TY - CHAP A1 - Marco, Heather G. A1 - Ferrein, Alexander T1 - AGNES: The African-German Network of Excellence in Science T2 - Proceedings of the 2nd Developing World Robotics Forum, Workshop at IEEE AFRICON 2017 Y1 - 2017 SP - 1 EP - 2 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Ulmer, Jessica A1 - Braun, Sebastian A1 - Cheng, Chi-Tsun A1 - Dowey, Steve A1 - Wollert, Jörg F. T1 - Adapting augmented reality systems to the users’ needs using gamification and error solving methods T2 - Procedia CIRP - 54th CIRP CMS 2021 - Towards Digitalized Manufacturing 4.0 N2 - 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. KW - Augmented Reality KW - Adaptive Systems KW - Gamification KW - Error Recovery Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procir.2021.11.024 SN - 2212-8271 N1 - CIRP CMS 2021 - 54th CIRP Conference on Manufacturing Systems, September 22-24, 2021, online VL - 104 SP - 140 EP - 145 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Evans, Benjamin A1 - Braun, Sebastian A1 - Ulmer, Jessica A1 - Wollert, Jörg F. T1 - AAS implementations - current problems and solutions T2 - 20th International Conference on Mechatronics - Mechatronika (ME) N2 - 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. KW - Industry 4.0 KW - Multi-agent Systems KW - Digital Twin KW - Asset Administration Shell Y1 - 2022 SN - 978-1-6654-1040-3 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1109/ME54704.2022.9982933 N1 - 20th International Conference on Mechatronics - Mechatronika (ME), 07-09 December 2022, Pilsen, Czech Republic PB - IEEE CY - New York, NY ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Schiffer, Stefan A1 - Ferrein, Alexander T1 - A System Layout for Cognitive Service Robots T2 - Cognitive Robot Architectures. Proceedings of EUCognition 2016 Y1 - 2017 SN - 1613-0073 N1 - CEUR-WS Vol-1855 SP - 44 EP - 45 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Ferrein, Alexander A1 - Scholl, Ingrid A1 - Neumann, Tobias A1 - Krückel, Kai A1 - Schiffer, Stefan T1 - A system for continuous underground site mapping and exploration Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.85859 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Reke, Michael A1 - Peter, Daniel A1 - Schulte-Tigges, Joschua A1 - Schiffer, Stefan A1 - Ferrein, Alexander A1 - Walter, Thomas A1 - Matheis, Dominik T1 - A Self-Driving Car Architecture in ROS2 T2 - 2020 International SAUPEC/RobMech/PRASA Conference, Cape Town, South Africa N2 - In this paper we report on an architecture for a self-driving car that is based on ROS2. Self-driving cars have to take decisions based on their sensory input in real-time, providing high reliability with a strong demand in functional safety. In principle, self-driving cars are robots. However, typical robot software, in general, and the previous version of the Robot Operating System (ROS), in particular, does not always meet these requirements. With the successor ROS2 the situation has changed and it might be considered as a solution for automated and autonomous driving. Existing robotic software based on ROS was not ready for safety critical applications like self-driving cars. We propose an architecture for using ROS2 for a self-driving car that enables safe and reliable real-time behaviour, but keeping the advantages of ROS such as a distributed architecture and standardised message types. First experiments with an automated real passenger car at lower and higher speed-levels show that our approach seems feasible for autonomous driving under the necessary real-time conditions. Y1 - 2020 SN - 978-1-7281-4162-6 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1109/SAUPEC/RobMech/PRASA48453.2020.9041020 N1 - 2020 International SAUPEC/RobMech/PRASA Conference, 29-31 Jan. 2020, Cape Town, South Africa SP - 1 EP - 6 PB - IEEE CY - New York, NY ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Engemann, Heiko A1 - Cönen, Patrick A1 - Dawar, Harshal A1 - Du, Shengzhi A1 - Kallweit, Stephan T1 - A robot-assisted large-scale inspection of wind turbine blades in manufacturing using an autonomous mobile manipulator JF - Applied Sciences N2 - 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. KW - mobile manipulation KW - large-scale inspection KW - wind turbine production KW - autonomous navigation KW - surface-orthogonal path planning Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/app11199271 SN - 2076-3417 N1 - Belongs to the Special Issue "Advances in Industrial Robotics and Intelligent Systems" VL - 11 IS - 19 SP - 1 EP - 22 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Limpert, Nicolas A1 - Schiffer, Stefan A1 - Ferrein, Alexander T1 - A Local Planner for Ackermann-Driven Vehicles in ROS SBPL T2 - Proceedings of the International Conference on Pattern Recognition Association of South Africa and Robotics and Mechatronics (PRASA-RobMech), 2015 Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1109/RoboMech.2015.7359518 SP - 172 EP - 177 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ulmer, Jessica A1 - Braun, Sebastian A1 - Cheng, Chi-Tsun A1 - Dowey, Steve A1 - Wollert, Jörg F. T1 - A human factors-aware assistance system in manufacturing based on gamification and hardware modularisation JF - International Journal of Production Research N2 - Assistance systems have been widely adopted in the manufacturing sector to facilitate various processes and tasks in production environments. However, existing systems are mostly equipped with rigid functional logic and do not provide individual user experiences or adapt to their capabilities. This work integrates human factors in assistance systems by adjusting the hardware and instruction presented to the workers’ cognitive and physical demands. A modular system architecture is designed accordingly, which allows a flexible component exchange according to the user and the work task. Gamification, the use of game elements in non-gaming contexts, has been further adopted in this work to provide level-based instructions and personalised feedback. The developed framework is validated by applying it to a manual workstation for industrial assembly routines. KW - Human factors KW - assistance system KW - gamification KW - adaptive systems KW - manufacturing Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/00207543.2023.2166140 SN - 0020-7543 (Print) SN - 1366-588X (Online) PB - Taylor & Francis ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Walenta, Robert A1 - Schellekens, Twan A1 - Ferrein, Alexander A1 - Schiffer, Stefan T1 - A decentralised system approach for controlling AGVs with ROS T2 - AFRICON, Proceedings Y1 - 2017 SN - 978-1-5386-2775-4 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1109/AFRCON.2017.8095693 SN - 2153-0033 N1 - AFRICON <2017, 18-20 Sept., Cape Town, South Africa> SP - 1436 EP - 1441 PB - IEEE ER -