@inproceedings{AlhwarinFerreinGebhardtetal.2015, author = {Alhwarin, Faraj and Ferrein, Alexander and Gebhardt, Andreas and Kallweit, Stephan and Scholl, Ingrid and Tedjasukmana, Osmond Sanjaya}, title = {Improving additive manufacturing by image processing and robotic milling}, series = {2015 IEEE International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering (CASE), Aug 24-28, 2015 Gothenburg, Sweden}, booktitle = {2015 IEEE International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering (CASE), Aug 24-28, 2015 Gothenburg, Sweden}, doi = {10.1109/CoASE.2015.7294217}, pages = {924 -- 929}, year = {2015}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{KirschMatareFerreinetal.2020, author = {Kirsch, Maximilian and Matar{\´e}, Victor and Ferrein, Alexander and Schiffer, Stefan}, title = {Integrating golog++ and ROS for Practical and Portable High-level Control}, series = {Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Agents and Artificial Intelligence - Volume 2}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Agents and Artificial Intelligence - Volume 2}, publisher = {SciTePress}, address = {Set{\´u}bal, Portugal}, doi = {10.5220/0008984406920699}, pages = {692 -- 699}, year = {2020}, abstract = {The field of Cognitive Robotics aims at intelligent decision making of autonomous robots. It has matured over the last 25 or so years quite a bit. That is, a number of high-level control languages and architectures have emerged from the field. One concern in this regard is the action language GOLOG. GOLOG has been used in a rather large number of applications as a high-level control language ranging from intelligent service robots to soccer robots. For the lower level robot software, the Robot Operating System (ROS) has been around for more than a decade now and it has developed into the standard middleware for robot applications. ROS provides a large number of packages for standard tasks in robotics like localisation, navigation, and object recognition. Interestingly enough, only little work within ROS has gone into the high-level control of robots. In this paper, we describe our approach to marry the GOLOG action language with ROS. In particular, we present our architecture on inte grating golog++, which is based on the GOLOG dialect Readylog, with the Robot Operating System. With an example application on the Pepper service robot, we show how primitive actions can be easily mapped to the ROS ActionLib framework and present our control architecture in detail.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{WalentaSchellekensFerreinetal.2017, author = {Walenta, Robert and Schellekens, Twan and Ferrein, Alexander and Schiffer, Stefan}, title = {A decentralised system approach for controlling AGVs with ROS}, series = {AFRICON, Proceedings}, booktitle = {AFRICON, Proceedings}, publisher = {IEEE}, isbn = {978-1-5386-2775-4}, issn = {2153-0033}, doi = {10.1109/AFRCON.2017.8095693}, pages = {1436 -- 1441}, year = {2017}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{NiemuellerReuterFerrein2016, author = {Niemueller, Tim and Reuter, Sebastian and Ferrein, Alexander}, title = {Fawkes for the RoboCup Logistics League}, series = {RoboCup 2015: Robot World Cup XIX}, booktitle = {RoboCup 2015: Robot World Cup XIX}, editor = {Almeida, Luis}, publisher = {Springer International Publishing}, address = {Cham}, isbn = {978-3-319-29339-4}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-319-29339-4_31}, pages = {365 -- 373}, year = {2016}, 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} } @article{FerreinSteinbauer2016, author = {Ferrein, Alexander and Steinbauer, Gerald}, title = {Looking back on 20 Years of RoboCup}, series = {KI - K{\"u}nstliche Intelligenz}, volume = {30}, journal = {KI - K{\"u}nstliche Intelligenz}, number = {3-4}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Berlin}, issn = {1610-1987}, doi = {10.1007/s13218-016-0443-y}, pages = {321 -- 323}, year = {2016}, 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{HueningStuettgen2021, author = {H{\"u}ning, Felix and St{\"u}ttgen, Marcel}, title = {Work in Progress: Interdisciplinary projects in times of COVID-19 crisis - challenges, risks and chances}, series = {2021 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON)}, booktitle = {2021 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON)}, publisher = {IEEE}, address = {New York, NY}, doi = {10.1109/EDUCON46332.2021.9454006}, pages = {1175 -- 1179}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Project work and inter disciplinarity are integral parts of today's engineering work. It is therefore important to incorporate these aspects into the curriculum of academic studies of engineering. At the faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology an interdisciplinary project is part of the bachelor program to address these topics. Since the summer term 2020 most courses changed to online mode during the Covid-19 crisis including the interdisciplinary projects. This online mode introduces additional challenges to the execution of the projects, both for the students as well as for the lecture. The challenges, but also the risks and chances of this kind of project courses are subject of this paper, based on five different interdisciplinary projects}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{SchollBartellaMoluluoetal.2019, author = {Scholl, Ingrid and Bartella, Alex and Moluluo, Cem