The EU funded Project JARVIS aims to develop a reusable set of tools that enable AI driven multimodal means of interaction: a) involving interfaces for physical and remote information exchange, robot control and programming, b) providing social skills to a variety of robots to achieve seamless user-centric interaction that extends human ability for complex tasks and c) demonstrating scalability of application and ability to achieve economies at scale. JARVIS will demonstrate its results in four use cases derived from the automotive, aeronautics, nuclear energy and offshore energy sectors.
Mounting environmental concerns have highlighted the crisis in traditional manufacturing, leading to increased product waste and resource depletion. The EU-funded RENÉE project aims to address this by shifting towards circular value chains, emphasizing remanufacturing in the household appliances, robotics, and mobility sectors. Utilizing advanced AI and robotics, RENÉE seeks to rejuvenate used products, fostering a sustainable revolution in the EU industry. By implementing digital remanufacturing management tools and flexible production robotics, the project aspires to transform EU industry into a beacon of sustainable and efficient remanufacturing. This effort marks a significant contribution towards the EU’s goals for a greener, digitally integrated future.
The FELICE system’s approach involves defining a workplan for each adaptive workstation (AWS) and assigning the robot to collaborate with the worker. A high-level controller manages robot perception, action planning, and communication with external devices, including the orchestrator, adaptive workstation, and shop floor sensors.
MASTERLY aims to develop flexible robotic solutions, constituting of modular grippers combined with state-of-the-art robotic technologies, enhanced with AI-driven advanced control and perception capabilities that will allow them to act autonomously, handling a large variety of parts varying in size, shape, and material, while being accepted by both genders of workforce.
COGNIMAN will develop and pilot a concept of “Digital Cognitive Industry for Smart Manufacturing” to facilitate flexible, resilient, reconfigurable, safe, sustainable, and efficient manufacturing processes.
HARTU is a research project that provides tools for parts handling, including self-supervised grasp and release planning policies, AI-based multi-modal perception, and versatile soft grippers. The project aims to increase manufacturing efficiency and flexibility in different sectors through easy-to-integrate and configure, safe, and reliable handling systems. HARTU also addresses social objectives such as user acceptance and compliance with liability/legal and ethical aspects.
AGILEHAND aims to develop advanced technologies for grading, handling and packaging autonomously soft and deformable products, as a strategic instrument to improve flexibility, agility and reconfigurability of production and logistic systems of the European manufacturing companies.
SMARTHANDLE is a research project that aims to improve production lines by developing intelligent and autonomous handling technologies that are adaptable and efficient. The project will implement intelligent agents, AI-based reasoning enablers, and higher-level planning and coordination mechanisms to address product variabilities and lack of accurate control. SMARTHANDLE will demonstrate solutions in real-life applications, including delicate contact lens handling, packaging of large variable section materials, and disassembly of complex products.
CONVERGING is a research project developing smart and reconfigurable production systems that combine multiple autonomous agents to work seamlessly with humans in diverse production environments. The project will use multi-level AI-based cognition, Robotics and Autonomous Systems, Smart Devices, and Adaptable Mechatronics to perceive, reason, adapt, collaborate, and innovate. The project will demonstrate its results in the Automotive, Aircraft Production, White Goods, and Additive Manufacturing products processing sectors.
DrapeBot is a research project that aims to improve the accuracy of the draping process for carbon fiber composite parts by developing a human-robot collaborative system. The robot assists in transporting material patches and draping in areas of low curvature, while the human drapes regions of high curvature. DrapeBot develops a gripper system with integrated instrumentation, low-level control structures, and AI-driven human perception and task-planning models to enable efficient collaboration between humans and robots.
ODIN is a research project that brings together the latest groundbreaking technology in the fields of collaborating robots, autonomous robotics, AI-based task planning, mobile robots, digital twins, and service-oriented robotics integration and communication architectures. The project aims to demonstrate that advanced robotics systems are not only technically feasible but also efficient and sustainable for immediate introduction at the shop floor, strengthening the trust of EU production companies in utilizing these technologies.
Fluently is a research project that leverages AI-driven decision-making to achieve social collaboration between humans and machines in dynamic manufacturing contexts. The project aims to develop the Fluently Smart Interface unit and the Robo-Gym. The Fluently Smart Interface unit includes speech and gesture interpretation, operator assessment, and product modeling for robot recognition and interpretation. The Robo-Gym is a European hub for human-robot interactive training. The project aims to establish a personalized bond between humans and robots and will be validated by three full-scale pilots with varying levels of automation and manufacturing complexity.
The OMICRON project wants to build the future of safer, quicker and more efficient road infrastructure with the help of state-of-the-art technologies. Industry-leading partners from 7 European countries have joined forces to make these goals possible.
