Course syllabus

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Course PM VT22

MPR213 Robotics and manufacturing automation lp4 VT22 (7.5 hp)

Course is offered by the department of Industrial and Materials Science

Contact details

Course Examiner:  Henrik Kihlman, phone: 0731558102, henrik.kihlman@chalmers.se

Robot Laboratory: Per Nyqvist, phone: 7723597, per.nyqvist@chalmers.se

Content

Industrial robots become better, faster and cheaper and they can do much more than hard labour like spot welding which they traditionally are used for. They can take on more “human” capabilities and traits such as sensing, dexterity, memory and trainability. This explains why they can take on more jobs, such as refined picking and packaging, testing, inspecting products or assembling of minute electronics. Also, a new generation of collaborative robots enables the robots to leave their cages and literally work hand-in-hand with human workers who train them through physical demonstration.

This course will introduce the science of industrial robotics, starting from a basic level, but also give examples on ongoing research in the area. Furthermore, company visits and guest lecturers will share examples on the challenges to deploy and use robots in industry. Lab exercises will serve as practical training how to work with and prepare the physical robots for their missions. One of the sciences used to control and analyse robots is the theory of kinematics and this will be covered in lectures as well as lab exercises.

The course consists of six parts:

  • Robot theory divided into five parts
    • Introduction to industrial robots
    • Introduction to Virtual Production
    • Robot simulation and programming
    • Robot applications
    • Sensor-integrated robotics
    • Fixtures 
  • Problem solving with lectures and exercises on robot kinematics,
  • Practical laboratory work, offline programming, simulation and online verification.
  • Quizzes to be submitted 28/5
  • Writing a report, to be submitted 28/5
  • Written exam on theory

Schedule

TimeEdit (Links to an external site.)

Study plan (Links to an external site.)

Examination form

Written examination and lab exercises. The grades on exam are: fail, 3, 4 and 5.

The written examination consists of totally 60 points. The exam questions will be based on all lectures and literature found on this portal. There will be questions based on the theoretical parts, guest lectures and kinematics calculations.

Grades 30-39p = 3                40-49p = 4      50-60p = 5

Lab 5.1, Lab 5.2 and Lab 5.6 are mandatory for the course

Exame is May 30 2022 08.30 Johanneberg 4 hours. Last day for sign-up 11 May 2022. 

Assignment

In this assignment you will make your own conclusion on how programming of robots will change from todays methods to using AI. Start from the paper ”1.4 IFR_Artificial_Intelligence_in_Robotics_Position_Paper_V02.pdf” and from there derive your own conclusions based on the learnings and experiences from this course. Use the definitions of abstraction levels of programming defined by Processor Bolmsjö. Backup your statements from the referenced literature from the paper and from learnings in the course. Make your own conclusions. The research question explicit: “How will AI influence the programming methodology of industrial robots by 2032?”

The report is mandatory and must be approved to fulfill the requirement of the course.

The assignment will have to be 2 pages long.. No hand-written reports. Font size 12 Arial. The final report is handed in on Canvas as a pdf document with deadline 2022-05-28.

Quizzes

Several lecture topics will have a corresponding Quiz connected to it. Quiz question may be on topics explained verbally and not in the lecture slides. Each Quiz is released just after the corresponding lecture. It will have 3 alternative answers to select, where only one alternative is correct. You must have full score on all Quizzes to be approved in the course. Deadline for all Quizzes are 2022-05-28.

Learning objectives

After completion of this course, the student should be able to:

L1

Understand the architecture of a standard industrial robot and to explain the advantages and disadvantages to other more unconventional robot architectures.

L2

Categorize the abstraction levels of programming robots

L3

Demonstrate the use of 3D-simulation tools for industrial robots and explain and apply the method to do offline programming of robots.

L4

Summarize and compare different sensor usage to improve the performance of industrial robotics in more advanced automation processes.

L5

Interpret and solve kinematic equations to explain how a robot controller calculates robot movements.

L6

Understand the concept of path planning in order to populate collision free robot trajectories in order to shorten lead-time in industrial automation projects.

L7

Formulate the challenges and advantages in using simulation and offline programming systems and compare the differences using OLP systems at SME and OEM companies.

L8

Summarize and justify the use of flexible fixtures compared to today’s dedicated fixtures.

L9

Summarize the key activities to successfully implement robot projects in industry.

L10

Explain the potential and challenges in using human collaborative robots.

L11

Understand and explain the science of parallel kinematic robots.

L12

Understand the basics of Collaborative Robotics and Identify key differences between Industrial Robots and Collaborative Robots

L13

Demonstrate basic programming skills with Cobots

L14

Identify and analyze important aspects of human-robot collaboration

These learning objective points will be derived into the course schedule matrix further in this PM.