and Ertural, Berat and Laing, Frederic and Suder, Sebastian}, title = {MedicVR : Acceleration and Enhancement Techniques for Direct Volume Rendering in Virtual Reality}, series = {Bildverarbeitung f{\"u}r die Medizin 2019 : Algorithmen - Systeme - Anwendungen}, booktitle = {Bildverarbeitung f{\"u}r die Medizin 2019 : Algorithmen - Systeme - Anwendungen}, publisher = {Springer Vieweg}, address = {Wiesbaden}, isbn = {978-3-658-25326-4}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-658-25326-4_32}, pages = {152 -- 157}, year = {2019}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{WiesenEngemannLimpertetal.2018, author = {Wiesen, Patrick and Engemann, Heiko and Limpert, Nicolas and Kallweit, Stephan}, title = {Learning by Doing - Mobile Robotics in the FH Aachen ROS Summer School}, series = {European Robotics Forum 2018, TRROS18 Workshop}, booktitle = {European Robotics Forum 2018, TRROS18 Workshop}, pages = {47 -- 58}, year = {2018}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{UlmerBraunChengetal.2021, author = {Ulmer, Jessica and Braun, Sebastian and Cheng, Chi-Tsun and Dowey, Steve and Wollert, J{\"o}rg}, title = {Adapting augmented reality systems to the users' needs using gamification and error solving methods}, series = {Procedia CIRP - 54th CIRP CMS 2021 - Towards Digitalized Manufacturing 4.0}, volume = {104}, booktitle = {Procedia CIRP - 54th CIRP CMS 2021 - Towards Digitalized Manufacturing 4.0}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {2212-8271}, doi = {10.1016/j.procir.2021.11.024}, pages = {140 -- 145}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Animations of virtual items in AR support systems are typically predefined and lack interactions with dynamic physical environments. AR applications rarely consider users' preferences and do not provide customized spontaneous support under unknown situations. This research focuses on developing adaptive, error-tolerant AR systems based on directed acyclic graphs and error resolving strategies. Using this approach, users will have more freedom of choice during AR supported work, which leads to more efficient workflows. Error correction methods based on CAD models and predefined process data create individual support possibilities. The framework is implemented in the Industry 4.0 model factory at FH Aachen.}, language = {en} } @article{EngemannCoenenDawaretal.2021, author = {Engemann, Heiko and C{\"o}nen, Patrick and Dawar, Harshal and Du, Shengzhi and Kallweit, Stephan}, title = {A robot-assisted large-scale inspection of wind turbine blades in manufacturing using an autonomous mobile manipulator}, series = {Applied Sciences}, volume = {11}, journal = {Applied Sciences}, number = {19}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel}, issn = {2076-3417}, doi = {10.3390/app11199271}, pages = {1 -- 22}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Wind energy represents the dominant share of renewable energies. The rotor blades of a wind turbine are typically made from composite material, which withstands high forces during rotation. The huge dimensions of the rotor blades complicate the inspection processes in manufacturing. The automation of inspection processes has a great potential to increase the overall productivity and to create a consistent reliable database for each individual rotor blade. The focus of this paper is set on the process of rotor blade inspection automation by utilizing an autonomous mobile manipulator. The main innovations include a novel path planning strategy for zone-based navigation, which enables an intuitive right-hand or left-hand driving behavior in a shared human-robot workspace. In addition, we introduce a new method for surface orthogonal motion planning in connection with large-scale structures. An overall execution strategy controls the navigation and manipulation processes of the long-running inspection task. The implemented concepts are evaluated in simulation and applied in a real-use case including the tip of a rotor blade form.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{EvansBraunUlmeretal.2022, author = {Evans, Benjamin and Braun, Sebastian and Ulmer, Jessica and Wollert, J{\"o}rg}, title = {AAS implementations - current problems and solutions}, series = {20th International Conference on Mechatronics - Mechatronika (ME)}, booktitle = {20th International Conference on Mechatronics - Mechatronika (ME)}, publisher = {IEEE}, address = {New York, NY}, isbn = {978-1-6654-1040-3}, doi = {10.1109/ME54704.2022.9982933}, pages = {6 Seiten}, year = {2022}, abstract = {The fourth industrial revolution presents a multitude of challenges for industries, one of which being the increased flexibility required of manufacturing lines as a result of increased consumer demand for individualised products. One solution to tackle this challenge is the digital twin, more specifically the standardised model of a digital twin also known as the asset administration shell. The standardisation of an industry wide communications tool is a critical step in enabling inter-company operations. This paper discusses the current state of asset administration shells, the frameworks used to host them and their problems that need to be addressed. To tackle these issues, we propose an event-based server capable of drastically reducing response times between assets and asset administration shells and a multi-agent system used for the orchestration and deployment of the shells in the field.