The World robot summit disaster robotics category – achievements of the 2018 preliminary competition

The World Robot Summit is a robot Olympics and aims to be held in a different country every four years from 2020. The concept of the Plant Disaster Prevention challenge is daily inspections, checks, and emergency response in industrial plants, and in this competition, robots must carry out these types of missions in a mock-up plant. The concept of the Tunnel Disaster Response and Recovery challenge is emergency response to tunnel disasters, and is a simulation competition whereby teams compete to show their ability to deal with disasters, by collecting information and removing debris. The Standard Disaster Robotics challenge assesses, in the form of a contest, the standard performance levels of a robot that are necessary for disaster prevention and emergency response. The World Robot Summit Preliminary Competition was held at Tokyo Big Sight in October 2018, and 36 teams participated in the Disaster Robotics Category. UGVs and UAVs contended the merits of new technology for solving complex problems, using core technologies such as mobility, sensing, recognition, performing operations, human interface, autonomous intelligence etc., as well as system integration and implementation of strategies for completing missions, gaining high-level results.     

Development of the multifunctional rescue robot FUHGA2 and evaluation at the world robot summit 2018

Abstract

Robots are needed in rescue activities and the inspection of infrastructure. We developed the rescue robot FUHGA2 so that it has various functions. FUHGA2 has high mobility, with main crawlers covering the body and four sub-crawlers, high dexterity using a long six-axis arm, and high searching ability using various sensors. Furthermore, a novel parallel gripper unit with wire-jamming mechanism is mounted at the tip of the arm, which can change its hardness and fit its shape to an object. Additionally, high Maneuvering is achieved by displaying sensor information to the operator clearly and intuitive operation command design. FUHGA2 won the World Robot Summit 2018 Standard Disaster Robotics Challenge, which is a competition for rescue robots. We achieved high scores in all categories of tasks. In this paper, we describe the development of FUHGA2 and the performance evaluation results from the World Robot Summit 2018.     

Development and field test of the articulated mobile robot T2 Snake-4 for plant disaster prevention

Abstract

In this work, we develop an articulated mobile robot that can move in narrow spaces, climb stairs, gather information, and operate valves for plant disaster prevention. The robot can adopt a tall position using a folding arm and gather information using sensors mounted on the arm. In addition, this paper presents a stair climbing method using a single backward wave. This method enables the robot to climb stairs that have a short tread. The developed robot system is tested in a field test at the World Robot Summit 2018, and the lessons learned in the field test are discussed.     

Development of a folding arm on an articulated mobile robot for plant disaster prevention

Abstract

In this work, we develop a folding arm on an articulated mobile robot to inspect an industrial plant. The design targets of the arm, its operations, measurement ability, and mobility, were set for the task of inspecting an industrial plant. To accomplish the targets, we designed the folding arm considering both accessibility to high locations and the mobility of the articulated mobile robot to which it is attached. The arm has links, joints, dummy wheels, and sensors and enables the robot to which it is attached to manipulate objects, e.g. rotating valves, opening a door, or inspecting by accessing high locations. In addition, changing the posture of the arm and touching the dummy wheel in the arm to the surrounding terrain can reduce any negative effect of the arm on the robot's mobility when it encounters narrow spaces, stairs, steps, and trenches. The arm is controlled as a six degrees-of-freedom manipulator without redundancy by an operator who directly sets two joint angles. The effectiveness of the developed arm was demonstrated not only through experiments in a laboratory but also in a field test at the Plant Disaster Prevention Challenge of the World Robot Summit 2018.     

Development of a separable search-and-rescue robot composed of a mobile robot and a snake robot

Abstract

In this study, we propose a new robot system consisting of a mobile robot and a snake robot. The system works not only as a mobile manipulator but also as a multi-agent system by using the snake robot's ability to separate from the mobile robot. Initially, the snake robot is mounted on the mobile robot in the carrying mode. When an operator uses the snake robot as a manipulator, the robot changes to the manipulator mode. The operator can detach the snake robot from the mobile robot and command the snake robot to conduct lateral rolling motions. In this paper, we present the details of our robot and its performance in the World Robot Summit.     

