VOLUME 4, ISSUE 2 • NOVEMBER 2021
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ROBOTICS INSIDER 6
Q&A ON AUTONOMOUS MOBILE ROBOTS
LASER-CUTTING 12 LINKING WITH ROBOTICS
15 AI FOR PICKING ROBOTS
MOVING TO MOBILE ROBOTS HOW WILL CURRENT APPLICATIONS FOR AUTONOMOUS MOBILE ROBOTS TRANSITION TO USE IN PLANTS OF THE FUTURE? P. 8
CONTENTS Columns 3 Market watch
Global robotics industry trends show a positive outlook
6 Spotlight
Melonee Wise, Fetch Robotics
Presented by Manufacturing AUTOMATION, Robotics Insider reports on the world of industrial robots and its developing opportunities, challenges and technologies. By sharing unique perspectives and information, we strive to help improve your manufacturing efficiency.
FEATURES 8 Moving to mobile robots
How will current applications for autonomous mobile robots transition to use in plants of the future?
Editor – Sukanya Ray Ghosh srayghosh@annexbusinessmedia.com
12 Connected control
BOS Innovations links laser-cutting with robotics
Associate Publisher – Kathryn Swan kswan@annexbusinessmedia.com
15 Smart picking
Group Publisher – Paul Grossinger pgrossinger@annexbusinessmedia.com
Festo and researchers from Canada, Germany explore AI for picking
Media Designer – Graham Jeffrey gjeffrey@annexbusinessmedia.com
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COO – Scott Jamieson sjamieson@annexbusinessmedia.com No part of the editorial content of this publication may be reprinted without the publisher’s written permission. ©2021 Annex Business Media. All rights reserved.
2 November 2021 • Robotics Insider
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MARKET WATCH
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By Sukanya Ray Ghosh
GLOBAL ROBOTICS INDUSTRY TRENDS SHOW A POSITIVE OUTLOOK
ver the past year and a half, the pandemic has impacted the robotics market globally. As economies around the world embark on their recovery journey, market trends suggest a positive growth for the robotics industry overall. In a press conference held by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) on Oct. 28, Milton Guerry, president of the organization, shared his insights on the current situation of the industrial robotics industry. Guerry noted that despite 2020 being a challenging year, the robotics industry is supporting everyone’s mission to be more productive and move forward. As per the current statistics, more than three million units plus 10 percent are operating worldwide. The combined annual growth from 2015 to 2020 is 13 percent. To reach this number of over three million, there were over 384,000 robots put into operation in 2020, plus about 0.5 percent. This is the third-highest number in history. Dr. Cristopher Muller, director of statistical department at IFR, stated that this came as a surprise as robotic
3 November 2021 • Robotics Insider
installation counts remained high despite the pandemic crisis. The combined annual growth over five years is currently at nine percent. During the presentation, IFR specifically discussed how the industrial robotics industry has been doing over the past decade. IFR statistics show that annual installations of industrial robots have gone up drastically over the past few years when compared to 2010, 2011 and 2012. This has contributed to the growth of the operational stock.
Contributing factors
IFR data on installations by customer industry show that for the first time on a global scale, the electronics and electrical industry had the highest installation counts. The numbers went up from 89,000 units in 2019 to 109,000 of total installed units in 2020, a 23 percent increase. In previous years, the automotive industry had the highest number of robot installations. In fact, the first industrial robot installed was in this industry. However, the latest numbers show that
there has been a 22 percent decline in 2020 to 80,000 from 102,000 in 2019. In terms of the application of industrial robots, material handling is the top category, followed by welding, assembling, cleanroom, dispensing and processing. IFR has been tracking the growth of collaborative robots (or cobots) specifically as well. Cobots still have a very small market share when compared to traditional robots. It is 5.7 percent of the total number for 2020, with 22,000 units deployed worldwide. In 2019, the total number of cobots deployed was 20,800. The growth rate for cobots was at six percent, which is a little above average compared to all other industrial robots, noted Muller. He added that the share of cobots is growing steadily. Cobots are on their way to becoming a major part of the offering of the robotics industry.
