A Generic Multi-Layer Architecture Based on ROS-JADE Integration for Autonomous Transport Vehicles

The design and operation of manufacturing systems is evolving to adapt to different challenges. One of the most important is the reconfiguration of the manufacturing process in response to context changes (e.g., faulty equipment or urgent orders, among others). In this sense, the Autonomous Transport Vehicle (ATV) plays a key role in building more flexible and decentralized manufacturing systems. Nowadays, robotic frameworks (RFs) are used for developing robotic systems such as ATVs, but they focus on the control of the robotic system itself. However, social abilities are required for performing intelligent interaction (peer-to-peer negotiation and decision-making) among the different and heterogeneous Cyber Physical Production Systems (such as machines, transport systems and other equipment present in the factory) to achieve manufacturing reconfiguration. This work contributes a generic multi-layer architecture that integrates a RF with a Multi-Agent System (MAS) to provide social abilities to ATVs. This architecture has been implemented on ROS and JADE, the most widespread RF and MAS framework, respectively. We believe this to be the first work that addresses the intelligent interaction of transportation systems for flexible manufacturing environments in a holistic form.This work was financed by MINECO/FEDER, UE (grant number DPI2015-68602-R) and by UPV/EHU (grant number PPG17/56)

A Generic ROS-Based Control Architecture for Pest Inspection and Treatment in Greenhouses Using a Mobile Manipulator

To meet the demands of a rising population greenhouses must face the challenge of producing more in a more efficient and sustainable way. Innovative mobile robotic solutions with flexible navigation and manipulation strategies can help monitor the field in real-time. Guided by Integrated Pest Management strategies, robots can perform early pest detection and selective treatment tasks autonomously. However, combining the different robotic skills is an error prone work that requires experience in many robotic fields, usually deriving on ad-hoc solutions that are not reusable in other contexts. This work presents Robotframework, a generic ROS-based architecture which can easily integrate different navigation, manipulation, perception, and high-decision modules leading to a faster and simplified development of new robotic applications. The architecture includes generic real-time data collection tools, diagnosis and error handling modules, and user-friendly interfaces. To demonstrate the benefits of combining and easily integrating different robotic skills using the architecture, two flexible manipulation strategies have been developed to enhance the pest detection in its early state and to perform targeted spraying in simulated and field commercial greenhouses. Besides, an additional use-case has been included to demonstrate the applicability of the architecture in other industrial contexts.This work was supported in part by the GreenPatrol European Project through the European GNSS Agency by the European Union's (EU) Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program under Grant 776324 [11]. Documen