Assembly Challenge: a robot competition of the Industrial Robotics Category,World Robot Summit – summary of the pre-competition in 2018*

ABSTRACT

The World Robot Summit (WRS) is a robotic ‘challenge and exposition’ organized by the Japanese government to accelerate social implementation, research and development of robots working in realistic daily life, society, and industrial fields. In this paper, we introduce a robot competition of the Industrial Robotics Category of the WRS, called ‘Assembly Challenge’, which is organized by the WRS Industrial Robotics Competition Committee in order to promote the development of the next-generation production systems that can respond to new production demands in agile and lean manners. Prior to the main competition in 2020, a pre-competition was held in 2018 with 16 participating teams from around the world. In this paper, we introduce the contents and results of this pre-competition, analyze the results, and give a perspective for the 2020 main competition.     

System for augmented human–robot interaction through mixed reality and robot training by non-experts in customer service environments

Human–robot interaction during general service tasks in home or retail environment has been proven challenging, partly because (1) robots lack high-level context-based cognition and (2) humans cannot intuit the perception state of robots as they can for other humans. To solve these two problems, we present a complete robot system that has been given the highest evaluation score at the Customer Interaction Task of the Future Convenience Store Challenge at the World Robot Summit 2018, which implements several key technologies: (1) a hierarchical spatial concepts formation for general robot task planning and (2) a mixed reality interface to enable users to intuitively visualize the current state of the robot perception and naturally interact with it. The results obtained during the competition indicate that the proposed system allows both non-expert operators and end users to achieve human–robot interactions in customer service environments. Furthermore, we describe a detailed scenario including employee operation and customer interaction which serves as a set of requirements for service robots and a road map for development. The system integration and task scenario described in this paper should be helpful for groups facing customer interaction challenges and looking for a successfully deployed base to build on.     

Q-bot: heavy object carriage robot for in-house logistics based on universal vacuum gripper

Q-bot is the human-sized carriage robot for lifting heavy weight objects of in-house logistics, such as storehouse and convenience store. The main feature of Q-bot is the adhesion mechanism beneath the foot, called the turnover prevention Universal Vacuum Gripper (in short TP UVG) that holds its body for turnover prevention and self-weight compensation. Turnover prevention is one of the key technologies of in-house logistic robot for effective use of it. Self-weight compensation is another clue for the robot to achieve the labor work in narrow space. TP UVG is achieved both functions by adhering to uneven ground. The other function of Q-bot is multiple objects graspability based on two-sized Universal Vacuum Gripper by dual-armed manipulation. Q-bot also has omnidirectional movability based on mecanum wheels. In this research, we will report on the development of Q-bot and experiments to prevent the robot from falling when it grabs a heavy object while attached to the ground. We also report Q-bot demonstrations of Future Convenience-Store Challenge in the World Robot Summit 2018.     

Team O2AS at the world robot summit 2018: an approach to robotic kitting and assembly tasks using general purpose grippers and tools

ABSTRACT

In this article, we propose a versatile robotic system for kitting and assembly tasks which uses no jigs or commercial tool changers. Instead of specialized end effectors, it uses its two-finger grippers to grasp and hold tools to perform subtasks such as screwing and suctioning. A third gripper is used as a precision picking and centering tool, and uses in-built passive compliance to compensate for small position errors and uncertainty. A novel grasp point detection for bin picking is described for the kitting task, using a single depth map. Using the proposed system we competed in the Assembly Challenge of the Industrial Robotics Category of the World Robot Challenge at the World Robot Summit 2018, obtaining 4th place and the SICE award for lean design and versatile tool use. We show the effectiveness of our approach through experiments performed during the competition.     

Towards robot cell matrices for agile production – SDU Robotics' assembly cell at the WRC 2018

ABSTRACT

To support shifting to high mix/low volume production, manufacturers in high wage countries aim for robotizing their production operations – with a special focus on the late production phases, where robotic assembly cells are then confronted with any complexities resulting from part and product varieties. The ‘World Robot Challenge 2018’ (WRC 2018) emulated such high mix/low volume production scenarios in a competition taking place in Tokyo, Japan. As part of our activities in SDU's newly founded I4.0 Lab, we integrated and advanced our experiences and developments from our various R & D projects in a novel robotic assembly cell design to compete in the WRC 2018. This article describes the system architecture as well as main aspects of its implementation regarding robot control, robot programming and computer vision and how they contributed to winning the challenge. Due to the application of collaborative robots, the cell design allows for operation without fences. Hence, multiple copies of the cell can be arranged in a highly reconfigurable, highly adaptable matrix structure in which several production flows can be handled concurrently. This concept was demonstrated by the installation of a duplicate cell that allowed for parallel developments on two cells and prolonged development also after shipping the first cell to Japan.     