Installation numbers in North America and worldwide Overall, the numbers show that a major share
MARKET WATCH of robots deployed are in Asia, followed by Europe, and then the Americas. While the Asian numbers show an increase in installation numbers, the European and American numbers show a decline due to the pandemic. In the Americas, the installations went down from 47,000 units in 2019 to 39,000 units in 2020. IFR’s data on the 15 largest markets for industrial robot installations show that Asian countries are in the lead. China and Japan are in the top two positions, with the U.S. in the third. The Republic of Korea takes fourth place, followed by Germany. Canada takes 14th position on the list, with 2,600 units installed in 2020. IFR also tracks robots density, which shows the number of robots installed per 10,000 employees. This shows the degree of automation in an economy. The Republic of Korea has the highest robot density in the world, with 932 robots per 10,000 employees. Canada comes in at the 19th position, with 176 robots installed per 10,000 employees. This is slightly above the world average of 126. The U.S. is in the seventh position, with 255 robots per 10,000 employees. IFR statistics indicate that the North American countries the United States, Canada and Mexico constitute the second-largest operational stock of industrial robots in the world after China. In this, Canada takes the third position, with about 29,400 units plus three percent, in 2020. The U.S. is in the 4 November 2021 • Robotics Insider
first position with 310,000 units and Mexico in the second position with 42,600 units plus six percent. Although robot manufacturers are few in North America, there are several important robot system integrators in this region.
Market trends
Economies around the world are already in recovery mode in 2021. IFR discussed what lay ahead for the robotics market. According to IFR projections for 2021, it is set to be the most successful year for the robotics industry. The organization expects a 13 percent increase in the annual installation of robots in 2021, with numbers growing at six percent per annum over the next three years until 2024. In terms of geographic areas, IFR predicts the numbers to go up from 39,000 units to 46,000 units in the Americas, with steady increases in the next three years as well. Guerry said that IFR is projecting the Americas to lead the growth at 18 percent and push the annual growth up to 10 percent over five years. Asia’s growth rate is predicted to be 15 percent and Europe at eight percent. The robotics industry will hit record-highs each year, said Guerry. Short-term market determinants influencing the robotics market include global economic recovery, high demand for electronic products and components, growing demand for steel and metal
products, continued COVID-19 restrictions, scarcity of raw materials and the existing uncertainties in the global economy. Guerry explained that localization and regionalization of supply chains are impacting the robotics market. With robots-as-a-service and pay-as-you-go options, the total cost of ownership of robots is decreasing, helping companies to deploy robots in their factories. “The industry as a whole has done many things to bring the use of robots deeper into small- to medium-sized enterprises. Things like a batch size of one… A robot is still an effective tool, even if you’re not making high quantity products,” said Guerry. He added that technological advancements are also contributing to the growth of the robotics industry. “There’s a new range of applications that are bringing us forward, such as cloud computing, 5G networks, machine vision and artificial intelligence. Human-robot collaboration is still in its infancy and has so much potential of bringing robots into factories. Probably one of the most important things on our minds every day is sustainability. Robots are crucial for costefficient production and green technology,” he explained. As current trends suggest, the robotics industry will continue to grow. What remains to be seen is what will Canada’s share be in this growth.
SPOTLIGHT
Melonee Wise, CEO of Fetch Robotics
6 November 2021 • Robotics Insider
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ndustrial mobile robots are making things easier to move in the manufacturing and logistics spaces – and they’re doing it quickly. ARC Advisory Group says that autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) in particular are one of the fastestgrowing markets it has ever researched. That’s why for the past several years, the Association for Advancing Automation’s Robotics Standards Development Committee has been working on a new ANSI standard for mobile robot safety Manufacturing AUTOMATION spoke to Melonee Wise, CEO of Fetch Robotics, a company that manufactures collaborative autonomous mobile robots for warehousing and logistics.
Wise, who sat on A3’s standards committee for R15.08, talked about the key features of the new standard, what it means for autonomous mobile robot manufacturers, and what it means for end users.
What are some of the applications that are most suitable for AMRs?