AI-PRISM will deliver a human-centered AI-based solutions ecosystem (with and without a physical embodiment) targeted to manufacturing scenarios focusing on tasks difficult to automate (requiring complex perception and manipulation operations) and where speed and versatility are essential to satisfy user needs.
Robotic technologies have evolved rapidly, enabling flexible and demand-driven production. APRIL is leveraging key trends such as smart sensors, Big Data analytics, Open Automation Architectures, and collaborative robots to propose cost-effective solutions for manufacturing and processing soft and flexible materials. APRIL is developing prototypes to handle various materials and processes in sectors ranging from electrical appliances and food to insoles and passports. The project addresses the challenges of handling heterogeneous and deformable products, allowing for highly adaptable manipulation.
SHERLOCK – Seamless and safe human-centered robotic applications for novel collaborative workplaces
SHERLOCK project aims to introduce the latest safe robotic technologies, including high payload collaborative arms, exoskeletons and mobile manipulators in diverse production environments, enhancing them with smart mechatronics and AI-based cognition, creating efficient HRC stations that are designed to be safe and guarantee the acceptance and wellbeing of operators.
SHAREWORK – Safe and Effective Human-Robot Cooperation Towards a Better Competitiveness on Current Automation Lack Manufacturing Processes
Sharework develops a Europe-wide smart modular solution integrated with different software and hardware modules to allow robots to physically interact with humans within a collaborative production environment without the need for physical protection barriers. The project boosts process productivity and improves the ergonomics of the workstations where it is implemented.
Project developments will be validated and tested in four industrial scenarios in the automotive, railway, capital goods and metal sectors.
HR-RECYCLER – Hybrid human-robot recycling plant for electrical and electronic equipment
HR-Recycler targets the development of a ‘hybrid human-robot recycling plant for electrical and electronic equipment’ operating in an indoor environment.
ROSSINI – Robot enhanced sensing, intelligence and actuation to improve job quality in manufacturing
The project aims to develop a disruptive, inherently safe hardware-software platform for the design and deployment of human-robot collaboration (HRC) applications in manufacturing.
COLLABORATE – Co-production cell performing human-robot collaborative assembly
This project aims to equip robots with collaborative skills so that they can learn from the human and become valuable assistants for assembly operations, in an effective and safe manner.
The MERGING project aims to provide manufacturers with a versatile, easy-to-use, and low-cost solution to automate the handling of flexible and fragile objects. Addressing challenges such as handling soft materials using robots, developing handling devices that are intelligent and universally dexterous, and making future robots capable of handling soft products while controlling their level of deformation, will lead to disruptive innovations in many sectors. The new technologies developed by the project will be piloted in the textile, food, and composite manufacturing industries, but will have potential applications in many other fields
EU manufacturers are increasingly adopting automation solutions that can improve productivity and reduce costs. Enterprises’ ability to utilize these technologies may be their single most important competitive advantage, and the specific skills, experiences, competencies, and flexibility of workers are pivotal to and at the core of this ability. To create a healthy workplace and increase the competitiveness of manufacturing firms, the creation of an optimal environment for human-automation integration and cooperation that harnesses and supports the workers’ capabilities is needed. The HUMAN project aims to define and demonstrate workplaces where automation and human workers operate in harmony to improve the productivity, quality, performance of the factory as well as worker satisfaction and safety.
COROMA project proposes to develop a cognitively enhanced robot that can execute multiple tasks for the manufacturing of metal and composite parts. COROMA will therefore provide the flexibility that European metalworking and advanced material manufacturing companies require to compete in the rapidly evolving global market.
The requirements on production systems are continuously being shifted towards higher flexibility and adaptability. The ReCaM project will demonstrate at TRL 7 a set of integrated tools for the rapid and autonomous reconfiguration of agile production systems, both at operational as well as managerial levels, integrated with the existing production planning and scheduling tools (MES).
PICK-PLACE is a European project aimed at developing a new concept for a safe, flexible, dependable and efficient hybrid pick-and-package (PAK) solution. It includes dynamic package configuration, flexible grasping strategies using an innovative multifunctional gripper, robust environment perception and mechanisms and strategies for safe human-robot collaboration.
REMODEL is a four-year project funded by the European Commission that aims to enable the manufacturing of complex products composed of multiple wires and cables through the use of robots fully integrated with the product design chain. The project will bring new opportunities to human-intensive labor manufacturing processes and impact several production scenarios where advanced handling techniques are needed due to the complexity of the objects and manipulation tasks. Four industrial use cases will be developed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the REMODEL outcomes in the production and assembly of wiring harnesses in the automotive and aerospace fields, switchgear wiring, and medical consumables manufacturing.