Task-board task for assembling a belt drive unit

ABSTRACT

A task board is a board for assembling parts, developed to test the abilities of a robot system to perform assembly operations associated with a manufacturing process. This study describes a task board that can serve as a basis for developing program modules for assembling a specific product. A properly designed task board can serve as a preliminary template for a specific assembly and can promote robotic assembly. This study analyzes the design of a Task-board task performed at the World Robot Summit 2018 (WRS 2018). The main competitive task at the WRS 2018 was the assembly of a belt drive unit. Analyses showed that the directions of assembly, especially the horizontal direction, were common difficulties in both Task-board and Assembly task competitions. Development of a task board for a specific assembly product requires an increase of its relevance to the assembly product, such as using the same workpieces or using similar assembly orientations.     

Upper-body haptic system for snake robot teleoperation in pipelines

Snake robots have shown a great potential for operations in confined workplaces that are less accessible or dangerous to human workers, such as the in-pipe inspection. However, the snake robot teleoperation remains a nontrivial task due to the unique locomotion mechanism (e.g., helical motion) and the constraints of the workplaces including the low visibility and indistinguishable features. Most snake robot feedback systems are based on the live camera view only. It is hard for the human operator to develop a correct spatial understanding of the remote workplace, leading to problems such as disorientation and motion sickness in snake robot teleoperation. This study designs and evaluates an innovative haptic assistant system for snake robot teleoperation in the in-pipe inspection. An upper-body haptic suit with 40 vibrators on both the front and back sides of the human operator was developed to generate haptic feedback corresponding to the bottom and up sides of the snake robot, transferring the egocentric sensation of the snake robot to the human operator. A human-subject experiment (n = 31) was performed to evaluate the efficacy of the developed system. The results indicate that the proposed haptic assistant system outperformed other feedback systems in terms of both task performance and subjective workload and motion sickness evaluations. It inspires new control and feedback designs for the future snake robot in industrial operations.     

What competitions were conducted in the service categories of the World Robot Summit?

The World Robot Summit is a competition held to realize a world where humans and robots can cooperate and coexist. The WRS Service Categories are competitive events which, with ‘cooperation between human and robot’ as their important theme, present robot technology competitions designed, mainly, to enable people and robots to cooperate with and complement each other, as they will be required to do so in homes, shops, and other living spaces. In this paper, we described the details of three competitions, the Partner Robot Challenge (Real Space), Partner Robot Challenge (Virtual Space and Future Convenience Store Challenge which conducted in the WRS Service Category.     

Modeling, simulation and fuzzy control of an anthropomorphic robot arm by using Dymola

Analysis and fuzzy control of an anthropomorphic robot arm on a special trajectory is the subject of this paper. These types of systems are used in cutting operations on materials, joining materials by welding, material handling in remote and dangerous environments, packing of foods, inspection/testing electronic parts or medical products. This robot arm realizes the handling motion on a special trajectory. In this study, the first three links of Mitsubishi RV-2AJ Industrial Robot, are like an anthropomorphic arm, have been modeled and simulated by using Dymola. Kinematic equations have been obtained and mathematical model of this system has been formed by using Lagrange’s Equations. Fuzzy logic controller for the joint angles for the motion trajectory has been designed and the simulation results have been presented at the end of the study.     

Automatic concrete tunnel inspection robot system

This paper describes the development of an automatic concrete tunnel inspection system by an autonomous mobile robot. This work was motivated by the accidents in recent years that were caused by falling parts of the inner wall of concrete tunnels. This brought about serious damage to national property and led to the great concern throughout the whole society. Here, we proposed a non-destructive automatic tunnel inspection method. In this method, we aim to inspect the tunnel automatically and completely at high speed by using non-destructive sensors. For the non-destructive sensors, we employ 24 ultrasonic range sensors and six video cameras. These sensors are mounted on the same plane in the shape of a semi-ring. This ultrasonic range sensor video camera semi-ring is called a URS/VC semi-ring. This URS/VC semi-ring is mounted on an autonomous mobile robot to inspect the concrete tunnel. Experiment results show that this system can detect deformed inner walls at divisions of 14 mm when the robot moves at 20 mm/s.     

