Motion monitoring of robots and PLC controlled assembly systems using process simulate

El presente proyecto fin de carrera, realizado en la Universidad de Ciencias Aplicadas de Osnabrück, está enmarcado en el área de Robótica Industrial. El objetivo principal consiste en poder monitorizar en tiempo real los datos de movimiento de los diferentes robots y sistemas de transporte de un proceso industrial. La aplicación de monitorización está programada con la ayuda de la API (Interfaz de Programación de Aplicaciones) Tecnomatix, del software Process Simulate de Siemens. Esta API provee las clases y métodos necesarios para programar una librería dinámica que pueda representar, en el modelo 3D de Process Simulate, los datos de movimiento del proceso industrial. Para ello, se programa el software PLC (controlador lógico programable) en el lado del servidor, que se encarga de capturar los diferentes datos y transferirlos a través de la red mediante el protocolo TCP/IP. Posteriormente, cada cliente puede ejecutar la aplicación de monitorización y conectarse al servidor, visualizando los movimientos en el modelo 3D. De este modo, es posible monitorizar y controlar un proceso industrial en tiempo real a miles de kilómetros, siempre y cuando se disponga de una conexión a internet, ofreciendo la posibilidad de detectar posibles fallos de forma inmediata y llevar un seguimiento a lo largo de todo el proceso.This master thesis, carried out at the University of Applied Sciences of Osnabrück, is framed in the Industrial Robotics area. The main objective consist of real-time motion data monitoring of different robots and conveyor systems of an industrial process. The monitoring application is programmed with the help of the API (Application Programming Interface) Tecnomatix, Process Simulate software from Siemens. This API provides classes and methods needed to program a dynamic library that can represent, in the 3D model Process Simulate, the motion data of the industrial process. For that, the software PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) is programmed on the server side, which is responsible for capture the different data and transfer through the network, using the TCP/IP protocol. After that, each client can run the monitoring application and connect to the server, visualizing movements in the 3D model. Thereby, it’s possible to monitoring and control an industrial process in real-time, thousands of kilometers away, provided they have a connection to the Internet. Offering the chance to detect faults immediately and track along the whole process

Design and Manufacture Of A Tick Collecting Robot

The overall goal of this research project is to fully design, manufacture, and test a robot for tick collection. The robot will be designed to collect ticks in regions with thickly branched vegetation, specifically including shrubs, trees, and leaf liter. The robot will be useful to biologists who collect ticks for research or disease control purposes, because it will reach areas that are inaccessible to human-powered collection methods and thus provide them with a more accurate estimate of the tick density in a given region. Obtaining a more precise tick density is crucial, because it provides more detailed information about certain regions and the likelihood of encountering a tick species that transmits a harmful disease. The robot design incorporates several features that will enable it to succeed in tick collection. The small compact size of the robot will allow the robot to maneuver in between obstacles such as branches and trees in the environment. The primary method of collection that will be implemented is dragging. The environment that the robot is designed to navigate is the Albany Pine Bush, which contains an uneven terrain mainly consisting of dirt, shrubs, and leaf liter, and the robot chassis is designed for this environment

End-to-end congestion control protocols for remote programming of robots, using heterogeneous networks: A comparative analysis

There are many interesting aspects of Internet Telerobotics within the network robotics context, such as variable bandwidth and time-delays. Some of these aspects have been treated in the literature from the control point of view. Moreover, only a little work is related to the way Internet protocols can help to minimize the effect of delay and bandwidth fluctuation on network robotics. In this paper, we present the capabilities of TCP, UDP, TCP Las Vegas, TEAR, and Trinomial protocols, when performing a remote experiment within a network robotics application, the UJI Industrial Telelaboratory. Comparative analysis is presented through simulations within the NS2 platform. Results show how these protocols perform in two significant situations within the network robotics context, using heterogeneous wired networks: (1) an asymmetric network when controlling the system through a ADSL connection, and (2) a symmetric network using the system on Campus. Conclusions show a set of characteristics the authors of this paper consider very important when designing an End-to-End Congestion Control transport protocol for Internet Telerobotics

A 360 VR and Wi-Fi Tracking Based Autonomous Telepresence Robot for Virtual Tour

This study proposes a novel mobile robot teleoperation interface that demonstrates the applicability of a robot-aided remote telepresence system with a virtual reality (VR) device to a virtual tour scenario. To improve realism and provide an intuitive replica of the remote environment for the user interface, the implemented system automatically moves a mobile robot (viewpoint) while displaying a 360-degree live video streamed from the robot to a VR device (Oculus Rift). Upon the user choosing a destination location from a given set of options, the robot generates a route based on a shortest path graph and travels along that the route using a wireless signal tracking method that depends on measuring the direction of arrival (DOA) of radio signals. This paper presents an overview of the system and architecture, and discusses its implementation aspects. Experimental results show that the proposed system is able to move to the destination stably using the signal tracking method, and that at the same time, the user can remotely control the robot through the VR interface