Fraunhofer IFAM
Creating a test environment for navigation systems of Autonomous Mobile Robots – Cinema 4 AMRs
Description of the company
Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials IFAM is part of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, the world’s leading applied research organization. In Stade we develop solutions for automated assembly, joining and machining technologies. We work on projects mainly in an industrial environment, e.g. for the production of airplanes, trains and wind turbines. Our focus lays on the topics of large structure assembly, adhesive and surface applications, innovative lightweight materials, production-related prototyping, robotic systems, process optimization, digital factory planning and metrology devices.
Description of Current Situation and Problems in Mobile Robotic Navigation and Localization
Mobile robotic systems are increasingly utilized in various applications, from industrial automation to self-driving cars. However, they face significant challenges in navigation and localization:
- Dynamic Environments: Mobile robots often operate in unpredictable and dynamic environments, where obstacles can move or change, complicating path planning and navigation.
- Sensor Limitations: Sensors used for navigation, such as LiDAR, cameras, and IMUs, can be affected by environmental factors (e.g., lighting conditions, weather) leading to inaccuracies in data collection.
- Map Inconsistencies: Creating and maintaining accurate maps is crucial for effective localization. However, discrepancies between the map and the real world can lead to navigation errors.
- Computational Constraints: Real-time processing of sensor data for localization and navigation requires significant computational resources, which can be a limiting factor, especially in lightweight mobile platforms.
- Multi-robot Coordination: In scenarios with multiple robots, coordinating navigation and localization among them presents additional complexity and challenges. Such as positional forecast, deblocking or shared information over various platforms.
Initial Situation
A multitude of different localisation and navigation solutions is already available. Even within one setup there are various evaluation and planning algorithms, that influence the overall system performance. Therefore, a need for comparison arises, to distinguish which system excels over the other, as well as to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each individual setups, to solve a given navigation task. The question of multi-robot performance is especially interesting, as the individual robots tend to become obstacles towards each other and is a current field of research.
Aims of the project
Set up a simulation environment that includes various challenges as well as test scenarios with regards to navigation and localisation of multi-AMR systems in industrial applications. Basic and advanced requirements for navigation and localization should be included into that test bed.
Furthermore, develop a metric that gives a score/performance index to make different solutions comparable to each other.
Scopes
The development process should cover the following point:
- Research of the state-of-the-art navigation and localization methods and systems
- Identification and categorization of current problems and difficulties
- Development of a concept to replicate the identified challenges
- Implementing the concept in the form of a simulation / simulated scenarios e.g. Gazebo
- Evaluation and rating
- Presentation and summary of the results and findings as well as the accomplished work
Target group (students)
We are looking for a committed, open minded and interdisciplinary team in which everyone contributes with their expertise and would like to add to the described challenge.
Your field of study might be:
- Systems engineering / Robotics
- General Engineering Science
- Mechanical engineering / Mechatronics
- Logistics, Infrastructure and Mobility
- Software Engineers, Data/Computer Science, Information Technology
If your course of studies is not listed explicitly, but you know that you can constructively contribute to the project, feel free to apply.
Dates
Please save these dates: Fishing for Experience Termine
Registration
You can apply for Fishing for Experience online.
