NEWSLETTER 4 – December 2014

THE PROJECT PAN-Robots stand for Plug And Navigate ROBOTS for smart factories. The project is founded by Seventh Framework Programme (ICT) and will end on 31th October 2015. The general objective is to develop, demonstrate and validate a generic automation system for factory logistics in modern factories based on advanced Automatic Guided Vehicles (AGV). This is the third newsletter on PAN-Robots. There are three sections:

1. Progress on the project; 2. Meetings; 3. Upcoming events.

Stay tuned with us!

PROGRESS ON THE PROJECT In September 2014, SICK and E80 conducted a joint measurement campaign at the Norbega bottling plant of Coca-Cola Iberian Partners located in the outskirts of Bilbao, Spain. The teams from SICK and E80 spent 4 days on site and with the strong support of Norbega mechanics and technicians, the prototype systems and additional measurement equipment was installed both on-board the AGV and in the plant in order to record comprehensive measurement data for three PAN-Robots core tasks

3D mapping of the warehouse as part of the plant exploration,

contour-based AGV self-localization using natural landmarks, and

infrastructure-based environment perception for enhanced safety and efficiency at warehouse black spots.

PLANT EXPLORATION For the 3D mapping of the warehouse, two alternative approaches have been followed:

a sensor board with 8 SICK LMS laser scanners, scanning the warehouse environment in 8 different half-planes (LMS-Board)

a sensor board with two SICK LMS laser scanner, one of them rotating 360°, scanning the warehouse environment in rotating half-planes, the other one scanning in a plane parallel to the ground (LMS-3D)

Each of the 3D mapping systems was pre-mounted on an individual pallet. A manual forklift was used to drive the recording systems through the warehouse at low speeds and on a predefined path with closed loops in order to fully capture the large warehouse area with its racks, block storage areas and production zones. Low speeds ensured a dense 3D point cloud and closed loops allow optimal virtual 3D reconstruction accuracy of the warehouse, additionally advanced time synchronization methods are employed.

Figure 1: LMS-Board on a forklift

between storage racks

Figure 2: LMS-Board on a forklift in

the block storage area

Figure 3: LMS-Board closeup

Figure 4: Preliminary results of the 3D reconstruction

AGV SELF-LOCALIZATION The new contour-based localization approach developed for PAN-Robots which is relying on raw Laserscanner data only utilizes the existing warehouse environment like walls and racks. There are no modifications needed to provide a reliable and accurate self-localization of the AGVs in all areas of the warehouse. Using a NAV350 Laserscanner, we are able to achieve accuracies in terms of position error of less than 3 cm standard deviation (1 σ) and less than 15 cm maximum, while the standard deviation (1 σ) of the orientation error was less than 0.25 deg and the maximum orientation error was less than 1.5 deg. The results using prototypes of new LMS1xx and TiM5xx Laserscanners are also very promising.

Figure 5: Installation of navigation laser scanners on-board

the AGV

Figure 6: Three navigation laser scanners mounted on the

AGV pole (1)

Figure 7: Three navigation laser scanners mounted on the

AGV pole (2)

Figure 8: Testing of the different navigation laser scanners

INFRASTRUCTURE-BASED ENVIRONMENT PERCEPTION The infrastructure-based environment perception has been mounted to a pillar at a particular black spot of the warehouse with high AGV, forklift and worker traffic. The laser scanner has a 270° field of view and thus can monitor the entire hot spot. The mounting height is adjustable and was configured to a scan plane approximately 25 cm above the ground so that pedestrians can be correctly classified by a leg pendulum analysis algorithm. Furthermore, this height ensures that AGVs with and without load have the same outer shape in the scan plane as this is below the height of the forks. For verification purposes during the development of dedicated tracking and classification algorithms, four webcams were installed to simultaneously record the scene of the hot spot.

Figure 9: Infrastructure installation

Figure 10: Infrastructure installation

Figure 11: Infrastructure installation

Figure 12: Infrastructure installation

MEETINGS Quarterly meetings took place at partners’ locations to discuss on project progress and future steps to implement. To see details please visit our website “Events” page.

In September 2014 PAN-Robots partners’ organized a special session on the project at the International Conference on Intelligent Computer Comunication and Processing (ICCP) 2014 at Cluj-Napoca (Romania). At this website can be found all the information about the Sessions. Visit our Facebook page to see more pictures!

In September 2014, we participate at LET’s Conference in Bologna.

Lots of contacts an people interested in project activities and results.

Visit our Facebook page to see more pictures! In October Aki Mäyrä from VTT presented a poster at the Day of Photonics. DAY OF PHOTONICS is an annual event that promotes “photonics” towards the general public. PAN-Robots and VTT PAN-Robots group took part in the international day of photonics in Oulu, Finland, where the local event was organized in VTT premises. For more information visit www.day-of-photonics.org

Visit our website www.pan-robots.eu for more details.

UPCOMING EVENTS

March 2015 EuRobotics Forum 2015. We will see you in Vienna (Austria) from the 11th to the 13th March at EuRobotics Forum, with news and gadgets! May 2015 – October 2015

EXPO 2015: In collaboration with the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, we aim to

propose demonstrating sessions with guided visits at Tecnopolo in Reggio Emilia. The structure is connected with University, Industries, Municipality. Stay tuned on our website to see next events! Autumn 2015 IROS 2015: the consortium wants to invite you at our stand at IROS 2015 conference in Hamburg (Germany) from the 28th September to the 02nd October.

FINAL EVENT in Bilbao: PAN-Robots will end in October 2015. Details on our final event will be available soon. SAVE THE DATE! SOCIAL NETWORKS

PAN-Robots is on the most important social networks. Don’t miss the latest news and the upcoming event, on the website and on our social networks:

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