These robots are capturing a moving object from a conveyor belt.

Integrated Factory Workcell

• An object-based task-level user interface
• A fast trajectory and task planner
• The real-time control system

In the present demonstration, users can specify goal-positions for the objects in the work-cell: this could corresponds to a specific assembly. The planner will automatically generate plans that bring the objects to their goal positions, hereby avoiding the obstacles that clutter the workspace. The plan may include complex behavior such as:

• Handing objects over from one arm to the other,
• One arm moving out of the way for the motion of the other,
• Manipulating large objects cooperatively,
• Putting an object down to change handedness,
• Picking up objects from a conveyor belt,
• ...

The planner is truly on-line. Objects can appear on the conveyor at any time and, if they are necessary for the assembly, a plan will be generated to pick them up and put them in their goal position. This demonstration raises several important issues, that are addressed by the following key technologies:

• The trajectories generated by the planner have to be time parametrized taking into account the dynamics of the arm. The algorithm VIP is a fast quasi-optimal trajectory generator.

Some Publications