EXIST AuRora - Automatic Generation of Optimal Paths

IQ 2023: Winner of the Automotive Cluster

Winning team EXIST AuRora of the IQ Innovation Award 2023 in the Automotive Cluster, together with the prize donors Dr. Jens Katzek from ACOD (right) and Herbert Schneider from Porsche (left). Photo: Guido Werner
Knowledge Transfer

The integration of academic research results into industrial applications is a focal point of EXIST AuRora.
Innovation

The focus of AuRora is on simplifying the creation of optimal robot programs. This saves you time in programming and integration processes.
Application

Many handcrafted products could be carried out with the help of industrial robots today. However, these robots are rarely utilized in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that often produce in small batches. We see significant innovation potential in the project 'Validation of the Innovation Potential of Automatic Generation of Efficient Robot Programs' (VIP+-AuRora). The underutilization of the vast potential of industrial robot deployment in these SMEs is mainly attributed to the required expertise and the manual effort involved in creating the corresponding robot programs. This includes manual definition of motion sequences, optimization of movements, and repetitive manual simulation, analysis, and adjustment of the intended processes. The challenge lies not so much in the inherent complexity of implementing such programs, as they generally consist of a sequence of motion patterns. Rather, expertise and time are invested in devising complex strategies to find optimal approach movements or motion sequences.

Automatic Generation of Optimal Paths

Robots are among the most flexible machine tools available today for industrial use. While conventional machine tools are usually highly specialised structures for individual application scenarios, industrial robots (with the right tool) can be used for an extremely wide range of application scenarios.

Focus

However, path generation during programming of industrial robot applications consumes a lot of time and the quality of the paths depends significantly on the experience of the offline programmer. The focus of AuRora is therefore the decoupling of path quality and individual skills by:

Automatic sequencing of workflows
Automatic path generation of collision-free infeed movements
Control-based multi-criteria optimization
Integration of our research results into industry-relevant offline programming

Project details for AuRora

Effects

Advantages of these developments include:

Lower integration costs due to shorter development times
Shorter processing times through state-of-the-art path optimisation
Dissemination of flexible robot automation for prototyping and small batch production in smaller companies

Demo

Interview from the Predecessor Project

Julian Scholle was the project manager in the predecessor project VIP+ and provides a detailed insight into the project contents.

IQ Innovation 2023

Last Modification: 13.02.2024 - Contact Person: Erik May