Research And Development Of Industrial Integrated Robotic Workcell And Robotrun Software For Academic Curriculum

Robotic automation is consuming the laborious tasks performed by workers all over industry. The increasing demand for trained robotic engineers to implement and maintain industrial robots has led to the development of various courses in academia. Michigan Tech is a FANUC Authorized Certified Education Training Center for industrial robot training. This report discusses the research and development of an integrated robotic workcell consisting of three Fanuc robots, Allen Bradley programmable logic controller (PLC), Mini-Mover belt conveyor and Fanuc iR-vision system. The workcell allows students to explore an environment similar to industry and intended to be used for laboratory hands-on activities in two robotic courses: Real-time Robotic Systems and Industrial Robotic Vision System. To complement hands-on activities and to meet the need of educating robotics to those without access to physical robots, an open source robotic simulation software RobotRun has been created in collaboration with a faculty member and students from Computer Science department. The features and a few training examples on the software have also been presented

The Federal Conference on Intelligent Processing Equipment

Research and development projects involving intelligent processing equipment within the following U.S. agencies are addressed: Department of Agriculture, Department of Commerce, Department of Energy, Department of Defense, Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Emergency Management Agency, NASA, National Institutes of Health, and the National Science Foundation

The NASA SBIR product catalog

The purpose of this catalog is to assist small business firms in making the community aware of products emerging from their efforts in the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. It contains descriptions of some products that have advanced into Phase 3 and others that are identified as prospective products. Both lists of products in this catalog are based on information supplied by NASA SBIR contractors in responding to an invitation to be represented in this document. Generally, all products suggested by the small firms were included in order to meet the goals of information exchange for SBIR results. Of the 444 SBIR contractors NASA queried, 137 provided information on 219 products. The catalog presents the product information in the technology areas listed in the table of contents. Within each area, the products are listed in alphabetical order by product name and are given identifying numbers. Also included is an alphabetical listing of the companies that have products described. This listing cross-references the product list and provides information on the business activity of each firm. In addition, there are three indexes: one a list of firms by states, one that lists the products according to NASA Centers that managed the SBIR projects, and one that lists the products by the relevant Technical Topics utilized in NASA's annual program solicitation under which each SBIR project was selected

First Annual Workshop on Space Operations Automation and Robotics (SOAR 87)

Several topics relative to automation and robotics technology are discussed. Automation of checkout, ground support, and logistics; automated software development; man-machine interfaces; neural networks; systems engineering and distributed/parallel processing architectures; and artificial intelligence/expert systems are among the topics covered

Research and technology

Significant research and technology activities at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) during Fiscal Year 1990 are reviewed. Research in human factors engineering, the Space Shuttle, the Space Station Freedom, space exploration and related topics are covered

A Design Science Research Approach to Architecting and Developing Information Systems for Collaborative Manufacturing : A Case for Human-Robot Collaboration

