Session: CIE-10-01 - CAPPD: Product and Process Design Automation and Computational Fabrication

Paper Number: 88794

88794 - Context-Aware Industrial Robot Testing: Low-Cost Virtual Prototyping Environment 

This paper presents a case study regarding the simulation of a robotic workstation to virtually test objects detection and obstacle avoidance. Testing these features inside a virtual environment is useful, especially when human-robot cooperation and interaction are involved. Indeed, it allows users to avoid real dangerous conditions, lowering the possible risks of injuries by the users and cutting down the costs compared to a real testing environment. The work presented here exploits a framework where a virtual environment is connected to a Robot Operating System (ROS) able to simulate the kinematic of the robot and, on the other side, a physical ultrasonic sensor that acts as the bridge with the real world. The latter, driven by an Arduino board, allows the virtual robot to recognize static obstacles in the real world, mapping the surrounding environment and computing a suitable trajectory to accomplish the given task. Thanks to the sensing capability, the virtual robot is also able to react to the presence of other obstacles (e.g., humans) entering the workspace at runtime. The seamless connection between the virtual and the physical world makes the framework suitable for fast testing new algorithms driving the behavior of the robot when interacting with dynamic environments.

Presenting Author: Marco Rossoni Politecnico di Milano

Presenting Author Biography: Marco Rossoni is an Assistant Professor at the department of Mechanical Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, since May 2021. He received the Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering in December 2015, with a thesis titled “A knowledge-based Engineering Approach to Automate the Assembly Lines Configuration”. He received his PhD at Politecnico di Milano in April 2020 in Mechanical Engineering, with a thesis titled “Additive Manufacturing for Spare Parts Production”. After his PhD studies, he held a Research Fellow position at the Department of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Università degli Studi di Bergamo.

Authors:

Alessandro Pozzi Politecnico di Milano
Luca Puricelli Politecnico di Milano
Marco Rossoni Politecnico di Milano
Elena Spadoni Politecnico di Milano
Marina Carulli Politecnico di Milano
Monica Bordegoni Politecnico di Milano
Giorgio Colombo Politecnico di Milano