Advances In Robotics Research From Lab To Market

In this book Part I presents first an overview of the ECHORD++ project, with its mission and vision together with a detailed structure of its functionalities and instruments: Experiments, Robotic Innovation Facilities and Public end-user Driven Technology Innovation PDTI. Chapter 1 explains how the project is born, the partners, the different instruments and the new concept of cascade funding projects. This novelty made ECHORD++ a special project along the huge number of research groups and consortia involved in the whole project. So far, it is the European funded project with more research team and partners involved in the robotic field. In Chapter 2, one of the instruments in ECHORD++ is explained in detail: RIF. Robotic innovation facilities are a set of laboratories across Europe funded with the project with the goal of hosting consortia involved in any experiment that have special needs when testing their robotic research. In the chapter the three different and specific RIFs will be described and analyzed. Chapter 3 explains an important instrument in ECHORD++: the Experiments. In this part, a big number of research groups have been involve in short time funded research projects. The chapter explains the management of such Experiments, from the call for participation, the candidate’s selection, the monitoring, reviews and funding for each of the 36 experiments funded for Echord. Chapter 4 is very special because it presents the innovation of funding public end-user driven technology, in particular, robotic technology. The robotic challenge is the key of such an instruments together with the management of the different consortia that participated competitively in the success of the robotic challenge proposed by a public entity, selected also with a very special and innovative process.

These proceedings contain research papers that were accepted for presentation at the 14th International Conference Inter-Eng 2020 ,Interdisciplinarity in Engineering, which was held on 8–9 October 2020, in Târgu Mureș, Romania. It is a leading international professional and scientific forum for engineers and scientists to present research works, contributions, and recent developments, as well as current practices in engineering, which is falling into a tradition of important scientific events occurring at Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology in the George Emil Palade University of Medicine, Pharmacy Science, and Technology of Târgu Mures, Romania. The Inter-Eng conference started from the observation that in the 21st century, the era of high technology, without new approaches in research, we cannot speak of a harmonious society. The theme of the conference, proposing a new approach related to Industry 4.0, was the development of a new generation of smart factories based on the manufacturing and assembly process digitalization, related to advanced manufacturing technology, lean manufacturing, sustainable manufacturing, additive manufacturing, and manufacturing tools and equipment. The conference slogan was “Europe’s future is digital: a broad vision of the Industry 4.0 concept beyond direct manufacturing in the company”.

This volume gathers the latest advances, innovations and applications in the field of cable robots, as presented by leading international researchers and engineers at the 5th International Conference on Cable-Driven Parallel Robots (CableCon 2021), held as virtual event on July 7-9, 2021. It covers the theory and applications of cable-driven parallel robots, including their classification, kinematics and singularity analysis, workspace, statics and dynamics, cable modeling and technologies, control and calibration, design methodologies, hardware development, experimental evaluation and prototypes, as well as application reports and new application concepts. The contributions, which were selected through a rigorous international peer-review process, share exciting ideas that will spur novel research directions and foster new multidisciplinary collaborations.

By proposing and forming a mobile manipulator for modern multi-floor buildings, A Robotic Framework for the Mobile Manipulator: Theory and Application helps readers visualize an end-to-end workflow for making a robot system work in a targeted environment. From a product-oriented viewpoint, this book is considered as a bridge from theories to real products, in which robotic software modules and the robotic system integration are mainly concerned. In the end, readers will have an overview of how to build and integrate various single robotic modules to execute a list of designed tasks in the real world, as well as how to make a robot system work independently, without human interventions. With references and execution guidelines provided at the end of each chapter, the book will be a useful tool for developers and researchers looking to expand their knowledge about the robotics and the robotic software.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 22nd IFIP WG 5.5 Working Conference on Virtual Enterprises, PRO-VE 2021, held in Saint-Étienne, and virtually in November 2021. The 70 papers (15 full and 55 short) presented with 5 industrial workshop papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 189 submissions. They provide a comprehensive overview of major challenges and recent advances in various domains related to the digital transformation and collaborative networks and their applications with a strong focus on the following areas related to the main theme of the conference: sustainable collaborative networks; sustainability via digitalization; analysis and assessment of business ecosystems; human factors in collaboration 4.0; maintenance and life-cycle management; policies and new digital services; safety and collaboration management; simulation and optimization; complex collaborative systems and ontologies; value co-creation in digitally enabled ecosystems; digitalization strategy in collaborative enterprises’ networks; pathways and tools for DIHs; socio-technical perspectives on smart product-service systems; knowledge transfer and accelerated innovation in FoF; interoperability of IoT and CPS for industrial CNs; sentient immersive response network; digital tools and applications for collaborative healthcare; collaborative networks and open innovation in education 4.0; collaborative learning networks with industry and academia; and industrial workshop.

Robotics began as a science fiction creation which has become quite real, first in assembly line operations such as automobile manufacturing, aeroplane construction etc. They have now reached such areas as the Internet, ever-multiplying-medical uses and sophisticated military applications. Control of today's robots is often remote which requires even more advanced computer vision capabilities as well as sensors and interface techniques. Learning has become crucial for modern robotic systems as well. This new book brings together leading research in this exciting field.

The German Workshop on Robotics is a convention of roboticists from academia and industry working on mathematical and algorithmic foundations of robotics, on the design and analysis of robotic systems as well as on robotic applications. Selected contributions from researchers in German-speaking countries as well as from the international robotics community compose this volume. The papers are organized in ten scientific tracks: Kinematic and Dynamic Modeling, Motion Generation, Sensor Integration, Robot Vision, Robot Programming, Humanoid Robots, Grasping, Medical Robotics, Autonomous Helicopters, and Robot Applications. Due to an extensive review and discussion process, this collection of scientific contributions is of very high caliber and promises to strongly influence future robotic research activities.

The field of mechatronics integrates modern engineering science and technologies with new ways of thinking, enhancing the design of products and manufacturing processes. This synergy enables the creation and evolution of new intelligent human-oriented machines. The Handbook of Research on Advancements in Robotics and Mechatronics presents new findings, practices, technological innovations, and theoretical perspectives on the the latest advancements in the field of mechanical engineering. This book is of great use to engineers and scientists, students, researchers, and practitioners looking to develop autonomous and smart products and systems for meeting today’s challenges.