MANUSERV

Brief description

The MANUSERV project aims to develop a planning and decision support system that uses service robots in order to automate processes that have been carried out manually up to now. The project will examine both technical viability as well as economic feasibility. The system provides support when it comes to selecting the most suitable service robot and its programming, right through to virtual putting into operation. The solution is to be provided as a service for users via an Internet platform where suppliers will offer their service robot solutions in a technology catalogue, containing technical descriptions of the abilities of the products and robots.

The challenge

Robots are today a vital part of industrial manufacturing. But they can do so much more than handle pre-defined tasks on the spot. Robots are becoming independent and performing traditional service tasks in order to support people in their work. But the problem here is that the new technologies are finding it difficult to make their way into practical application. Even though first product approaches exist, there are in fact still only a few applications. This is because there is not a lot known about the possibilities for shifting manual processes to service robots and because there is the fear of high implementation costs. On the other hand, developers and suppliers of service robotic applications are not familiar with the manual processes that are suitable for (partial) automation. This lack of knowledge means that efficiency potential is lost, especially in small and medium-sized companies, but also in agricultural operations.

Aim

That's why a planning and decision support system is to be developed as part of the MANUSERV project. This system will help users and developers of service robotic applications to analyse and describe work process, to plan action, to select suitable service robots. The system will also provide assistance when it comes to evaluating, estimating the costs of the solution as well as implementing and programming it.

Technologies

In order to reach this goal, state-of-the-art methods in labour science are to be combined with new methods in action planning and simulation as well as robot programming. The results as well as specific planning and decision tools, for instance, a technology catalogue or an action library, will be made available to companies via an Internet portal where suppliers and users of service robotics components can meet.

Use case

The function and advantages of MANUSERV will be tested, evaluated and optimised on the basis of three practical application scenarios. In the "Hybrid assembly with lightweight robots" application scenario, the focus is on active support for staff in the assembly of household appliances and systems rather than on full automation of a manual process. Therefore, the project work and results in this application scenario will be strongly geared to the topics of man-robot interaction and the integration of safety and monitoring systems, as well as the co-ordination of manual and automated process steps.

Another application scenario will be dedicated to autonomous equipping and maintenance of high-performance stretch-blow machines for PET bottles. What's striking about this scenario is that production is interrupted for this process. That's why service robots are to be used here to optimise maintenance, tooling or product-change times (e.g. spigot change in the heater module, mould change in the blow module).

A third application scenario will be implemented with flexible robot use in agriculture where there is a strong trend towards automation, especially when it comes to milking. But there are still many non-automated processes, for instance, cattle driving, as well as cleaning of resting cubicles and milking carousels. These processes are to be analysed as part of the project. Robotic solutions and dairy cows are not a contradiction: Cows are creatures of habit who like a regular routine. From a worker perspective, the support provided by service robots lessens the work load considerably. That's why complex and strenuous manual activities which have not been automated up to now will be transferred to robots in this project.

Partners: RIF e. V. – Institut für Forschung und Transfer (consortium leader), KHS Corpoplast GmbH, Albrecht Jung GmbH & Co. KG, GEA Farm Technologies GmbH, Icarus Consulting GmbH