoimaan järjestelmän käyttöastetta

Identification and Mitigation of Risk Associated with Eot Crane During Material Handling

Countless manufacturing and construction industry are widely used E.O.T. cranes for their lifting or loading materials from one place to another place, also associated with a large number of hazardous in their operation.depending upon their nature of work it can further divided on their different type of use.the hazard associated with E.O.T. crane a project was performed in tata steel processing and distribution limited(TSPDL), with the help of checklist method and hazard identification & risk assessment, is performed to identified the hazardous condition on 13 E.O.T. cranes installed in TSPDL and their control measures are given.with the help of hira analysis is reviewed and also recommendations are given for further improvement in safety and health aspects.this E.O.T. crane increase output and improves the quality of the product, speed up deliveries and therefore, results that decrease the production cost. As an EHS professional must have sufficient knowledge of L.I.F.E and zero harm/zero injury vision along with inspiring others to behave safely and have due regard for the environment.He must have an ability to finding out the connection between good EHS system and good business practices and have up to date knowledge about EHS.He must have good communication skills to convenience to others and show a leadership skill to all levels of employees and committed to action at all times. Risk assessment has four stages identifying hazards, access the risk, determine the control measures, and implement the control measures, review, and update.With the help of hierarchy control i.e. elimination, substitution, engineering control, administrative control, training and PPE’s those risk assessment approaches are implemented successfully

From a manual to a system-guided process: implementing change in a fast-moving consumer goods company in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.The purpose of this study was to develop a change management framework in transitioning from a manual process to an automated system-guided process using digital technology for managing short-dated inventory in the logistics operations environment. The manual process at the logistics study site entailed the operational staff physically going through all bin locations of inventory in the warehouse and manually checking the shelf-life expiry date (SLED) of the inventory, and as recorded on manually created documents. A qualitative methodology was applied due to the exploratory nature of this study. The data collection strategies utilised were semi-structured interviews and focus groups. The participants were from a purposefully selected sample which constituted all levels of the operational staff. They were managers; despatch/receiving co-ordinators; inventory counters; clerical stock controllers; administration clerks; forklift drivers; reach truck drivers; and supervisors. There were fourteen interviews and three focus group interviews. The data were analysed thematically and subsequently the change management framework was imposed, which was the theoretical underpinning in support of the transition from a manual process to an automated system-guided process utilising digital technology. An understanding of the theoretical underpinning of the change management framework and the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) emerged as the discussion developed. The application of the UTAUT model indicated user intention to embrace new technology. The thematic concepts that emerged from the data generated were technology exposure and awareness; skills and competencies; challenges and recommendations; and system implementation: manual-to-automated. The contributions and findings of this study included that the integration of technology and the workforce at the study site did not result in job losses, which is positive for the people, the company, and the economy. Policy contributes to, and informs, job security, skills development, ways of working, and technology adoption frameworks. The contribution from the leadership and management team, with their practical approach, supported the workforce in transitioning from a manual to an automated system-guided approach. One of the inherent fears that the participants cited was that of job losses. Effective communication; training; and management support and presence, contributed to the change in behaviour required to adopt the technology and embrace change. The study ultimately proposed the Logistics Change Management Model, which was adapted to the South African context and is applicable when transitioning from a manual to a system-guided process at the focal company. It is recommended that further studies are conducted to strengthen the theoretical framework