@inproceedings{NiemuellerFerreinReuteretal.2015, author = {Niemueller, Tim and Ferrein, Alexander and Reuter, Sebastian and Jeschke, Sabina and Lakemeyer, Gerhard}, title = {The RoboCup Logistics League as a Holistic Multi-Robot Smart Factory Benchmark}, series = {Proceedings of the IROS 2015 Open forum on evaluation of results, replication of experiments and benchmarking in robotics research}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the IROS 2015 Open forum on evaluation of results, replication of experiments and benchmarking in robotics research}, pages = {3 S.}, year = {2015}, abstract = {With autonomous mobile robots receiving increased attention in industrial contexts, the need for benchmarks becomes more and more an urgent matter. The RoboCup Logistics League (RCLL) is one specific industry-inspired scenario focusing on production logistics within a Smart Factory. In this paper, we describe how the RCLL allows to assess the performance of a group of robots within the scenario as a whole, focusing specifically on the coordination and cooperation strategies and the methods and components to achieve them. We report on recent efforts to analyze performance of teams in 2014 to understand the implications of the current grading scheme, and derived criteria and metrics for performance assessment based on Key Performance Indicators (KPI) adapted from classic factory evaluation. We reflect on differences and compatibility towards RoCKIn, a recent major benchmarking European project.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{StopforthFerreinSteinbauer2015, author = {Stopforth, Riaan and Ferrein, Alexander and Steinbauer, Gerald}, title = {Europe and South African collaboration on the Mechatronics and Robotics systems as part of the SA Robotics Center}, series = {ICRA 2015 Developing Countries Forum}, booktitle = {ICRA 2015 Developing Countries Forum}, pages = {3 S.}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Mechatronics consist of the integration of mechanical engineering, electronic integration and computer science/ engineering. These broad fields are essential for robotic systems, yet it makes it difficult for the researchers to specialize and be experts in all these fields. Collaboration between researchers allow for the integration of experience and specialization, to allow optimized systems. Collaboration between the European countries and South Africa is critical, as each country has different resources available, which the other countries might not have. Applications with the need for approval of any restrictions, can also be obtained easier in some countries compared to others, thus preventing the delays of research. Some problems that have been experienced are discussed, with the Robotics Center of South Africa as a possible solution.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{BooysenMathewKnoxetal.2015, author = {Booysen, Tracy and Mathew, Thomas and Knox, Greig and Fong, W. K. and St{\"u}ttgen, Marcel and Ferrein, Alexander and Steinbauer, Gerald}, title = {The Scarab Project}, series = {ICRA 2015 Developing Countries Forum}, booktitle = {ICRA 2015 Developing Countries Forum}, pages = {3 S.}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) is an active research field in the robotics community. Despite recent advances for many open research questions, these kind of systems are not widely used in real rescue missions. One reason is that such systems are complex and not (yet) very reliable; another is that one has to be an robotic expert to run such a system. Moreover, available rescue robots are very expensive and the benefits of using them are still limited. In this paper, we present the Scarab robot, an alternative design for a USAR robot. The robot is light weight, humanpackable and its primary purpose is that of extending the rescuer's capability to sense the disaster site. The idea is that a responder throws the robot to a certain spot. The robot survives the impact with the ground and relays sensor data such as camera images or thermal images to the responder's hand-held control unit from which the robot can be remotely controlled.