I think when you look at autonomous mobile robots, it’s really about workflows in the environment that are repeatable kind of material movement tasks but may need some flexibility. A great example of this when you look in the manufacturing use cases is on-demand or in-time delivery to workstations. You can have a whole bunch of assembly cells where people are doing assembly tasks. And the material that they are assembling with is running down as they’re assembling these parts. But the rate at which those parts are running down by the assembly is really based on how fast each person does their assembly. So, you
can set up a dynamic call button where a person just presses a button or scans a barcode at their desk to say what parts they need. And a robot can go pick up a cart and bring a cart directly to their desk with the materials that they need.
When it comes to safety, what features are usually already built into an AMR? A lot of the safety systems on these robots are sensor-centric. So, they have lasers or LiDAR, or 3D cameras or other types of sensing that allow them to immediately sense and then react to maybe a person that gets too close to the AMR. A lot of the safety systems that you see on these vehicles happen at a very low level.
Are there misconceptions among workers about the safety of these vehicles? One of the things that we’re seeing is that many workers are almost too trusting and too casual around
SPOTLIGHT the robots. One of the things that we see sometimes is people are looking at their cell phones while walking around a facility and they might actually step into a robot because they have so much trust in the technology, which is kind of interesting.
Was there a particular incident or something that had been happening that led to the creation of the new safety standard?
There wasn’t a particular incident that led to the creation of the standard. The poll was from the customer community, who were saying, “Look, I really like this technology. I want to deploy it. But one of the challenges I have is without a safety standard, it’s very hard for me to say as an implementer, or as a company that has deployed this technology that I’ve done everything right to ensure worker safety.” The standard puts a burden on the manufacturer to prove, verify and validate that their machinery is safe. It also gives the customer or the end user 7 November 2021 • Robotics Insider
“The R15.08 standard puts a burden on the manufacturer to prove, verify and validate that their machinery is safe,” says Melonee Wise, CEO of Fetch Robotics. a way of saying “I have bought something that they say is safe, and I have followed all the procedures in my facility to make it safe,” which is important from a liability standpoint.
What does the safety standard mean for the AMR industry? It somewhat levels the playing field from an overall deployment and product capability standpoint. There were entrants in the market who were being fast and loose with safety. When you’re fast and loose with safety, you can move faster and do things that you know you really shouldn’t be doing. Now it levels the playing field. You can build your product, but you have to make sure it’s safe. And that was one of the things that we were running into. Some customers
would say, “Company Z can do this thing.” Fetch had to say, “Whether or not company Z is doing that thing, based on what we consider safe practices, and what we know will be considered a safe practice, we’re not willing to do that.” Now Fetch has a document that we can point out that says the standard says that’s not a safe practice. Now, we don’t suffer from that disadvantage.
Please walk us through some of the key parts of the R15.08 standard. How does it protect workers? Right now, for R15.08, we’ve released part one. There’re two more parts after that. The first one is, basically, guidelines for manufacturing and ensuring that the device meets a performance level or a safety level. This part puts a requirement on
manufacturers to provide a whole bunch of documentation for the end user. And that’s the worker in many cases as well. We have to provide training material information. We have to provide information on how to safely use the robot and how to mark out areas in the facility to alert workers that it’s operating in their environment. It also gives guidelines for what kind of lighting or signage we have to use. Safety standards are built up from general to specific. The R15.08 standard is a C-type standard, which is a very specific standard. But, it draws from a very general standard that says things like you have to use symbology in addition to the written word for communicating what could happen. Although part one is really for the manufacturer, it creates requirements for the manufacturer for educating, informing and training the user of the robot for how to behave safely with it.
COVER STORY
MOVING TO MOBILE ROBOTS
How will current applications for autonomous mobile robots transition to use in plants of the future?
