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Robotics Research

Researchers: Rolf Johansson, Anders Robertsson, Olof Sörnmo, Björn Olofsson,  Karl-Erik Årzén, Mahdi Ghazaei, Fredrik Bagge Carlson, Anders Blomdell, Anders Nilsson, Martin Karlsson and Pål Johan From in close cooperation with colleagues from neighbor departments at the Robotics lab at LTH, Lund University, and ABB Robotics/CRC, Västerås, Sweden.

Robotics Research

Robotics offer both theoretical and practical challenges with multi-disciplinary topics. We collaborate both with national and international robotics colleagues regarding different aspects of robotics and we also have a close cooperation with industrial partners. Our main research themes are in motion and compliance control, control system architectures and different sensor fusion problems with application mainly to industrial manipulators. We use mainly modified and extended ABB robot control systems as experimental platforms.

The laboratory for robotics and real-time systems is centered around industrial manipulators with open control system architectures. In the lab we have several generations of robots from an elderly ABB IRB6 robot, an ABB IRB2000 robot, an ABB Irb2400 (S4CPlus) to the more modern ABB IRB140 (IRC5), Gantry-Tau robot (IRC5), ABB IRB120 (IRC5) and the latest dual-arm concept robot Frida (ABB IRC5) as well as YuMi. Hardware interfaces have been developed to create an open system suitable for control experiments (Orca/Orcinus). The computer hardware is either PCI-based with both microprocessors and signal processors integrated into an embedded system for hard realtime control in one of the labs and integrated with an additional PCI-based G4 PowerPC for the new Open Control system based on S4CPlus and the newly developed networked architecture running on Linux/Xenomai-platforms.

The systems are connected to a network with workstations, which are used for program development and control design. A purpose of the current project is to show how to organize open robot control systems and to verify these ideas by means of experiments.

One goal is to permit efficient specification and generation of fast robot motions along a geometric path which requires coordinated adjustment of the individual joint motions. Another aspect of robot motion control is how to to integrate simultaneous control of force and position according to ideas of impedance control in which stability is an important theoretical issue. A major topic in this project is to integrate aspects of control, sensor fusion and application demands using robot vision and force sensing. Another project is on the structure and programming of control systems for industrial robots. The problem addressed is how the software architecture and the realtime structure of a robot control system should be designed to allow easy and flexible incorporation of additional sensors and new control algorithms.

A software layer between a supervisory sequence control layer and the basic control level has been proposed. Case studies and prototype experiments show promising results and further implementation is going on. The project Autofett aimed towards use of force control in manufacturing operations such as robotized fettling and is now continued in the SMErobot and FlexAA-projects. New sensor interfaces with modification of hardware and realtime software architectures have been developed to accommodate the use of force control algorithms based on workspace sensing.

Several research interests are represented in Robotics Lab:

  • Open Control Software Architectures
  • Exteroceptive Robots
  • Force Control
  • Robot Vision
  • Sensor Fusion
  • Adaptive and Iterative Learning Control
  • Task-level Programming
  • Productive Robotics & Work-space Sensing

 

Productive Robotics, Robotics Lab

Robot control systems and other manufacturing equipment are traditionally closed. This circumstance has hampered system integration of manipulators, sensors and other equipment. As a result, such system integration has often been made at an unsuitably high hierarchical level.

The purpose of past and present projects is to show how to organize open robot control systems and to verify these ideas by means of experimental verification. As a part of this research, we have developed several experimental open robot control systems. The systems are built around industrially available robots that have been reconfigured for experimental purposes.

The developed specific robot interfaces and the integration of the robots into a complete system forms a unique environment for testing and development of algorithms for improvement of performance, sensor integration, programming automation and autonomous operation.

Ongoing projects:


  • SARAFun - Smart Assembly Robots with Advanced Functionalities

 

Recently finished projects:

 

  • SMErobotics - The European Robotics Initiative for Strengthening the Competitiveness of SMEs in Manufacturing by integrating aspects of cognitive systems (funding from European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° 287787).
  • FlexiFab - Flexible fabrication of leightweight aluminum structures (EU FP7 under grant agreement no. FP7-SME-2014-2-606156-FLEXIFAB).
  • ENGROSS - Enabling Growing Software Systems.
  • PRACE- The Productive Robot Apprentice (EU FP7).
  • ROSETTA - RObot control for Skilled ExecuTion of Tasks in natural interaction with humans; based on Autonomy, cumulative knowledge and learning
  • ProFlexA - Productive Flexible Automation
  • COMET - Plug-and-produce COmponents and METhods for adaptive control of industrial robots enabling cost effective, high precision manufacturing in factories of the future (EU- FP7)
  • SMErobot —The European Robot Initiative for Strengthening the Competitiveness of SMEs in Manufacturing (Integrated project funded under the European Union’s Sixth Framework Programme (FP6))
  • SSF ProVikingFlexAA
  • Flexcon
  • Autofett

 

Information:

 

Press

References:

Andreas Stolt, Anders Robertsson, Rolf Johansson: "Robotic Force Estimation using Dithering to Decrease the Low Velocity Friction Uncertainties". In IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2015, Seattle, WA, United States, May 2015.

Andreas Stolt, Magnus Linderoth, Anders Robertsson, Rolf Johansson: "Detection of Contact Force Transients in Robotic Assembly". In IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2015, Seattle, WA, United States, May 2015.

Andreas Stolt: On Robotic Assembly using Contact Force Control and Estimation. PhD Thesis Department of Automatic Control, Lund University, Sweden, April 2015.

Maj Stenmark, Andreas Stolt: "A System for High-Level Task Specification Using Complex Sensor-Based Skills". In Robotics: Science and Systems (RSS) 2013 Workshop on Programming with Constraints, Berlin, Germany, June 2013.

