The ERAT Program 2023

Prof. Karsten Berns, RPTU – Rheinland-Pfälzische Technische Universität, Germany

Prof. Jan Faigl, Czech Technical University in Prague

In the talk, selected autonomous navigation solutions developed in the Computational Robotics Laboratory will be presented. The lab is a part of the Artificial Intelligence Center and Center for Robotics and Autonomous Systems at the Czech Technical University in Prague, Czechia. Within the lab, we address robotic information gathering with ground robotic platforms such as multi-legged and wheeled platforms. The talk focuses on deployments in subterranean terrains and field environments where relying on a global navigation satellite system is impossible. The talk will present results from autonomous system deployment motivated by the DARPA Subterranean Challenge (SubT) and the achievements of the CTU-CRAS-NORLAB team. Furthermore, recent deployments in data collection scenarios for communication signal propagation will be presented. Finally, results on autonomous navigation using geometry-based terrain assessment will be shown for a vehicle from 300 kg to 3000 kg weight category.

Hubert Kargl, Sandvik Mining and Construction G.m.b.H., Austria

Similar to many other technical operations, mining and tunnelling application are striving to develop their operation towards autonomous systems. Main drivers are increased safety – by keeping people out of hazardous areas – and improvement of the operation’s reliability and performance in general. Autonomous navigation is a key component for such a successful setup. Nevertheless, the constraints are special: Operation below the surface, dark and dusty environment, vibrating machine structures and in many cases the need for ATEX-certified equipment are big challenges to establish a successful navigation solution.  The presentation will figure out possible concepts, their technical limitations and experience so far.

Ivan Enzo Gargano, IDV Iveco Defence Vehicles, Italy

In the last years a rapid increase in requests for UGVs with off-road autonomous navigation capabilities in both the military and civilian domains has been registered. Due to their peculiar requirements, these sectors require innovations, new approaches and tailored solutions to the problem of autonomous driving.

In this talk, IDV will give an insight on the common challenges and their possible solutions to tackle the new problems coming from the intricate world of off-road autonomous driving. While autonomous vehicles have made significant strides on urban roads, the unpredictable and harsh terrains encountered in off-highway applications pose a unique set of challenges on the hardware, the software, and the legislative and homologation processes. Moreover, integrating these technologies into on-field military missions demands a further step towards the understanding of the rules driving such domain.

Dual-use technologies or commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) systems are crucial to the successfull development of robotic systems. Leveraging onto fast advances of tested and proven COTS technologies on both electronics, computing, software and hardware helps reducig the risks associated with development.

As IDV navigates through these challenges, the goal is to examine how can be possible to perform the technology transfer from the civilian to the military sector and on which sublevels, exposing the need for dual-use autonomous driving technologies.

Thomas Kaufmann (Co-Founder & CEO), EXARON GmbH
Patrick Gröller (Co-Founder& CTO), EXARON GmbH

EXARON is a technical simulation office specializing in the visualization of complex industrial processes. For this purpose, leading simulation software in factory and production planning is used and combined with industry-standard extended reality (XR) technologies. The digital models created in this way can be visualized realistically and location-independent as well as tested, manipulated, optimized and learned quickly and flexibly – without wasting resources, polluting the environment and endangering people.

DI DI (FH) Markus Gruber (Founder and CEO), Selmo Technology GmbH

Selmo, Sequence Logic Modeling, rethinks machine programming. As a real alternative to manual programming, Selmo offers a programming standard that creates a universally uniform structure in theoperating and programming of machines. For the first time, a uniform operating system for machines is possible, constantly informing about all processes in real-time and ensuring that the machines operate with maximum availability. Selmo stands for the controlled digitization and automation of logical production processes.

Gerhard Schiefer (Vice President GroupAutomation and Digitalization), ANDRITZ AG
Ing. Walter Eichner (MBA,Business DevelopmentManager), BECKHOFF Automation GmbH

Automation and Digitalization plays a tramendous important role in making IoT in an industrial contextpossible. METRIS X (by ANDRITZ) as an unique platform to cover both automation and digitalization hemispheres for various industries and a powerful and scalable hardware (by BECKHOFF) is the key to helpour customer to meet their business requirements.

Dr. Florin Sabou, NEOTRONIKAUTOMATION SRL, Romania

Customized solutions depending on the production area andcustomer capacities, Implementing customer requirements based on continually highly expectation.

Martin Tiefenbrunner, TGW

The robots are coming. The need of industrial robots and cobots in intralogistics paired with high-end sensor systems is becoming higher and higher. While the mechatronic systems are state-of-the-art, in the future it will be more necessary to use smart sensor-systems, AI and intelligent software. This talk gives you somes answers to the “why” and a compact overview of the the robotics world in TGW.

