Safely Learning Visuo-Tactile Feedback Policies in Real For Industrial Insertion

Industrial insertion tasks are often performed repetitively with parts that are subject to tight tolerances and prone to breakage. In this paper, we present a safe method to learn a visuo-tactile insertion policy that is robust against grasp pose variations while minimizing human inputs and collision between the robot and the environment. We achieve this by dividing the insertion task into two phases. In the first align phase, we learn a tactile-based grasp pose estimation model to align the insertion part with the receptacle. In the second insert phase, we learn a vision-based policy to guide the part into the receptacle. Using force-torque sensing, we also develop a safe self-supervised data collection pipeline that limits collision between the part and the surrounding environment. Physical experiments on the USB insertion task from the NIST Assembly Taskboard suggest that our approach can achieve 45/45 insertion successes on 45 different initial grasp poses, improving on two baselines: (1) a behavior cloning agent trained on 50 human insertion demonstrations (1/45) and (2) an online RL policy (TD3) trained in real (0/45)

Chain of refined perception in self-optimizing assembly of micro-optical systems

Today, the assembly of laser systems requires a large share of manual operations due to its complexity regarding the optimal alignment of optics. Although the feasibility of automated alignment of laser optics has been shown in research labs, the development effort for the automation of assembly does not meet economic requirements – especially for low-volume laser production. This paper presents a model-based and sensor-integrated assembly execution approach for flexible assembly cells consisting of a macro-positioner covering a large workspace and a compact micromanipulator with camera attached to the positioner. In order to make full use of available models from computer-aided design (CAD) and optical simulation, sensor systems at different levels of accuracy are used for matching perceived information with model data. This approach is named "chain of refined perception", and it allows for automated planning of complex assembly tasks along all major phases of assembly such as collision-free path planning, part feeding, and active and passive alignment. The focus of the paper is put on the in-process image-based metrology and information extraction used for identifying and calibrating local coordinate systems as well as the exploitation of that information for a part feeding process for micro-optics. Results will be presented regarding the processes of automated calibration of the robot camera as well as the local coordinate systems of part feeding area and robot base

Cyber-Physical Systems for Micro-/Nano-assembly Operations: a Survey

Abstract Purpose of Review Latest requirements of the global market force manufacturing systems to a change for a new production paradigm (Industry 4.0). Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) appear as a solution to be deployed in different manufacturing fields, especially those with high added value and technological complexity, high product variants, and short time to market. In this sense, this paper aims at reviewing the introduction level of CPS technologies in micro/nano-manufacturing and how these technologies could cope with these challenging manufacturing requirements. Recent Findings The introduction of CPS is still in its infancy on many industrial applications, but it actually demonstrates its potential to support future manufacturing paradigm. However, only few research works in micro/nano-manufacturing considered CPS frameworks, since the concept barely appeared a decade ago. Summary Some contributions have revealed the potential of CPS technologies to improve manufacturing performance which may be scaled to the micro/nano-manufacturing. IoT-based frameworks with VR/AR technologies allow distributed and collaborative systems, or agent-based architectures with advance algorithm implementations that improve the flexibility and performance of micro-/nano-assembly operations. Future research of CPS in micro-/nano-assembly operations should be followed by more studies of its technical deployment showing its implications under other perspectives, i.e. sustainable, economic, and social point of views, to take full advance of all its features

Annals of Scientific Society for Assembly, Handling and Industrial Robotics 2021

This Open Access proceedings presents a good overview of the current research landscape of assembly, handling and industrial robotics. The objective of MHI Colloquium is the successful networking at both academic and management level. Thereby, the colloquium focuses an academic exchange at a high level in order to distribute the obtained research results, to determine synergy effects and trends, to connect the actors in person and in conclusion, to strengthen the research field as well as the MHI community. In addition, there is the possibility to become acquatined with the organizing institute. Primary audience is formed by members of the scientific society for assembly, handling and industrial robotics (WGMHI)

Annals of Scientific Society for Assembly, Handling and Industrial Robotics 2021

This Open Access proceedings presents a good overview of the current research landscape of assembly, handling and industrial robotics. The objective of MHI Colloquium is the successful networking at both academic and management level. Thereby, the colloquium focuses an academic exchange at a high level in order to distribute the obtained research results, to determine synergy effects and trends, to connect the actors in person and in conclusion, to strengthen the research field as well as the MHI community. In addition, there is the possibility to become acquatined with the organizing institute. Primary audience is formed by members of the scientific society for assembly, handling and industrial robotics (WGMHI)

Structural Concept Learning via Graph Attention for Multi-Level Rearrangement Planning

Robotic manipulation tasks, such as object rearrangement, play a crucial role in enabling robots to interact with complex and arbitrary environments. Existing work focuses primarily on single-level rearrangement planning and, even if multiple levels exist, dependency relations among substructures are geometrically simpler, like tower stacking. We propose Structural Concept Learning (SCL), a deep learning approach that leverages graph attention networks to perform multi-level object rearrangement planning for scenes with structural dependency hierarchies. It is trained on a self-generated simulation data set with intuitive structures, works for unseen scenes with an arbitrary number of objects and higher complexity of structures, infers independent substructures to allow for task parallelization over multiple manipulators, and generalizes to the real world. We compare our method with a range of classical and model-based baselines to show that our method leverages its scene understanding to achieve better performance, flexibility, and efficiency. The dataset, supplementary details, videos, and code implementation are available at: https://manavkulshrestha.github.io/sclComment: Accepted to Conference on Robot Learning (CoRL) 202

Annals of Scientific Society for Assembly, Handling and Industrial Robotics 2021

This Open Access proceedings presents a good overview of the current research landscape of assembly, handling and industrial robotics. The objective of MHI Colloquium is the successful networking at both academic and management level. Thereby, the colloquium focuses an academic exchange at a high level in order to distribute the obtained research results, to determine synergy effects and trends, to connect the actors in person and in conclusion, to strengthen the research field as well as the MHI community. In addition, there is the possibility to become acquatined with the organizing institute. Primary audience is formed by members of the scientific society for assembly, handling and industrial robotics (WGMHI)