Jürgen Roßmann

Study on Soft-Tissue Injury in Robotics

This article details the analysis of soft-tissue injuries caused by sharp tools that are mounted on/grasped by a robot. The evaluation is considered as the next step down the road to a complete safety analysis of robots for human-robot interaction (HRI). We conduct an analysis of soft-tissue injuries based on available biomechanical and forensic data and present various experimental results with biological tissue for validation. Furthermore, possible countermeasures are proposed and evaluated by means of measurable injury reduction.

Database-driven distributed 3D simulation

Distributed 3D simulations are used in various fields of application like geo information systems (GIS), space robotics or industrial automation. We present a new database-driven approach that combines 3D real-time simulation techniques with object-oriented data management. It consists of simulation clients that replicate from a central database object data as well as the data schema itself. The central database stores static and dynamic parts of a simulation model, distributes changes caused by the simulation, and logs the simulation run. Compared to standard decentralized methods this approach has several advantages like persistence for state and course of time, object identification, standardized interfaces for simulation, modeling and evaluation, as well as a consistent data schema and world model for the overall system, which at the same time serves as a means for communication.

Mental Models for Intelligent Systems: eRobotics Enables New Approaches to Simulation-Based AI

AbstracteRobotics is a newly evolving branch of e-Systems engineering, providing tools to support the whole life cycle of robotic applications by means of electronic media. With the eRobotics methodology, the target system and its environment can be modeled, validated, and calibrated to achieve a close-to-reality simulation. In this contribution, we present simulation-based mental models for autonomous systems as a foundation for new approaches to prediction and artificial intelligence. We formulate a methodology to construct optimization problems within simulation environments in order to assist autonomous systems in action planning. We illustrate the usefulness and performance of this approach through various examples in different fields. As application for space robotics, we focus on climbing strategies of a legged mobile exploration robot. Furthermore, we enable skillfull interaction control in service robotics and address energy consumption issues. The contribution concludes with a detailed discussion of the concept presented here.

Model-Based Programming “by Demonstration”– Fast Setup of Robot Systems (ProDemo)

This article describes a new integrated approach to robot programming which combines online and offline methods in an efficient, synergetic way. It aims at reducing the cost, the effort and the steepness of the learning curve to set up robotic systems, which are key issues to support the economic use of robots in small and medium enterprises. The innovative approach of the system lies in the use of a task-oriented description and modeling of the work cell as well as the intuitive commanding of the program flow. The input of a tracking system is used to define trajectories and to model obstacles in the work cell. All tasks are coordinated intuitively via a Graphical User Interface, which includes visual programming. A simulation system is then used for collision checking, visualization and optimization of the programs. This paper focuses on MMI’s developments of the GUI and the modeling capabilities of the system.

Virtual commissioning of automated micro-optical assembly

In this contribution, we present a novel approach to enable virtual commissioning for process developers in micro-optical assembly. Our approach aims at supporting micro-optics experts to effectively develop assisted or fully automated assembly solutions without detailed prior experience in programming while at the same time enabling them to easily implement their own libraries of expert schemes and algorithms for handling optical components. Virtual commissioning is enabled by a 3D simulation and visualization system in which the functionalities and properties of automated systems are modeled, simulated and controlled based on multi-agent systems. For process development, our approach supports event-, state- and time-based visual programming techniques for the agents and allows for their kinematic motion simulation in combination with looped-in simulation results for the optical components. First results have been achieved for simply switching the agents to command the real hardware setup after successful process implementation and validation in the virtual environment. We evaluated and adapted our system to meet the requirements set by industrial partners-- laser manufacturers as well as hardware suppliers of assembly platforms. The concept is applied to the automated assembly of optical components for optically pumped semiconductor lasers and positioning of optical components for beam-shaping

