The European Robotics Forum 2024 (ERF2024), the most influential meeting of the robotics community in Europe, will be held from 13 – 15 March 2024 in Rimini, Italy under the scientific responsibility of the University of Bologna. Over 1000 European robotics experts from academia and industry are expected to attend the 14th edition of the conference. ERF2024 will host a major exhibition where companies, universities, and research institutes will showcase the most advanced European prototypes, products, services, and projects funded under the EU’s Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe research programme in the field of robotics. Researchers, engineers, managers, and a growing number of entrepreneurs, businesspeople, and public funding officers from all over Europe will come together to discuss technology push and market pull and how innovation in robotics and robotics-related AI can be accelerated.
Within this context, the 11th Workshop on Hybrid Production Systems will take place on March 13th. The workshop was split into 3 parts focusing on the following topics:
- Part 1 – AI enabled HRC [12:00-13:20]
- Part 2 – Flexible materials handling and remanufacturing [14:40-16:00]
- Insight Session: 11th Hybrid Production Systems [16:40-18:00]
Each part consisted of two targeted sessions each on different aspects of Hybrid Production systems, given by speakers from organizations throughout Europe, representing RTOs, Industries, and Academics. Presentations included:
- Impulse presentations on just-started research projects
- They focused on the industrial challenges that each project derived from as well as the real-life cases they target and the enabling technologies that will be used to overcome the existing challenges.
- Interactive panel discussions
- They were designed to engage the audience in an open dialogue with the panel speakers using interactive tools (including both academic and industrial people) to identify the milestones achieved so far and the key challenges to be addressed in the next years.
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Agenda of the Workshop
The HPS workshop will take place in Tempio 2 and is organized into four Sessions.
Session 1:
- 12:00 – 12:04 Introduction of Workshop and recap of HPS activities – George Michalos
- 12:04 – 12:08 Intersubjective AI-driven multimodal interaction for advanced user-centric human robot collaborative applications – Nikos Dimitropoulos (JARVIS project)
- 12:08 – 12:12 Cooperating robots for non-rigid product manufacturing – a hybrid workstation in composites industry – Dionisis Andronas (MERGING project)
- 12:12 – 12:16 Exploring the Synergy of Physical Human-Robot Collaboration in Flexible Assembly Manufacturing – Sharath Chandra Akkaladevi (FELICE project)
- 12:16 – 12:20 Computer-Aided Risk Assessment for Industrial Robots and practical validation of safety concepts – Aulon Bajrami
- 12:20 – 12:40 Session 1 Panel discussion – Advanced Human-Robot interaction
Session 2:
- 12:40 – 12:44 Advances in AI Enhanced Multi-agent Robotics and Programming by Demonstration for Human Robot Collaboration – Francisco Fraile (AI-PRISM project)
- 12:44 – 12:48 Cross-disciplinary AI strategies for human-robot collaboration – Nabil Belbachir (COGNIMAN project)
- 12:48 – 12:52 Advancing human-robot interaction using AI – a large language model (LLM) approach – Nikos Dimitropoulos (CONVERGING project)
- 12:52 – 12:56 Leveraging personalization for enhanced fluency in human-robot teams – Oliver Avram (FLUENTLY project)
- 12:56 – 13:00 Adopting innovative robotics for agile production – Apostolis Papavasileiou (ODIN project)
- 13:00 – 13:20 Session 2 Panel discussion – AI for HRC
13:20 – 14:40 Lunch Break
Session 3:
- 14:40 – 14:44 Introduction of Workshop and recap of HPS activities – George Michalos
- 14:44 – 14:48 AGILEHAND – Paul Chippendale (AGILEHAND project)
- 14:48 – 14:52 Robotic grasping decision making assisted by AI and simulation – Jon Ander Ruiz (HARTU project)
- 14:52 – 14:56 Integrated Technologies for Enhanced Human-Robot Collaboration in Assembly Operations – George Michalos (MASTERLY project)
- 14:56 – 15:00 Recent advances in human-robot collaborative draping of carbon fibre parts – Michael Hofmann (DRAPEBOT project)
- 15:00 – 15:04 Smart handling systems for flexible material handling – Urko Esnaola (SMARTHANDLE project)
Session 4:
- 15:24 – 15:28 Flexible remanufacturing using AI and advanced robotics for circular value chains in EU industry – Gkournelos Christos (RENEE project)
- 15:28 – 15:32 Repairing Dies for Reuse performed by a Fast Setup Robotic System with No CAD or Part Referencing Requirements – Urko Esnaola (CONVERGING project)
- 15:32 – 15:36 The challenge of Remanufacturing for sustainable Electric Mobility – Nicola Pedrocchi
- 15:36 – 15:40 Remanufacturing: new perspectives for a Robotics Manufacturer – Alfio Minissale
- 15:40 – 16:00 Session 4 Panel discussion – Robotics and remanufacturing
The Insight session will take place in Squero and includes the following papers:
HPS 01: Process orchestration and product traceability for Human-Robot collaborative remanufacturing
HPS 02: AI-Powered Human-Centred Robot Interactions Challenges in Human-Robot Collaboration Across Diverse Industrial Scenarios
HPS 03: Towards enabling intuitive interaction and control of mobile robots utilising Augmented Reality techniques
HPS 04: An AI-based decision making framework with task planning & dynamic reconfiguration capabilities
HPS 05: Symbiotic Human-Robot Collaboration The FELICE Approach in Smart Assembly Lines
HPS 06: Preliminary Evaluation of an Embedded FBG-Based Force Sensor for In-Hand Grasp Monitoring
HPS 07: Robotic grasping decision making assisted by AI and simulation
HPS 08: An approach of automated assembly evaluation using AI – based computer vision methods for Human–Robot Collaboration
HPS 09: Integrating cyber-physical systems in non-rigid assemblies: a composites manufacturing case study