RoBlock - a demonstration of flexible production technology

In this article we give a description of the scope and objectives of the RoBlock project [1]. The RoBlock project is an interdisciplinary research project within the area of intelligent manufacturing systems. The purpose of the project is to develop a platform usable for demonstration of how state-of-the-art technology and methods can be combined to make integrated and flexible manufacturing systems. In particular, we will show that intelligent manufacturing systems can be developed to a degree of flexibility where it becomes profitable to use in one-of-a-kind productions and small niche productions. In full operational mode the RoBlock system will be a manufacturing system in which 2 industrial robots suspended from a gantry will cooperate to continuously perform tasks specified by an external user. The system will be able to handle sudden changes in the design and planning phase, as well as changes in the production environment during the production cycle. Innovative features in the RoBlock Intelligent Manufacturing System includes: • An advanced collision free motion generation system based on offline motion planning and real-time sensor based compensations. • A distributed, modular and generic controller technology ensuring flexibility in the production platform design. • The use of a fast, flexible and robust vision-based sensor system, named SCAPE, for recognition and position estimation of complex 3D items, including precise grasping of the items. • Integration of product design, trajectory planning and control with the sensor systems in a distributed Java application running on a network of PC’s attached to the individual physical components. By January 2001 the RoBlock project will consist of one robot with controller and gripper, a programmable turntable, an advanced trajectory planner including off-line collision avoidance, the SCAPE vision system, and a Java based design, planning and integration platform. In the current state pick-and-place tasks on LEGO blocks are used as demonstration scenario.