Nicola Maria Ceriani, Andrea Maria Zanchettin, Paolo Rocco, Andreas Stolt, Anders Robertsson: "A constraint-based strategy for task-consistent safe human-robot interaction". In IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2013, Tokyo, Japan, November 2013.

Magnus Linderoth, Anders Robertsson, Rolf Johansson: "Color-Based Detection Robust to Varying Illumination Spectrum". In IEEE Workshop on Robot Vision (WoRV) 2013, Clearwater Beach, Florida, United States, January 2013.

Magnus Linderoth: On Robotic Work-Space Sensing and Control. PhD Thesis Department of Automatic Control, Lund University, Sweden, April 2013.

Magnus Linderoth, Andreas Stolt, Anders Robertsson, Rolf Johansson: "Robotic Force Estimation Using Motor Torques and Modeling of Low Velocity Friction Disturbances". In IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2013, Tokyo, Japan, November 2013.

Andreas Stolt, Magnus Linderoth, Anders Robertsson, Rolf Johansson: "Robotic Assembly of Emergency Stop Buttons". In IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2013, Tokyo, Japan, November 2013.

Andreas Stolt: "Robotic Assembly and Contact Force Control". Licentiate Thesis Department of Automatic Control, Lund University, Sweden, April 2012.

Sang Hyoung Lee, Il Hong Suh, Sylvain Calinon, Rolf Johansson: "Learning Basis Skills by Autonomous Segmentation of Humanoid Motion Trajectories". In 12th IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots, Osaka, Japan, November 2012.

Andreas Stolt, Magnus Linderoth, Anders Robertsson, Rolf Johansson: "Adaptation of Force Control Parameters in Robotic Assembly". In 10th International IFAC Symposium on Robot Control, Dubrovnik, Croatia, September 2012.

Andreas Stolt, Magnus Linderoth, Anders Robertsson, Rolf Johansson: "Robotic Assembly Using a Singularity-Free Orientation Representation Based on Quaternions". In 10th International IFAC Symposium on Robot Control, Dubrovnik, Croatia, September 2012.

Andreas Stolt, Magnus Linderoth, Anders Robertsson, Rolf Johansson: "Force Controlled Robotic Assembly without a Force Sensor". In IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2012, St Paul, MN, United States, May 2012.

Andreas Stolt, Magnus Linderoth, Anders Robertsson, Rolf Johansson: "Force Controlled Assembly of Emergency Stop Button". In IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2011, Shanghai, China, May 2011.

Andrea M. Zanchettin, Paolo Rocco, Anders Robertsson, Rolf Johansson: "Exploiting Task Redundancy in Industrial Manipulators during Drilling Operations". In IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2011, Shanghai, China, May 2011.

Magnus Linderoth, Kristian Soltesz, Anders Robertsson, Rolf Johansson: "Initialization of the Kalman Filter without Assumptions on the Initial State". In IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2011, Shanghai, China, May 2011.

Anders Björkelund, Lisett Edström, Mathias Haage, Jacek Malec, Klas Nilsson, Pierre Nugues, Sven Robertz, Denis Störkle, Anders Blomdell, Rolf Johansson, Magnus Linderoth, Anders Nilsson, Anders Robertsson, Andreas Stolt, Herman Bruyninckx: "On the Integration of Skilled Robot Motions for Productivity in Manufacturing". In 2011 IEEE/CIRP International Symposium on Assembly and Manufacturing (ISAM), Tampere, Finland, May 2011.

Magnus Linderoth: "Robotic Work-Space Sensing and Control". Licentiate Thesis Department of Automatic Control, Lund University, Sweden, April 2011.

Magnus Linderoth, Anders Robertsson, Karl Åström, Rolf Johansson: "Object Tracking with Measurements from Single or Multiple Cameras". In IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2010, Anchorage, Alaska, United States, May 2010.

Rolf Johansson: "Continuous-Time Model Identification and State Estimation Using Non-Uniformly Sampled Data". In 19th Int. Symp. Mathematical Theory of Networks and Systems, Budapest, Hungary, July 2010.

Leonid Freidovich, Anders Robertsson, Anton Shiriaev, Rolf Johansson: "LuGre-Model-Based Friction Compensation". IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, 18:1, pp. 194–200, 2010.

Rolf Johansson: "Continuous-Time Model Identification and State Estimation Using Non-Uniformly Sampled Data". IFAC Proceedings Volumes, 42:10, pp. 1163–1168, 2009.

Rolf Johansson, Anders Robertsson: "Stability of Robotic Obstacle Avoidance and Force Interaction". IFAC Proceedings Volumes, 42:16, pp. 561–566, 2009.

Magnus Linderoth, Anders Robertsson, Karl Åström, Rolf Johansson: "Vision Based Tracker for Dart-Catching Robot". IFAC Proceedings Volumes (IFAC-PapersOnline), 42:16, pp. 717–722, 2009.

Rolf Johansson, Anders Robertsson: "Stability of Robotic Obstacle Avoidance and Force Interaction". In 9th IFAC International Symposium on Robot Control, Gifu, Japan, September 2009.

Rolf Johansson, Magnus Annerstedt, Anders Robertsson: "Stability of Haptic Obstacle Avoidance and Force Interaction". In 2009 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, St. Louis, United States, October 2009.

Rolf Johansson, Per-Anders Fransson, Måns Magnusson: "Optimal Coordination and Control of Posture and Movements". Journal of Physiology - Paris, 103, pp. 159–177, 2009.

Rolf Johansson: "Focus on: Subspace-based Identification and Its Applications". In: International Journal of Adaptive Control and Signal Processing, John Wiley & Sons Inc., 2009.


2019-01-11