I
By Treena Hein n adding any process automation, it’s expected that the automation will add value. Boosted efficiency, higher throughput, better safety – these are all possibilities that automation can provide, and
8 November 2021 • Robotics Insider
autonomous mobile robots (AMR) offer these benefits and more. “We’ve gone from self-driving vehicles that moved from A to B and back again using simple sensor systems, to AMR systems with adaptive intelligence, that ‘understand’ where they need to
go and determine the best way to get there in light of real-time information,” explains Rick Baker, chief revenue officer at OTTO Motors. “They can adapt to the immediate environment and their capabilities grow every day.” Although AMRs came into use about five years ago and have mostly been implemented in warehouses, they are increasingly
found on the plant floor. A Canadian case example is Toronto-based Sunview Patio Doors. The firm replaced a traditional tow motor at the end of its first production line with an AMR from OTTO to achieve better traffic management and improved safety. Once a door comes off the line, an operator sends a signal and OTTO brings the next empty pallet. The
Trends in Canadian Manufacturing and the Role of Collaborative Robots • Why Canada is ripe for collaborative automation • Why cobots work in high-mix, low-volume environments • Links to Canadian case studies • Best practices to get started
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COVER STORY
operator then loads the pallet, and OTTO delivers it to the warehouse and remains there until called back. Sunview reached ROI in about 16 months and plans to replace its entire tow motor fleet with AMRs.
Collaborative applications
This type of “cobot” scenario is what Craig Resnick views as the main current use of AMRs. “Cobot workflows are becoming the new normal,” says Resnick, who is vice-president, consulting at ARC Advisory Group. “And today’s AMRs can move faster than before because they have better sensors and their software is more powerful in terms of responding to novel situations. Machine learning also means that all the AMRs learn together, from thousands of scenarios they might encounter over time in a given plant.” Indeed, Baker reports that most of his firm’s customers begin with cobot scenarios, and “the possibilities are growing in terms of ways to ensure efficient and continuous throughput. It’s the communication layer, the information flowing into the system and the software automatically making decisions that is enabling AMRs to more effectively adapt to the context. “Right now, we’re working with an integrator on a system where the system detects if a supply truck 10 November 2021 • Robotics Insider
Photo: OTTO Motors
has arrived and what’s in it, and sends AMRs to assist with unloading to the right place and ensuring the parts are inserted into the manufacturing process for continuous throughput. You have automation interacting with humans, with automation, with humans, so that a rhythm is created.” AMRs and other robots, he notes, are about protecting and getting the most benefit from human workers, who are a company’s most valuable asset. “Manufacturers are always behind with recruitment and AMRs and other forms of automation allow them to fill that gap, to reposition humans and improve the use of their workforces,” Baker explains. “Most companies are now taking a hybrid approach, and ceasing to see humans as separate
but instead examining how they and robots can be best integrated. On a safety note – of the millions of kilometres that robots have travelled in plants and warehouses at this point, the number of safety incidents is minimal, and the safety of other processes is increased with robots as well.”
Ease of integration
According to Andy Battler, director of the autonomous guided vehicles division at automation integrator JMP Solutions, there are two primary issues with integrating AMRs. One is the navigational environment. He notes that AMRs require aisles that are roughly an average of 3.6 metres (12 feet) across in order to cross paths while each carrying a metre-wide (42-inch) load.
COVER STORY
“A lot of applications that we encounter have aisle width limitations that prevent this from happening,” he says. “One selling feature of AMRs is that they can navigate around blockages. This only works if there is space.” “Most companies are now taking a hybrid approach, and ceasing to see humans as separate but instead examining how they and robots can be best integrated,” says Baker. In addition, because AMRs find their position in the environment by locating fixed objects, today’s models can struggle if an environment is constantly changing. “Also, AMRs do not like cold or wet,” says Battler. “If there is a chance a wheel can slip, end-users will struggle with the technology.” Another integration consideration is the fact that AMRs are not like traditional automation systems. “We find that users expect to teach it like a six-axis robot, which is not what was intended,” Battler says. “Fleet management software is built to provide the ideal path between two points. Also, the way in which a mission is triggered, or how data is fed back can be a challenge. AMRs are not like PLCs that are built to make decisions and talk to other automation equipment.”