渗滤液导排管道检测机器人的研究

针对垃圾填埋场渗滤液导排管道检测的需要,研究了一种基于CCD摄像方法的管道检测机器人系统,该系统主要由机器人的驱动装置、预清洗装置、检测系统、控制系统和地面工作站等组成.详细介绍了管道检测机器人的系统总体设计和各组成部分的功能.经系统测试和现场实验表明,该系统能够在管道内平稳运行、传输出清晰地管道内壁图像、完成管道清洗的工作,实现管道机器人的远程信息的交换和控制.     

Development of assembly system with quick and low-cost installation

ABSTRACT

Cell production systems for assembly operations generally require tool changes using several hands and a customized work table. The initial setting and resetting of the assembly system are costly. We implemented a system comprising the use of only two hands and without the requirement of tool changers. In addition, multiple sensors are used to perform tasks robustly to avoid errors. The peg-in-hole task is performed robustly against errors without the precise positioning of objects. The objective is to develop a system that is lean and agile and can be set up quickly. We evaluate this system based on the task-board and assembly tasks during the assembly challenge in the industrial robotics category of the World Robot Summit 2018.     

Development of universal vacuum gripper for wall-climbing robot

Task performed at a height, such as wall inspections are one of the dangerous tasks for humans. Thus, robotic technology for safety inspection is required. This research focuses on developing robots to climb vertical walls with flat and uneven surfaces, e.g. concrete, tile and riveted structure. To have wall-climbing capability, climbing robots use vacuum pads, claws, magnets, intermolecular force, and adhesive. However, each of these approaches has disadvantages. To achieve wall climbing on an uneven surface without scratching and staining, we have developed a novel vacuum pad named the Universal Vacuum Gripper (UVG), which is based on the Universal Gripper (UG). The UG is a robot hand using jamming transition of coffee powder inside a balloon to grip uneven material. The UVG is a vacuum pad with a deformable skirt based on the UG. If the skirt shape is deformed in accordance with the contact surface, air leaks can be avoided. Moreover, the deformed skirt can be stiffened, thereby working as a gripper. Here, we evaluate the proposed gripper, having both grasping and adhesion force. We also develop a wall-climbing robot with UVGs, and evaluate its performance on uneven surfaces under real-world conditions.     

Robots assembling machines: learning from the World Robot Summit 2018 Assembly Challenge

ABSTRACT

The Industrial Assembly Challenge at the World Robot Summit was held in 2018 to showcase the state-of-the-art of autonomous manufacturing systems. The challenge included various tasks, such as bin picking, kitting, and assembly of standard industrial parts into 2D and 3D assemblies. Some of the tasks were only revealed at the competition itself, representing the challenge of ‘level 5’ automation, i.e. programming and setting up an autonomous assembly system in less than one day. We conducted a survey among the teams that participated in the challenge and investigated aspects such as team composition, development costs, system setups as well as the teams' strategies and approaches. An analysis of the survey results reveals that the competitors have been in two camps: those constructing conventional robotic work cells with off-the-shelf tools, and teams who mostly relied on custom-made end effectors and novel software approaches in combination with collaborative robots. While both camps performed reasonably well, the winning team chose a middle ground in between, combining the efficiency of established play-back programming with the autonomy gained by CAD-based object detection and force control for assembly operations.     

Towards easy setup of robotic assembly tasks

ABSTRACT

There is a growing need for adaptive robotic assembly systems that are fast to setup and reprogram when new products are introduced. The World Robot Challenge at World Robot Summit 2018 was centered around the challenge of setting up a flexible robotic assembly system aiming at changeover times below 1 day. This paper presents a method for programming robotic assembly tasks that was initiated in connection with the World Robot Challenge that enables fast and easy setup of robotic insertion tasks.

We propose to program assembly tasks by demonstration, but instead of using the taught behavior directly, the demonstration is merged with assembly primitives to increase robustness. In contrast to other programming by demonstration approaches, we perform not only one demonstration but a sequence of four sub-demonstrations that are used to extract the desired robot trajectory in addition to parameters for the assembly primitive.

The proposed assembly strategy is compared to a standard dynamic movement primitive and experiments show that the proposed assembly strategy increases the robustness towards pose uncertainties and significantly reduces the applied forces during the execution of the assembly task.