Digital Manufacturing on a Shoestring - Low cost digital solutions for SMEs

This paper introduces the Digital Manufacturing on a Shoestring programme as a whole and demonstrates the way in which it addresses the need for low cost digital solutions for SME Manufacturers. It discusses challenges associated with integrating low cost technologies into industrial solutions and the style of IT architectures best suited for integrating these solutions into industrial environments.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council [grant number EPSRC: EP/R032777/1

Digital manufacturing on a shoestring: Low cost digital solutions for SMEs

One of the key findings in a number of recent studies has been that small and medium sized manufacturers (SMEs) have been slow in adopting digital solutions within their organisations. Cost is understood to be one of the key barriers to adoption. Digital Manufacturing on a Shoestring is an approach to increasing the digital capabilities of SMEs via a series of low cost solutions. The programme proposes using off-the-shelf, (possibly non-industrial) components and software to address a company’s (digital) solution needs, adding capabilities one step at a time with minimal a priori infrastructure required. This paper will introduce the Digital Manufacturing on a Shoestring programme as a whole and demonstrate the way in which it addresses the need for low cost digital solutions for SME Manufacturers. It will discuss challenges associated with integrating low cost technologies into industrial solutions and the style of IT architectures best suited for integrating such solutions into industrial environments

Design and development of a self-adaptive, reconfigurable and low-cost robotic arm

This study presents the design, development and control of a low-cost, self-adaptive robotic arm with the advantages of being modular and reconfigurable to perform a variety of tasks in different applications such as education, medicine and assistance for daily living activities. Particularly for educational purposes, the robot arms can be differently assembled to fulfill various tasks and its mechanical and control scenarios can be studied in the courses

Importance of embodiment towards co-operation in multi robot systems

The work presented in this thesis relates to one of the major ongoing problems in robotics: Developing control architectures for cooperation in Multi Robot Systems (MRS). It has been widely accepted that Embodiment is a prime requirement for Robotics. However, in the case of MRS research, two major shortfalls were identified. First, it was highlighted that no effort had been made into research platforms for Embodied MRS. Second, it was also observed that, generally, the more units in an MRS the lower their capabilities and as a result the poorer their degree of embodiment. These two issues were addressed separately. Firstly, a novel concept for MRS development platform named 'Re-embodiment' is presented. Re-embodiment aims to facilitate research on control systems for MRS by minimising the effort required to ensure that the robots remain embodied and situated. Using Re-embodiment, researchers can implement and test largely different control algorithms at virtually the same time on large fleets of robots. Secondly, an innovative mono vision distance measurement algorithm is presented. The intention is to provide a cheap, yet information rich, sensory input that can be realistically implemented on large fleet of robots. After a 'one off calibration of the image sensor, distances from the robot to objects in its environment can be estimated from single frames.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Importance of embodiment towards co-operation in multi robot systems

The work presented in this thesis relates to one of the major ongoing problems in robotics: Developing control architectures for cooperation in Multi Robot Systems (MRS). It has been widely accepted that Embodiment is a prime requirement for Robotics. However, in the case of MRS research, two major shortfalls were identified. First, it was highlighted that no effort had been made into research platforms for Embodied MRS. Second, it was also observed that, generally, the more units in an MRS the lower their capabilities and as a result the poorer their degree of embodiment. These two issues were addressed separately. Firstly, a novel concept for MRS development platform named 'Re-embodiment' is presented. Re-embodiment aims to facilitate research on control systems for MRS by minimising the effort required to ensure that the robots remain embodied and situated. Using Re-embodiment, researchers can implement and test largely different control algorithms at virtually the same time on large fleets of robots. Secondly, an innovative mono vision distance measurement algorithm is presented. The intention is to provide a cheap, yet information rich, sensory input that can be realistically implemented on large fleet of robots. After a 'one off calibration of the image sensor, distances from the robot to objects in its environment can be estimated from single frames