Barnaba Ubezio, AAU

The simultaneous use of multiple small and low-cost radars has recently become feasible due to their increasing availability and functionality. Calibrating a radar-only system is particularly challenging when dealing with devices having low number of antennas and therefore limited angular resolution; such setup is though beneficial for collaborative and safety-oriented applications in robotics. We present an extrinsic calibration method for a multi-radar system deployed in a robotic cell. The calibration procedure only requires to move a single radar-signal reflector within the perceived area. The method is based on data sequential collection and pre-processing, combined with the closed-form registration of 3D point clouds and uncertainty analysis.

Ivan Markovic, FER

Localization constitutes a fundamental building block of any autonomous system. This is especially emphasized for autonomous vehicles that participate in urban traffic and need to maintain highly accurate estimates of their pose for navigation purposes. But besides urban traffic, autonomous vehicles are also making their way to the racetrack, which presents novel challenges – although not plagued by dynamic objects, the scene is often low in texture, visually similar across the track, and captured with velocities above 200 km/h. In this talk we will present a stereo visual odometry solution, dubbed SOFT2, which has been for the past years the most accurate localization algorithm on the KITTI dataset, and its version adapted for rolling shutter cameras and the racetrack.

Armin Berger, Infineon

As the number of robots is increasing in all the different markets the demand for more intelligent robotic systems that can act autonomously increases as well. Hence, also the need for interaction between humans and robots is getting more important.
At Infineon we are developing 3D image time-of-flight (ToF) sensors that are capable to provide more detailed and more accurate information on the robot’s surrounding enabling more sophisticated robotic applications for industrial as well as for consumer markets.
This talk will introduce 3D sensing with ToF image sensors and will show on how to use it in selected robotic applications (e.g. SLAM and obstacle avoidance).

Wolfgang Pointner (Research & Development Coordinator), AGILOX Services GmbH

A rapidly growing market presents manufacturers of autonomous mobile robots (AMR) like AGILOX with a difficult challenge: How can new products and functions be implemented and tested quickly and efficiently while meeting the diverse requirements of customers? Simulation environments and toolchains, which are increasingly being used to create digital twins in the intralogistics domain, play an important role here. They can be utilized for many tasks including testing of system components in recreated scenarios, virtual commissioning in greenfield and brownfield applications, as well as the generation of synthetic training data for machine learning methods. For AGILOX, the NVIDIA Isaac simulation environment has proven to be a solution that can fulfill all these purposes.

Mag. Gregor Schubert-Lebernegg (Product Management and Sales), KNAPP Industry Solutions GmbH

In times of labor shortage, companies struggle to keep up or extend their production capacities. Automation becomes a key factor to not only be prepared for the future, but also to secure the current state of companies. Autonomous mobile robots represent a flexible, simple and affordable solution for challenges like labor shortage, varying throughputs and changing processes and are the answer to prepare a company for all challenges which lie ahead.

Mariolino De Cecco (Associate Professor), University of Trento, Italy

3D Vision is an enabling factor in Robotics. Specifically it increases robotic platforms’ perception capabilities. Logistics applications can benefit from augmented perception of Pallet/Load Localization & Shape estimation in order to make the whole workflow more efficient and flexible. In this talk I’ll focus on 3D technologies and applications for automatic pallet identification, localization and picking in large warehouses and automatic truck loading.

Primož Podržaj, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Rok Vrabič, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

This presentation addresses the problem of establishing efficient intralogistic systems, focusing on the generation of roadmaps and movement constraints on a given layout and the coordination of multiple Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) or Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs). By analysing the system throughput, the optimal fleet size for the system can be determined. The approach is validated through various examples and benchmarked against existing methods in the literature.

Cecilia Scoccia, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy

In contemporary industries, the philosophy of human-centered workplace design and the integration of operator 5.0 concepts are gaining prominence. This paradigm shift involves customizing the operators’ work environment to enhance both their well-being and capabilities, marking a significant stride towards a more personalized and efficient workforce. To enhance risk management, careful attention must be directed towards designing workstations that are not only optimized but also ergonomic, alongside creating favorable environmental working conditions. Within this scope, the prominence of human factors becomes evident, influenced by the array of workforce diversities, including individual abilities, physical capacities, gender, age, and varying levels of confidence in technology. Within this evolving landscape, cutting-edge assistive technologies, particularly collaborative robots and passive exoskeletons , emerge as compelling choices for strategic implementation in production and logistics systems.

Michael Rathmair, Joanneum Research ROBOTICS, Austria
Clara Fischer, Joanneum Research ROBOTICS, Austria

Safety and security are the most essential requirements for every machine and plant. The Machinery Directive 2006/42/EG regulates the placing of safe, complete, and incomplete machines on the market. At the end of June, the EU-wide machinery regulation was published, which will replace the machinery directive in the future. This innovation is relevant to all areas of the machinery. Especially for robotics,there is currently an intense revision in the field of standardization. In this talk, we will give an in-sight into the current trends and revisions of the Eu-ropean standards and directives relevant to stationary industrial robots and their applications.