Konseptointi- ja suunnitteluvaiheessa sekä valmistuksen, käytön ja kehitysprosessin aikana syntyy tietoa, jonka hyödyntämisessä on valtavaa potentiaalia liike-elämän ja tuotantoprosessien muuttamiseen. Neljännen teollisen vallankumouksen ytimessä oleva digitaalinen muutos tunnistaa tämän painottaen erityisesti tämän tiedon yhdistämistä toimintojen ja järjestelmien tukemiseksi läpi tuotteen elinkaareen, mitä kutsutaan digitaaliseksi säikeen kehykseksi (digital thread framework). Tämän väitöskirjan tavoitteena on kehittää ja käyttää yhtä tällaista viitekehystä ihmisen ja robotin yhteistoiminnan asiayhteydessä. Tämä kehys pyrkii vastaamaan merkittävään ongelmaan, joka liittyy mukautuvuuden ja joustavuuden abstrakteihin ominaisuuksiin. Nykyiset ihmisen ja robotin yhteistyöjärjestelmät (human-robot collaboration (HRC)) on rakennettu pääasiassa pysyviksi järjestelmiksi, jotka sivuuttavat ihmisten intuitiivisen toiminnan asettamalla heidän roolinsa yhteistyötehtävissä etukäteen määritellyiksi. Lisäksi järjestelmien kyky vaihtaa tuotteesta toiseen on rajoittunutta. Tämä on erityisen ongelmallista nykyisellä laajan tuotevalikoiman aikakaudella, joka johtuu asiakkaiden räätälöidyistä vaatimuksista. Tähän taustaan vastaten, tämä väitöskirja käyttää design science research methodology -menetelmää suunnitellakseen, kehittääkseen ja ottaakseen käyttöön kolme pääasiallista artefaktia ihmisen ja robotin yhteistyösolussa laboratorioympäristössä. Ensimmäinen on digitaalisen säikeen kehys (digital thread framework), joka integroi tuotesuunnitteluympäristön toimijaksi monitoimijajärjestelmään käyttäen uusimpia tietoon perustuvia suunnittelujärjestelmiä, mikä tarjoaa prosessin toimijoille pääsyn tuotesuunnittelumalleihin reaaliajassa. Toinen on lisätyn todellisuuden malli, joka tarjoaa rajapinnan kokoonpanotehtävässä yhteistyöhön osallistuvan ihmisoperaattorin ja edellä mainitun kehyksen välille. Kolmas on tukitietomalli, jota yhteistyötä tekevät toimijat käyttävät tietopohjanaan täyttääkseen yhteistyössä tapahtuvan kokoonpanon tavoitteet mukautuvasti. Näitä kehitettyjä artefakteja käytettiin kokonaisuutena tapaustutkimuksissa, jotka liittyivät aidon dieselmoottorin kokoonpanoon, ja joissa todennettiin niiden hyödyllisyys ja että ne lisäävät joustavuutta, jota varten kehys (framework) suunniteltiin. Rajauslaatikoiden näyttäminen skaalautuvana informaationa, joka hahmottaa alikokoonpanon osien geometriaa, demostroi kehitettyjen artefaktien käytettävyyttä yhteistyötä tekevien toimijoiden aikomuksia heijastavien laajennetun todellisuuden projektioiden tuottamiseksi. Yhteenvetona tämän väitöskirjan tuloksena syntyi lähestymistapa älykkään ja mukautuvan robotiikan toteuttamiseksi hyödyntäen tietovirtoja ja mallinnusta ihmisen ja robotin yhteistoiminnan kontekstissa. Teollisuuden raportoima älykkäästi mukautuvien HRC-järjestelmien puute taas toimi osaltaan motivaationa tähän väitöskirjassa tehtyyn työhön. Kun tulevaisuuden tuotteet ja tuotantojärjestelmät muuttuvat monimutkaisemmiksi, tietojärjestelmiltä odotetaan suurempaa vastuuta korvaamaan ihmisen työmuistin luontaiset rajat ja mahdollistamaan siirtyminen kohti ihmiskeskeistä valmistusta, joihin viitataan termeillä Operator 4.0 ja Industry 5.0. Näin ollen on odotettavissa, että tietojärjestelmien tutkimus, kuten tämä väitöskirja, voi auttaa ottamaan merkittäviä askeleita tähän suuntaan.Information generated from the conceptualization, design, manufacturing, and use of a product has immense potential in transforming both the business and manufacturing processes of the manufacturing enterprise. The digital transformation at the heart of the fourth industrial revolution has acknowledged this with a special emphasis on weaving a thread of this information to support functions and systems throughout the life cycle of the product with what is known as a digital thread framework. This dissertation aims to develop and use one such framework in the context of human-robot collaborative assembly. The overarching problem that the framework aims to solve can be attributed to the abstract qualities of adaptability and flexibility. The human-robot collaboration (HRC) systems of today are built predominantly as static systems and ignore the intuitive role of humans by having their roles in collaborative tasks pre-defined. Furthermore, their ability to switch between products during product changeovers is also limited. This is especially problematic in the current era of product variety, stemming from the customised requirements of customers. To this end, this dissertation employs the design science research methodology to design, develop, and deploy predominantly three artefacts in a human-robot work cell in a laboratory setting. The first is the digital thread framework that integrates the product design environment using state-of-the-art knowledge-based engineering systems, as an agent of a multi-agent system, which provide the collaborative human-robot agents with access to product design models at run time. The second is a constituent mixed-reality model that provides an interface for the foregoing framework for the human operator engaged in collaborative assembly. The third is a supporting information model that the agents use as their knowledge base to fulfil adaptively the goals of collaborative assembly. Together, these developed artefacts were employed in case studies involving a real diesel engine assembly during which they were observed to provide utility and support the cause of adaptability for which the framework was designed. The identification of bounding boxes as a scalable information construct, that approximates the part geometry of the sub-assembly components, demonstrates the utility of the developed artefacts for spatially augmenting them as projections as intentions of collaborating agents. In summary, this dissertation contributes with an approach towards realising intelligent and adaptive robotics within the realms of information flows and modelling in the context of human-robot collaboration. The lack of intelligently adaptable HRC systems reported by the industry in part motivated the work undertaken in this dissertation. As future products and production systems become more complex, information systems are expected to assume greater responsibility to compensate for the inherent limits of the human working memory and enable transition towards a human-centred manufacturing, the current likes of which are labelled as Operator 4.0 and Industry 5.0. Thus, the expectation is that information systems research, such as this dissertation, can help take significant strides forward in this direction

Seventh Annual Workshop on Space Operations Applications and Research (SOAR 1993), volume 2

This document contains papers presented at the Space Operations, Applications and Research Symposium (SOAR) Symposium hosted by NASA/Johnson Space Center (JSC) and cosponsored by NASA/JSC and U.S. Air Force Materiel Command. SOAR included NASA and USAF programmatic overviews, plenary session, panel discussions, panel sessions, and exhibits. It invited technical papers in support of U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, Department of Energy, NASA, and USAF programs in the following areas: robotics and telepresence, automation and intelligent systems, human factors, life support, and space maintenance and servicing. SOAR was concerned with Government-sponsored research and development relevant to aerospace operations

Fourth Annual Workshop on Space Operations Applications and Research (SOAR 90)

The proceedings of the SOAR workshop are presented. The technical areas included are as follows: Automation and Robotics; Environmental Interactions; Human Factors; Intelligent Systems; and Life Sciences. NASA and Air Force programmatic overviews and panel sessions were also held in each technical area

Technology 2003: Conference Proceedings from the Fourth National Technology Transfer Conference and Exposition, Volume 1

Proceedings from symposia of the Technology 2003 Conference and Exposition, December 7-9, I993, Anaheim, CA. Volume 1 features the Plenary Session and the Plenary Workshop, plus papers presented in Advanced Manufacturing, Biotechnology/Medical Technology, Environmental Technology, Materials Science, and Power and Energy