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{EngemannWiesenKallweitetal.2018, author = {Engemann, Heiko and Wiesen, Patrick and Kallweit, Stephan and Deshpande, Harshavardhan and Schleupen, Josef}, title = {Autonomous mobile manipulation using ROS}, series = {Advances in Service and Industrial Robotics}, booktitle = {Advances in Service and Industrial Robotics}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Cham}, isbn = {978-3-319-61276-8}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-319-61276-8_43}, pages = {389 -- 401}, year = {2018}, language = {en} } @article{FrankoDuKallweitetal.2020, author = {Franko, Josef and Du, Shengzhi and Kallweit, Stephan and Duelberg, Enno Sebastian and Engemann, Heiko}, title = {Design of a Multi-Robot System for Wind Turbine Maintenance}, series = {Energies}, volume = {13}, journal = {Energies}, number = {10}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel}, issn = {1996-1073}, doi = {10.3390/en13102552}, pages = {Article 2552}, year = {2020}, abstract = {The maintenance of wind turbines is of growing importance considering the transition to renewable energy. This paper presents a multi-robot-approach for automated wind turbine maintenance including a novel climbing robot. Currently, wind turbine maintenance remains a manual task, which is monotonous, dangerous, and also physically demanding due to the large scale of wind turbines. Technical climbers are required to work at significant heights, even in bad weather conditions. Furthermore, a skilled labor force with sufficient knowledge in repairing fiber composite material is rare. Autonomous mobile systems enable the digitization of the maintenance process. They can be designed for weather-independent operations. This work contributes to the development and experimental validation of a maintenance system consisting of multiple robotic platforms for a variety of tasks, such as wind turbine tower and rotor blade service. In this work, multicopters with vision and LiDAR sensors for global inspection are used to guide slower climbing robots. Light-weight magnetic climbers with surface contact were used to analyze structure parts with non-destructive inspection methods and to locally repair smaller defects. Localization was enabled by adapting odometry for conical-shaped surfaces considering additional navigation sensors. Magnets were suitable for steel towers to clamp onto the surface. A friction-based climbing ring robot (SMART— Scanning, Monitoring, Analyzing, Repair and Transportation) completed the set-up for higher payload. The maintenance period could be extended by using weather-proofed maintenance robots. The multi-robot-system was running the Robot Operating System (ROS). Additionally, first steps towards machine learning would enable maintenance staff to use pattern classification for fault diagnosis in order to operate safely from the ground in the future.}, language = {en} } @article{UlmerBraunChengetal.2022, author = {Ulmer, Jessica and Braun, Sebastian and Cheng, Chi-Tsun and Dowey, Steve and Wollert, J{\"o}rg}, title = {Gamification of virtual reality assembly training: Effects of a combined point and level system on motivation and training results}, series = {International Journal of Human-Computer Studies}, volume = {165}, journal = {International Journal of Human-Computer Studies}, number = {Art. No. 102854}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {1071-5819}, doi = {10.1016/j.ijhcs.2022.102854}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Virtual Reality (VR) offers novel possibilities for remote training regardless of the availability of the actual equipment, the presence of specialists, and the training locations. Research shows that training environments that adapt to users' preferences and performance can promote more effective learning. However, the observed results can hardly be traced back to specific adaptive measures but the whole new training approach. This study analyzes the effects of a combined point and leveling VR-based gamification system on assembly training targeting specific training outcomes and users' motivations. The Gamified-VR-Group with 26 subjects received the gamified training, and the Non-Gamified-VR-Group with 27 subjects received the alternative without gamified elements. Both groups conducted their VR training at least three times before assembling the actual structure. The study found that a level system that gradually increases the difficulty and error probability in VR can significantly lower real-world error rates, self-corrections, and support usages. According to our study, a high error occurrence at the highest training level reduced the Gamified-VR-Group's feeling of competence compared to the Non-Gamified-VR-Group, but at the same time also led to lower error probabilities in real-life. It is concluded that a level system with a variable task difficulty should be combined with carefully balanced positive and negative feedback messages. This way, better learning results, and an improved self-evaluation can be achieved while not causing significant impacts on the participants' feeling of competence.