Robotics Research Group
Research ProjectsModular Automation
Description
Small automation workcells are an important component for agile manufacturing environments. Such environments will require manufacturing processes adaptable to rapid changes in part mix, small lot sizes, and quick changeover between products. Modular robots can provide part of the necessary agility by allowing for rapid reconfiguration into different geometries.

Modular automation has benefits for applications other than agile manufacturing. Systems which require environmental isolation, such as semiconductor processing or hazaradous waste processing, modular automation lets users repair and modify automated systems while keeping the environment isolated.

RRG is currently using PowerCube modular actuators manufactured by Amtec to perform research on modular robotics. Current Research focuses include configuration management of robot geometries, and integration of robot software into manufacturing environments. Completed projects are listed below.
Completed Projects
Workcell for Automated Plutonium Processing (Completed August 2002)
Plutonium processing operations for waste disposal are currently performed manually by human operators working in a glovebox. The Department of Energy would like to automate these operations to reduce human exposure and improve quality. Modular automation presents an attractive solution because modules can be reconfigured, repaired, or exchanged without opening the glovebox and exposing the environment.

PowerCube modules were configured into 2DOF, 3DOF, and 4DOF robots to perform typical material handling and movement tasks inside a glovebox mockup. Switching between configurations without opening the glovebox was also demonstrated. This project was funded by the Department of Energy, in cooperation with Los Alamos National Labs. Pictures, videos, and a presentation on the project are available below.
Pictures
Presentation with Video
Modular Manipulator (Completed May 2003)
Software presents a major obstacle to rapid integration of robots into a new environment, and to programming of robots for new tasks. Software integration costs in industry currently run from 3 to 5 times the initial cost of the robot hardware. The OSCAR software framework currently provides reusable software components for computation (ie, kinematics, motion planning, etc). However, these components exist at a lower level of abstraction than is desirable. In order to increase the level of code reuse and integrability, a higher level of abstraction for components is needed.

To achieve this goal, a Feature Oriented Programming (FOP) and Product Line Architectural (PLA) approach are being employed. In FOP, a program is modeled as a the sum of a set of features (ie Robot Controller = Inverse Kinematics + Forward Kinematics + Servos), where each feature represents a reusable component, thus raising the level of abstraction. Given such a model, it is possible to automatically generate code for variants of robot controllers, creating a product line.

The modular manipulator demonstrations represent an initial step in this research. Configurations of the PowerCube modules in 7DOF, 6DOF, and a planar configuration were utilized to test concepts of the FOP approach. Research is being conducted in collaboration with Prof. Don Batory, Product Line Architecture Research Group in the Dept. of Computer Science.
Modular Manipulator Demonstration
Publications
Contact
For more information, please contact Ed Jung.
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