A Flexible Robotic Framework for Autonomous Manufacturing Processes: Report from the European Robotics Challenge Stage 1

Common industrial automation approaches consist on heavy and fixed robotic manipulators working in separated and closed production lines. Recent advances in sensing and control yield flexible and versatile robotic manipulator platforms, which could work in barrier-free production areas and might be the next advance in industrial production. In our contribution, we present a sophisticated and completely autonomous software framework for handling complex pickand-place tasks using state-of-the-art tools and algorithms. It covers applicable solutions for 3D image processing, motion planning, grasping as well as error handling and task scheduling strategies. Its competitiveness in terms of robustness and performance has been proven by earning the first place among 39 teams from all over Europe in the simulation stage of the EuRoC. At the challenge 2 of this EU-funded project, a mobile robotic platform is used for intelligent, flexible and highly automated production systems. We discuss our results as well as the applicability of our framework to real industrial applications.