The project will provide industries with the necessary standards, performance metrics, and infrastructure technology to support the use of semi-autonomous and autonomous manipulators and vehicles, control system architectures, safety systems, and advanced measurement tools and methods, that enable their use in static and dynamic assembly operations and material handling for manufacturing. We will collaborate with key robot arm and AGV developers and user partners to advance the state of autonomous robotic technology through mobile-base robot arms, mobile robots, non-contact safety sensors and open, modular control system architectures that enable broader use of advanced perception, autonomous navigation, manipulation and parts/material handling techniques in the automotive, aerospace, and other industries.

The automobile, heavy equipment, and many other manufacturers, can benefit from safe human-robot collaboration where in the future, it is expected that robot fences will not be rigid structures.  Vehicles and humans are expected to penetrate robot work cells safely.  In order to understand current and future automated equipment performance capabilities, this project will develop a manufacturing testbed and invite industry to drive project tests on their application scenarios.   The PerfSim Project will simulate the testbed environment for preliminary understanding of expected manufacturing equipment performance.   
The Mobility and Manipulation Project will develop performance measurement methods for autonomous assembly.  The work will be grounded in a manufacturing test bed shown in the Figure below, which will provide an integration environment for the other projects.  This project will procure, install and test a robot arm suspended from a linear rail, a ceiling mounted tracking system, conveyers, mannequins, robot vehicles, multiple sensors and other equipment and apply them to advanced autonomous assembly operations.  Once constructed, the Mobility and Manipulation Performance Metrics and Standards Project will measure the testbed performance as automated assembly scenarios develop.  The outcome of all three project efforts is expected to be the development of performance standards for manufacturing equipment and tools used in this and other advanced human-robot collaborative applications.

                                                                                 

Autonomous Assembly Testbed recently installed in the NIST Machine Shops.  Testbed includes an automated guided vehicle (left), conveyers, mannequins and an underslung robot arm (right).

The project will also provide advanced, 3D measurement capabilities (currently non-existent for the AGV industry) through industry-requested measurements and direct collaboration with AGV manufacturers and users.  We will continue our participation in the development of automatic guided vehicle (AGV) safety standards (ITSDF/ASME B56.5) through membership on the standards committee.  NIST receives frequent requests from this committee to present new advances in AGV measurements and controls.  We are also working on potential collaborations with the forklift industry in applying non-contact measurement techniques to manned forklifts.

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