Autonomous Industrial Mobile Manipulation (AIMM): From Research to Industry

Abstract

This paper presents “Autonomous Industrial Mobile Manipulation” (AIMM) as a research topic and emerging technology for modern industry. The motivation for this work is that the underlying concepts and required technologies exist; now it is time to put the AIMM technology to the test in real-world industrial environments. The context for AIMM is mobile manufacturing assistants in industrial environments with three main application areas: logistics, assistive and service. The paper presents a technology transfer approach for bringing automation of today towards the transformable factory of the future. The approach is based on Front End of Innovation methodologies, including “New Concept Development” (NCD), “Technology Push Manufacturing Technology” (TPMT) and “Modules and Skills Extraction” (MSE). The paper is focused on supporting the collaboration between research and industry and how to get a mutual understanding/common vocabulary for an emerging technology. Furthermore, the paper looks into the domain of mass customization, especially modularization and re-configurability, to realize a feasible system architecture. Finally, the methodologies presented are exemplified by an industrial case study, a full-scale AIMM demonstration in a real-world manufacturing environment.