Fleet management
Battler explains that fleet management software has very little logic control capability, or none at 11 November 2021 • Robotics Insider
“Today’s AMRs can move faster than before because they have better sensors and their software is more powerful in terms of responding to novel situations,” says Resnick. all, so if AMR missions are meant to be initiated by a condition, another system will be required. “Either a PLC or some SCADA systems can be used, but then how the systems connect and talk needs to be considered,” he says. “AMRs are not a traditional automation technology so most do not sit on a network and exchange data over traditional protocols.” Resnick adds that to get the most benefit from an AMR, their performance and productivity must be monitored by a human with the proper training. The required IT infrastructure must also be in place, but he notes great strides have been made with this – and with remote training – since the pandemic began. Baker agrees. “The pandemic taught us how to help customers self-deploy and we’ve done a lot to develop virtual deployment. We’ve learned how easy it can be.” Overall, as with any new technology, it’s
advisable that companies adopt AMRs as they fit within the over-arching strategy of process automation, developed with experts through a road-mapping process.
What’s next
In the near future, it’s expected that AMR speed, autonomy capability and their potential to provide more manufacturing process flexibility will grow. “Think about automatic guided tables that are used instead of traditional conveyors, for example,” says Resnick. Baker also points to automated reallocation as a coming development. That is, without human instruction, the system will move the AMR to another task or area of the plant automatically, and if needed, the AMR will swap its attachment/tool for another on the way. “Also, if you think about all these AMRs with all these cameras and sensors – so much information is being gathered,” Baker says. “Our most sophisticated customers have full-time data scientists analyzing data to result in better decisions. We need to use all the data we can, and that way, we can ensure throughput is consistent and massive.” Treena Hein is an award-winning freelance writer based in Ontario.
APPLICATION
CONNECTED
CONTROL BOS Innovations links laser-cutting with robotics.
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By James Figy he best of both worlds – that’s what BOS Innovations strives to provide a broad base of manufacturing customers. As both a machine builder OEM and system integrator, the Dorchester, Ont. company combines its strength in delivering turnkey machines with the ability to retrofit and tie into existing factory lines and systems, primarily in automotive and heavy industries. “We have developed core competencies in automated assembly, advanced robotics including welding, laser processing, coordinated motion technology, collaborative robots and quality inspection,” says Ben Huigenbos, president of BOS. 12 November 2021 • Robotics Insider
These complementary capabilities were clear in a recent implementation of the company’s L-MS (Laser-Motion System) for a Tier 1 automotive manufacturer. The L-MS is an advanced fibre laser cutting machine, equipped with a direct drive linear motion system for precision CNC control. This high-performance machine produces complex parts with tight tolerances by leveraging up to five axes of coordinated motion. While L-MS supports drop-in installation, this project also required peripheral systems to meet all of the customer’s needs, according to Steve Van Loon, technology manager, lasers and motion systems at BOS. “To make this L-MS a truly turnkey system, we needed to add a robot to load and unload the parts and move
A CX2040 embedded PC from Beckhoff delivers ample processing power to operate the high-speed, coordinated motion system.
Photo: BOS Innovations/Beckhoff Automation
APPLICATION them to stations for de-burring, vision inspection and marking with an instant marker,” Van Loon says. “Most other laser machine providers do not do that. They are more geared toward manual-load production and simply provide the laser machine and a basic automation interface.” BOS goes a step further and delivers turnkey cutting fixtures with all necessary referencing to make high-quality parts, whether in a manual loading system or the Tier 1 automotive customer’s completely automated setup.
Flexible, modular controls
To make sure the L-MS could support a best-ofboth-worlds approach for many customers, the BOS engineering team made flexibility and modularity top priorities in the initial design. In addition to a standard 1 kW fibre laser, the cutting head can accommodate up to two 0.5-6 kW laser sources or even welding or remote welding. The machine has options for fume extraction equipment, automated scrap conveying, automatic doors and safety scanners for operator or robotic loading. The parts can sit on a flat bed or use a trunnion system with additional servo axes to rotate the workpiece 360 degrees. By adding a turntable, the loading time can occur in parallel with the laser process. The flexibility even extends to footprint: The L-MS cell, a roughly two-metre cube designed for 13 November 2021 • Robotics Insider
Providing this high degree of flexibility required robust yet adaptable controls and networking technologies that would allow the L-MS to integrate with other systems in the plant. 1,300-mm-long parts, can be expanded on all sides to accommodate workpieces of many sizes. Providing this high degree of flexibility required robust yet adaptable controls and networking technologies that would allow the L-MS to integrate with other systems in the plant. Highly synchronized motor and drive technologies for the cutting axes were critical to ensure part quality. So was openness to enable real-time communication to the robot controller, de-burr components and vision system. To address this, Van Loon worked with mechanical designers Riley Tomiuck and Scott McCall on the design. The team determined that the system required higher performance than a traditional fieldbus and hardware PLC could deliver, so they turned to solutions from Beckhoff Automation. BOS first implemented Beckhoff technologies a decade ago on a large cardboard converting system that had about 50 motion axes, and other projects followed. Then in 2018, BOS used Beckhoff to build the first iteration of the L-MS, which was designed to cut SUV running boards, and decided to tweak the machine to be a standard offering in its
portfolio. For this project, the team worked closely with the local Beckhoff team – Automation Sales Engineer Dean Herron and Application Engineer Rui Zhang – to design, program and commission the automation system.
