IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - June 2018 - 72

By Vaibhav V. Unhelkar, Stefan Dörr, Alexander Bubeck, Przemyslaw A. Lasota,
Jorge Perez, Ho Chit Siu, James C. Boerkoel, Jr., Quirin Tyroller,
Johannes Bix, Stefan Bartscher, and Julie A. Shah

Mobile Robots
for Moving-Floor
Assembly Lines
Design, Evaluation, and Deployment

©istockphoto.com/phonlamaiphoto

R

obots that operate alongside or cooperatively with
humans are envisioned as the next generation of
robotics. Toward this vision, we present the first
mobile robot system designed for and capable of
operating on the moving floors of automotive
final assembly lines (AFALs). AFALs represent a distinct
challenge for mobile robots in the form of dynamic sur-
faces: the conveyor belts that transport cars throughout the
factory during final assembly.
In this article, we identify the key behaviors necessary for
autonomous navigation along dynamic surfaces, develop a
control strategy to achieve trajectory tracking on such surfac-
es, and design a sensing module capable of detecting con-
veyor belt speed and location in a factory setting. These
solutions are integrated with localization, path planning, and
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MRA.2018.2815639
Date of publication: 16 May 2018

72

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IEEE ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION MAGAZINE

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june 2018

car tracking to achieve autonomous navigation. The system
is implemented via Rob@Work 3 (a robotic platform de-
signed for industrial applications) and the Robot Operating
System (ROS). The integrated system is evaluated on an
operational automotive factory floor alongside human work-
ers. A mobile robot capable of working on moving floors
(conveyor belts) alongside human associates can provide
greater flexibility when designing automotive manufacturing
processes, yielding ergonomic benefits for users, improving
task performance and efficiency, and opening avenues for
novel robotics applications.
Robots in Automotive Manufacturing
In recent decades, large industrial robots have revolution-
ized manufacturing across multiple sectors. The automo-
tive industry was among the first to introduce robotics into
the manufacturing process. Today, approximately half of
the manufacturing tasks in a typical automotive factory are
1070-9932/18©2018IEEE



http://www.istockphoto.com/phonlamaiphoto

IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - June 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - June 2018

Contents
IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - June 2018 - Cover1
IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - June 2018 - Cover2
IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - June 2018 - Contents
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