}, language = {en} } @article{BraunChengDoweyetal.2021, author = {Braun, Sebastian and Cheng, Chi-Tsun and Dowey, Steve and Wollert, J{\"o}rg}, title = {Performance evaluation of skill-based order-assignment in production environments with multi-agent systems}, series = {IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics in Industrial Electronics}, journal = {IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics in Industrial Electronics}, number = {Early Access}, publisher = {IEEE}, address = {New York}, issn = {2687-9735}, doi = {10.1109/JESTIE.2021.3108524}, year = {2021}, abstract = {The fourth industrial revolution introduces disruptive technologies to production environments. One of these technologies are multi-agent systems (MASs), where agents virtualize machines. However, the agent's actual performances in production environments can hardly be estimated as most research has been focusing on isolated projects and specific scenarios. We address this gap by implementing a highly connected and configurable reference model with quantifiable key performance indicators (KPIs) for production scheduling and routing in single-piece workflows. Furthermore, we propose an algorithm to optimize the search of extrema in highly connected distributed systems. The benefits, limits, and drawbacks of MASs and their performances are evaluated extensively by event-based simulations against the introduced model, which acts as a benchmark. Even though the performance of the proposed MAS is, on average, slightly lower than the reference system, the increased flexibility allows it to find new solutions and deliver improved factory-planning outcomes. Our MAS shows an emerging behavior by using flexible production techniques to correct errors and compensate for bottlenecks. This increased flexibility offers substantial improvement potential. The general model in this paper allows the transfer of the results to estimate real systems or other models.}, language = {en} } @incollection{EngemannDuKallweitetal.2020, author = {Engemann, Heiko and Du, Shengzhi and Kallweit, Stephan and Ning, Chuanfang and Anwar, Saqib}, title = {AutoSynPose: Automatic Generation of Synthetic Datasets for 6D Object Pose Estimation}, series = {Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. Proceedings of MLIS 2020}, booktitle = {Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. Proceedings of MLIS 2020}, publisher = {IOS Press}, address = {Amsterdam}, isbn = {978-1-64368-137-5}, doi = {10.3233/FAIA200770}, pages = {89 -- 97}, year = {2020}, abstract = {We present an automated pipeline for the generation of synthetic datasets for six-dimension (6D) object pose estimation. Therefore, a completely automated generation process based on predefined settings is developed, which enables the user to create large datasets with a minimum of interaction and which is feasible for applications with a high object variance. The pipeline is based on the Unreal 4 (UE4) game engine and provides a high variation for domain randomization, such as object appearance, ambient lighting, camera-object transformation and distractor density. In addition to the object pose and bounding box, the metadata includes all randomization parameters, which enables further studies on randomization parameter tuning. The developed workflow is adaptable to other 3D objects and UE4 environments. An exemplary dataset is provided including five objects of the Yale-CMU-Berkeley (YCB) object set. The datasets consist of 6 million subsegments using 97 rendering locations in 12 different UE4 environments. Each dataset subsegment includes one RGB image, one depth image and one class segmentation image at pixel-level.}, language = {en} } @article{EngemannDuKallweitetal.2020, author = {Engemann, Heiko and Du, Shengzhi and Kallweit, Stephan and C{\"o}nen, Patrick and Dawar, Harshal}, title = {OMNIVIL - an autonomous mobile manipulator for flexible production}, series = {Sensors}, volume = {20}, journal = {Sensors}, number = {24, art. no. 7249}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel}, isbn = {1424-8220}, doi = {10.3390/s20247249}, pages = {1 -- 30}, year = {2020}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{UlmerBraunChengetal.2020, author = {Ulmer, Jessica and Braun, Sebastian and Cheng, Chi-Tsun and Dowey, Steve and Wollert, J{\"o}rg}, title = {Gamified Virtual Reality Training Environment for the Manufacturing Industry}, series = {Proceedings of the 2020 19th International Conference on Mechatronics - Mechatronika (ME)}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2020 19th International Conference on Mechatronics - Mechatronika (ME)}, publisher = {IEEE}, address = {New York, NY}, doi = {10.1109/ME49197.2020.9286661}, pages = {1 -- 6}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Industry 4.0 imposes many challenges for manufacturing companies and their employees. Innovative and effective training strategies are required to cope with fast-changing production environments and new manufacturing technologies. Virtual Reality (VR) offers new ways of on-the-job, on-demand, and off-premise training. A novel concept and evaluation system combining Gamification and VR practice for flexible assembly tasks is proposed in this paper and compared to existing works. It is based on directed acyclic graphs and a leveling system. The concept enables a learning speed which is adjustable to the users' pace and dynamics, while the evaluation system facilitates adaptive work sequences and allows employee-specific task fulfillment. The concept was implemented and analyzed in the Industry 4.0 model factory at FH Aachen for mechanical assembly jobs.}, language = {de} }