Motion technologies with EtherCAT
BOS implemented precision motion control on the L-MS using a variety of rotary servo motor and direct drive solutions with EtherCAT communication. The horizontal axes use Beckhoff AL2800 series Linear Motors, which deliver speeds up to 6 m/s and peak forces up to 4,500 N. “The X and Y axes have highly dynamic requirements in terms of acceleration, speed and accuracy, which called for linear motors,” Van Loon says. The client’s machine featured a Z axis and a trunnion system, which both used AM8000 servo motors. AX5000 servo drives with One Cable Technology (OCT) provided motion control and reductions in motor cabling, and they permitted easy integration of a smaller, third-party motor to control the theta axis on the cutting head.
APPLICATION The machine processes octagonal steel tube parts of variable wall thicknesses, cuts a 21.5-degree angle on one end of each piece and handles two variants with either six or 12 holes while maintaining tight tolerances. EtherCAT provided real-time communication for the L-MS system, and a wide variety of Beckhoff I/O components offered the necessary functionality. “EtherCAT uses distributed clocks in each device to deliver tight synchronization and jitter of less than 1 µs, which is optimal for coordinated motion systems like the L-MS,” Herron explains. “With a theoretical cap of over 65,000 devices on a single network, free choice of topology and no required switches, EtherCAT has practically no limitations, whether in a system with five axes or 50.” As an inherently open industrial Ethernet system that supports communication to more than 30 protocols, EtherCAT made it easy to connect to other components on the production line via a simple EtherNet/IP bus coupler. In addition to EtherCAT couplers and I/O terminals from Beckhoff, BOS also implemented TwinSAFE functional safety modules. TwinSAFE technology relies on Safety over EtherCAT (FSoE), a TÜV-certified communication technology that uses a “black channel” approach to transmit safety data over the standard network. This allows engineers to place safety terminals in 14 November 2021 • Robotics Insider
standard I/O segments, according to Zhang: “BOS used the EL6900 TwinSAFE logic terminal as a safety PLC on this machine. This approach allowed them to cut down the time and complexity otherwise required for hardwiring safety switches. All I/Os stay on the same rack or mount onto the machine with IP67 box modules, and they could simply create safety logic in the standard TwinCAT engineering environment.”
Control software and hardware
With TwinCAT 3 automation software, BOS equipped the client’s engineers to select the programming languages they are most familiar with or that best suit the project, including the objectoriented extensions of IEC 61131-3, computer science standards in Microsoft Visual Studio and predefined or custom function blocks. Control of the L-MS relies on a single Beckhoff CX2040 embedded PC. The DIN-rail-mounted CX2040 features a quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, 80 GB CFast flash card and 4 GB DDR3 RAM. A 15.6-inch CP2916 control panel provides multitouch operator interface and high-resolution display for camera results from the laser-cutting machine.