Virtual commissioning and symbolic planning of micro-optical assembly processes

Automation in micro-optical assembly is an emergent, but steadily growing field of research. To advance the optics industrys efforts in this regard, several methods that aid optics engineers with development and deployment of assembly processes have been proposed. However, it is still a non-trivial and time-consuming task to design efficient work orders that consider movement characteristics of integrated robotic assembly systems. In this contribution, we present an approach to combine well-investigated symbolic planning algorithms, semantic modelling techniques and 3D simulation-based virtual commissioning to generate optimized work orders for automated micro-optical assembly and thereby help to overcome the difficulties of manual process design. Our approach is a good example for the efficiency of the eRobotics concept and demonstrates how its systematic application can resolve practical problems with existing approaches. Results indicate that our approach to automated planning is, by enabling a formal definition of quality metrics for action sequences, not only faster but also usually superior to manual generation of work orders.

From Space to the Forest and to Construction Sites: Virtual Testbeds Pave the Way for New Technologies

In recent years, virtual reality has emerged as a key technology for improving and streamlining design, manufacturing and training processes. Based on experience in the fields of space robotics, industrial manufacturing and multi-physics virtual prototyping, “virtual testbeds” are currently being designed and implemented. Building on experiences gained in space robotics applications, the idea of virtual testbeds currently conquers new fields of applications in the manufacturing industry, on construction sites and even “in the woods”. Interestingly, all fields can be supported with a rather generic and common basis so that the different applications can be realized very cost-efficiently.

A new benchmark for pose estimation with ground truth from virtual reality

AbstractThe development of programming paradigms for industrial assembly currently gets fresh impetus from approaches in human demonstration and programming-by-demonstration. Major low- and mid-level prerequisites for machine vision and learning in these intelligent robotic applications are pose estimation, stereo reconstruction and action recognition. As a basis for the machine vision and learning involved, pose estimation is used for deriving object positions and orientations and thus target frames for robot execution. Our contribution introduces and applies a novel benchmark for typical multi-sensor setups and algorithms in the field of demonstration-based automated assembly. The benchmark platform is equipped with a multi-sensor setup consisting of stereo cameras and depth scanning devices (see Fig. 1). The dimensions and abilities of the platform have been chosen in order to reflect typical manual assembly tasks. Following the eRobotics methodology, a simulatable 3D representation of this platform was modelled in virtual reality. Based on a detailed camera and sensor simulation, we generated a set of benchmark images and point clouds with controlled levels of noise as well as ground truth data such as object positions and time stamps. We demonstrate the application of the benchmark to evaluate our latest developments in pose estimation, stereo reconstruction and action recognition and publish the benchmark data for objective comparison of sensor setups and algorithms in industry.

Simulation of actuated and controlled robot manipulators

As an extension of the virtual testbed framework for space missions planning, design and analysis, the recently introduced concept of eRobotics supports the entire hardware-life-cycle of robotic systems and paves the way for new technologies, while drastically cutting down costs. In this work, within the context of eRobotics, we address the simulation of electrically driven robot manipulators down to actuation. We present a systematical, highly modular approach, which exploits the electromechanical analogy to capture the structure of the robot drive train system uniformly. The modified nodal analysis is used to assemble and simulate the drive train. A polymorphism-based architecture is introduced to handle both electrical and mechanical constituting components. Torques needed to enable a simulated 7-DoF light-weight-robot manipulator to track a given joint trajectory are commanded and provided in a two-stage position and torque control scheme. The motor voltage requirement is predicted. Simulation results...

Mapping and Navigation of Mobile Robots in Natural Environments

With support of the North-Rhine Westphalian Ministry of Environment algorithms are being developed to construct “tree maps” by delineating single trees from remote sensing data like LIDAR, ortho photos and satellite imagery. These tree maps are in turn used as a basis for a new approach to forest working vehicle localization and navigation to overcome GPS limitations under a forest canopy. Experiments already showed that the availability of the tree map in connection with statistical sensor fusion strategies greatly improves the accuracy for navigation of autonomous vehicles in the forest.