SoftManBot is developing an innovative and universal approach for handling deformable and flexible materials for the industry. SoftmanBot is integrating advanced manufacturing technologies for the automation of contact-based tasks, using a smart robotic perception system, a multi-sensor planning and control platform, and intelligent and universally dexterous grippers
THOMAS – Mobile dual arm robotic workers with embedded cognition for hybrid and dynamically reconfigurable manufacturing systems
The project aims to create a dynamically reconfigurable shopfloor utilizing autonomous, mobile dual-arm workers. These “workers” are able to perceive their environment and, through reasoning, cooperate with each other and with other production resources, including human operators.
ESMERA aims to support SMEs in the realisation, testing and promotion of novel robotic technologies through:
-
- Providing industrial challenges defined by key EU companies and stimulating SMEs to compete to address real-life problems that already have a market.
-
- Engaging a number of competence centres (CCs) that can provide an environment for development, evaluation, testing, and demonstration.
-
- Offering direct financial support through a cascade funding mechanism.
-
- Offering mentoring and support in developing business cases and managing the complete chain from “idea to market product”.
-
- Involving industrial associations and networks that can directly promote the developed solutions to their members.
FourByThree proposes the development of a new generation of modular industrial robotic solutions that are suitable for efficient task execution in collaboration with humans in a safe way and are easy to use and program by the factory workers.
The SYMBIO-TIC project aims towards a safe, dynamic, intuitive and cost-effective working environment where an immersive and symbiotic collaboration between human workers and robots can take place and bring significant benefits to robot-reluctant industries (where current tasks and processes are thought too complex to be automated). The benefits that the project can bring about include lower costs, increased safety, better working conditions and higher profitability through improved adaptability, flexibility, performance and seamless integration.
The main objective of the ScalABLE 4.0 project is the development and demonstration of an open scalable production system framework (OSPS) that can be used efficiently and effectively to visualize, virtualize, construct, control, maintain and optimize production lines. The OSPS aims to provide this through a) a tight integration of the enterprise information systems with transformable automation equipment paired up with b) the necessary open APIs for optimized solutions on all hierarchy levels.
The MANUWORK project’s vision will be realised through integrated applications that will handle data and information from human operators and machines and at the same time provide new balanced lines based on the feedback received. Special attention will be given to the management of information coming from operators as well as data recorded passively (i.e. through wearable devices).
The European manufacturing industry needs competitive solutions to keep global leadership in products and services. Exploiting synergies across application experts, technology suppliers, system integrators and service providers will speed up the process of bringing innovative technologies from research labs to industrial end-users. As an enabler in this context, the EuRoC initiative proposes to launch three industry-relevant challenges: 1) Reconfigurable Interactive Manufacturing Cell, 2) Shop Floor Logistics and Manipulation, 3) Plant Servicing and Inspection.
ECHORD (European Clearing House for Open Robotics Development) is an EU-funded project within the Seventh Framework Program, aiming to strengthen the cooperation between scientific research and industry in European robotics.
The EU HORIZON2020 project PERFoRM (Production harmonizEd Reconfiguration of Flexible Robots and Machinery) is targeting the current need for increasing flexibility and reconfigurability in the manufacturing domain. This trend is caused by the increasing demand for more customised, but cheaper and higher quality products by the customer, as well as the necessity for the manufacturer to produce without delays or breakdowns to reduce production costs.
X-act aims to utilise advanced cooperative robotic systems within European manufacturing and assembly facilities.
AUTORECON project aims at introducing a radical change in the production paradigm: in the same plant the sequence can be changed by introducing autonomous production/handling units which can change task (from joining to handling and vice versa) and position (around the shop floor), eventually cooperating among themselves, based on current process sequences, nevertheless having always the possibility to recover eventual failures to any Robot/Tool by switching position/job, auto reconfiguring themselves, the tools and the line to answer quickly to the stop of production and reducing losses as much as possible.
LIAA aims to keep assembly jobs in Europe by creating and implementing a framework that enables humans and robots to truly work together in assembly tasks. Co-working allows the senses and intelligence of the human to be complemented by the strength and endurance of the automation and so obtains the best from each of them, reducing repetitive injuries and costs and enhancing job satisfaction and the average length of time that a worker can continue in the same job.
Factory-in-a-Day aims at improving the competitiveness of European manufacturing SMEs by removing the primary obstacle for robot automation; installation time and installation cost. The high costs result in payback periods, making the investment in robotized automation economically unattractive. Factory-in-a-Day will reduce the installation time (and the related cost) from months to one single day.
Human skills are the main driver that enables the production of high-value products in Europe. Thus the manufacturing processes are based on utilizing these skills. ROBO-PARTNER aspires to integrate the latest industrial automation systems for assembly operations in combination with human capabilities, combining robot strength, velocity, predictability, repeatability and precision with human intelligence and skills. Thus, a hybrid solution involving the safe cooperation of operators with autonomous and adapting robotic systems through a user-friendly interaction is proposed.