Delivering the best of both worlds
The complete L-MS system went live in the end user’s facility in late 2020. With fast controls and
automated loading, the machine achieves a part-topart cycle time of 40 seconds or less. “The L-MS easily runs at two metres per second with 1.25 G acceleration, and it cuts holes with the highest precision that the customer has ever seen,” Van Loon says. “That’s due to the controller speed and the fine tuning we accomplished with TwinCAT Scope. Using the digital oscilloscope, we could see all parameters on the screen and collect data from each axis, including following error, acceleration, deceleration and more, to optimize the system.” EtherCAT provided benefits in terms of bandwidth and speed, along with footprint and cost reductions. “Coordinated motion requires a lot of data to be passed between the servo drives and motion planner. EtherCAT is really the only fieldbus capable of handling that,” Van Loon explains. The finished L-MS met all requirements of the automotive customer, and BOS is building additional units for other customers. With the ability to customize the machine and build out the system in front of it, the BOS engineering team plans to keep innovating with its laser cutting machines and other systems to provide laser-focused solutions for customers. James Figy is a senior content specialist at Beckhoff Automation.
RESEARCH
SMART
PICKING Festo and researchers from Canada, Germany explore AI for picking robots
F
esto is part of a group aiming to make robot picking smarter using distributed artificial intelligence. The automation company, along with researchers from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany and Canadian partners Darwin AI and the University of Waterloo, have embarked on the FLAIROP (Federated Learning for Robot Picking) project. The group is investigating how to use training data from multiple stations, from multiple plants, or even companies without requiring participants to hand over sensitive company data. “We are investigating how the most versatile training data possible from multiple locations can be used to develop more robust and efficient solutions using artificial intelligence algorithms than with data from just one
15 November 2021 • Robotics Insider
RESEARCH robot,” says Jonathan Auberle of the Institute of Material Handling and Logistics (IFL) at KIT, in a statement. In the process, items are further processed by autonomous robots at several picking stations by means of gripping and transferring. At the various stations, the robots are trained with very different articles. At the end, they should be able to grasp articles from other stations that they have not yet learned about. “Through the approach of federated learning, we balance data diversity and data security in an industrial environment,” says Auberle.
Algorithms for industry and logistics 4.0
Until now, federated learning has been used predominantly in the medical sector for image analysis, where the protection of patient data is a particularly high priority. Consequently, there is no exchange of training data such as images or grasp points for training the artificial neural network. Only pieces of stored knowledge – the local weights of the neural network that tell how strongly one neuron is connected to another – are transferred to a central server. There, the weights from all stations are collected and optimized using various criteria. Then the improved version is played back to the local stations and the process repeats. The goal is to develop new, more powerful algorithms for the 16 November 2021 • Robotics Insider
“We hope that our XAI technology will enable high-value human-in-the loop processes for this exciting project,”says Sheldon Fernandez, CEO, DarwinAI. robust use of artificial intelligence for industry and Logistics 4.0 while complying with data protection guidelines. “In the FLAIROP research project, we are developing new ways for robots to learn from each other without sharing sensitive data and company secrets,” says Jan Seyler, head of advanced development, analytics and control at Festo SE & Co. KG. “This brings two major benefits: we protect our customers’ data and we gain speed because the robots can take over many tasks more quickly. In this way, the collaborative robots can, for example, support production workers with repetitive, heavy and tiring tasks.” During the project, a total of four autonomous picking stations will be set up for training the robots: two at the KIT Institute for Material Handling and Logistics (IFL) and two at the Festo SE company based in Esslingen am Neckar.
Canadian partners join project
The Canadian project partners focus on object
recognition through deep learning, explainable AI and optimization, while the German partners contribute their expertise in robotics, autonomous grasping through deep learning, and data security. The Waterloo, Ont.–based DarwinAI has provided its Explainable (XAI) platform to the FLAIROP project. “We hope that our XAI technology will enable high-value human-in-theloop processes for this exciting project, which represents an important facet of our offering alongside our novel approach to Federated Learning,” says Sheldon Fernandez, CEO, DarwinAI. “Having our roots in academic research, we are enthusiastic about this collaboration and the industrial benefits of our new approach for a range of manufacturing customers.” Dr. Alexander Wong, co-director of the Vision and Image Processing Research Group at University of Waterloo and chief scientist at DarwinAI, says, “The University of Waterloo is ecstatic to be working with Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and a global industrial automation leader like Festo to bring the next generation of trustworthy artificial intelligence to manufacturing. “By harnessing DarwinAI’s Explainable AI (XAI) and Federated Learning, we can enable AI solutions to help support factory workers in their daily production tasks to maximize efficiency, productivity, and safety.”