A Methodology for the Planning and Implementation of Service Robotics in Industrial Work Processes

The gap between capability and practical application of service robotics increases constantly, especially regarding to SMEs. In order to overcome the affiliated obstacles, easily applicable methods supporting users in the planning and implementation of robot solutions need to be developed. Therefore, the proposed methodology determines a useful degree of automation for manual work processes by the help of four main components. A potential customer will be able to join an internet portal. Via this portal, the customer may add data on specific manual work processes, adjacent influencing parameters and additional framework conditions. This data is then forwarded to an associated planning kernel which derives information on different service robot components from a data base. By comparing the requirements regarding the specific manual work process with the different robot characteristics, the planning kernel produces results in two categories. First, the system recommends robot components that can be applied for the specific work process and second, motion plans for the selected service robot system. In order to enhance practical usability and transparency for the customer, the planning kernel is connected to a simulation. Regarding this simulation, the robot components and motions will be automatically visualized to the customer. Consequently, the customer will be able to easily decide on a potential robot implementation in order to support employees and improve the work processes. In practical application, this solution can especially improve the competitiveness of SMEs.