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{NiemuellerLakemeyerFerrein2015, author = {Niemueller, Tim and Lakemeyer, Gerhard and Ferrein, Alexander}, title = {The RoboCup Logistics League as a Benchmark for Planning in Robotics}, series = {Proceedings of the 3rd Workshop on Planning and Robotics (PlanRob-15); Jerusalem, Israel 7-8/6/2015}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 3rd Workshop on Planning and Robotics (PlanRob-15); Jerusalem, Israel 7-8/6/2015}, editor = {Finzi, Alberto}, pages = {63 -- 68}, year = {2015}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{LimpertSchifferFerrein2015, author = {Limpert, Nicolas and Schiffer, Stefan and Ferrein, Alexander}, title = {A Local Planner for Ackermann-Driven Vehicles in ROS SBPL}, series = {Proceedings of the International Conference on Pattern Recognition Association of South Africa and Robotics and Mechatronics (PRASA-RobMech), 2015}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on Pattern Recognition Association of South Africa and Robotics and Mechatronics (PRASA-RobMech), 2015}, doi = {10.1109/RoboMech.2015.7359518}, pages = {172 -- 177}, year = {2015}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{FerreinMaierMuehlbacheretal.2015, author = {Ferrein, Alexander and Maier, Christopher and M{\"u}hlbacher, Clemens and Niemueller, Tim and Steinbauer, Gerald and Vassos, Stravros}, title = {Controlling Logistics Robots with the Action-based Language YAGI}, series = {Proceedings of the 2015 IROS Workshop on Workshop on Task Planning for Intelligent Robots in Service and Manufacturing}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2015 IROS Workshop on Workshop on Task Planning for Intelligent Robots in Service and Manufacturing}, year = {2015}, language = {en} } @article{BeckBuchleitnerFerreinetal.2014, author = {Beck, Daniel and Buchleitner, Martin and Ferrein, Alexander and Niem{\"u}ller, Tim and Steinbauer, Gerald}, title = {Mostly Harmless \& AllemaniACs - mixed innovations}, pages = {1 -- 8}, year = {2014}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{KallweitFerreinScholletal.2014, author = {Kallweit, Stephan and Ferrein, Alexander and Scholl, Ingrid and Reichert, Walter}, title = {Mobile Autonome Systeme in der Lehre, am Beispiel der ROS Summer School}, series = {Tagungsband AALE 2014 : das Forum f{\"u}r Fachleute der Automatisierungstechnik aus Hochschulen und Wirtschaft ; 11. Fachkonferenz, Regensburg ; [11. Konferenz f{\"u}r Angewandte Automatisierungstechnik in Lehre und Entwicklung / Ostbayerische Technische Hochschule Regensburg; VFAALE, Verein der Freunde und F{\"o}rderer der Angewandten Automatisierungstechnik]}, booktitle = {Tagungsband AALE 2014 : das Forum f{\"u}r Fachleute der Automatisierungstechnik aus Hochschulen und Wirtschaft ; 11. Fachkonferenz, Regensburg ; [11. Konferenz f{\"u}r Angewandte Automatisierungstechnik in Lehre und Entwicklung / Ostbayerische Technische Hochschule Regensburg; VFAALE, Verein der Freunde und F{\"o}rderer der Angewandten Automatisierungstechnik]}, publisher = {Dt. Industrieverl.}, address = {M{\"u}nchen}, isbn = {978-3-8356-7142-3}, pages = {157 -- 163}, year = {2014}, language = {de} } @incollection{NiemuellerEwertReuteretal.2014, author = {Niem{\"u}ller, Tim and Ewert, Daniel and Reuter, Sebastian and Ferrein, Alexander and Jeschke, Sabina and Lakemeyer, Gerhard}, title = {RoboCup logistics league sponsored by festo: A competitive factory automation testbed}, series = {RoboCup 2013: Robot World Cup XVII : Eindhoven; Netherlands; 1 July 2013 through 1 July 2013. (Lecture notes in computer science ; 8371)}, booktitle = {RoboCup 2013: Robot World Cup XVII : Eindhoven; Netherlands; 1 July 2013 through 1 July 2013. (Lecture notes in computer science ; 8371)}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Berlin}, organization = {RoboCup International Symposium <17, 2013, Eindhoven>}, isbn = {978-3-662-44467-2 (Print) 978-3-662-44468-9 (Online)}, pages = {336 -- 347}, year = {2014}, abstract = {A new trend in automation is to deploy so-called cyber-physical systems (CPS) which combine computation with physical processes. The novel RoboCup Logistics League Sponsored by Festo (LLSF) aims at such CPS logistic scenarios in an automation setting. A team of robots has to produce products from a number of semi-finished products which they have to machine during the game. Different production plans are possible and the robots need to recycle scrap byproducts. This way, the LLSF is a very interesting league offering a number of challenging research questions for planning, coordination, or communication in an application-driven scenario. In this paper, we outline the objectives of the LLSF and present steps for developing the league further towards a benchmark for logistics scenarios for CPS. As a major milestone we present the new automated referee system which helps in governing the game play as well as keeping track of the scored points in a very complex factory scenario.}, language = {en} } @article{AlhwarinFerreinScholl2014, author = {Alhwarin, Faraj and Ferrein, Alexander and Scholl, Ingrid}, title = {IR stereo kinect: improving depth images by combining structured light with IR stereo}, pages = {1 -- 9}, year = {2014}, language = {en} }