Some questions (Q) to be answered during lectures. The questions should be found in the schedule:

Q1

What will this course cover, how is it structured and how will you be examined?

Q2

What is the history of robotics and what is an industrial robot?

Q3

What will the labs be about and how are they organized?

Q4

What is the state-of-the art in robot programming and offline programming?

Q5

How does a Virtual Robotic process work and what are the abstraction levels of programming?

Q6

What are the most common robot applications today?

What are the most common collaborative robot applications and how will the collaborative robotics look like in future?

Q7

What are the limitations in industrial robots today and how can they be improved?

Q8

What external sensors are used with robotics and how can they be used to improve the robots performance?

Q9

What is the homogeneous transformation matrix?

Q10

How can Virtual Robotics benefit from flexible fixtures?

Q11

How can Fixture Design Configurators improve productivity?

Q12

What is automatic path planning and how does it work using IPS?

Q13

How will this course utilize IPS?

Q14

How do path planning algorithms work in theory?

Q15

How does kinematics work in a robot, which is positioned statically?

Q16

How can the Jacobian matrix be used to describe the motion of a robot?

Q17

How are metrology arms and trackers used to calibrate robot cells?

Q18

How metrology arms are used to calibrate robot TCP for robot tools?

Q19

How can the surrounding equipment be calibrated using laser scanners to generate a complete simulation environment?

Q20

How is the role of Robotic Simulation changed in the scope of a corporate “Digital Twin” of the entire manufacturing process?

Q21

How does Volvo Cars apply Virtual Robotics in their processes and what is VOLP?

Q22

What is industry 4.0, smart factories, digitalization from a production perspective?

Q23

How can cameras be used to generate 3D data?

Q24

What is parallel kinematics?

Q25

How does kinematics work for parallel kinematic devices?

Q26

How can kinematics of robots be designed using a 3D virtual simulation software systems?

Q27

How can the 3D Simulation System DELMIA be used to create robot kinematics?

Q28

What are the key factors to succeed in implementing industrial robots?

Q29

Which are the major cost drivers in implementing industrial robots?

Q30

What are the biggest challenges at Dassault Systemés in robotics the next 10 years?

Q31

What is the advantages and risks of using collaborative robots?

Course Schedule

Week

Day
Room 

Date

Time

Lecturer

Content                                  

Literature

Learning Objectives

Research Questions

W12

Tue
EC

22/3

13-15

Henrik Kihlman

Course Introduction,
Robot Theory

1.1ch1, 1.1ch2
1.2, 1.1ch3

L1

Q1, Q2

 

Tue
EC

22/3

15-17

Henrik Kihlman

Robot Theory

 

 

 

Thu
EC

24/3

13-15

Per Nyqvist

Lab Exercises &
course administration

 

 

 Q3

 

Thu
EC

24/3

15-17

Per Nyqvist

Object Location

4.2, 4.10

L5

Q9

 

Fri
PSL

25/3

13-17

Per Nyqvist

Lab Session: IBM 

Priority Group 1-4

 

 

 

W13

Mon
PSL

28/3

13-17

Per Nyqvist

Lab Session: IBM 

Priority Group 5-8

 

 

 

 

Tue
EC

29/3

13-15

Henrik Kihlman

Robot Theory

 

 

 

 

Tue
EC

29/3

15-17

Per Nyqvist

Manipulator Position

 4.5, 4.10

L5

Q15

 

Wed
PSL

30/3

13-17

Per Nyqvist

Lab Session: IBM 

Priority Group 9-12

 

 

 

 

Thu
EB

31/3

13-15

Per Nyqvist

Manipulator Motion

4.8, 4.10

L5

Q16

 

Thu
EB

31/3

15-17

Per Nyqvist

Manipulator Motion cont.

Kinematic Repetition

4.8, 4.10

L5

Q16

 

Fri
PSL

1/4

13-17

Per Nyqvist

Lab Session: IBM 

Priority Group 13-15

 

 

 

 W14

Mon
PSL

4/4

13-17

 Per Nyqvist

Lab Session: ABB

Priority Group 1-3

 

Tue
EC

5/4

13-17

 CHARM Lecture cancelled

Wed
PSL

6/4

13-17

CHARM

Lab cancelled

 

 

 

 

Thu
EC

7/4

13-17

Henrik Kihlman

Robot Theory

1.1ch4, 1.1ch7
1.3

2.5

L8

Q6, Q7, Q8

 

Fri
PSL

8/4

13-17

Per Nyqvist

Lab Session: ABB

Priority Group 4-6

 

 

 

W16

Thu
PSL

21/4

13-17

Per Nyqvist

Lab Session: ABB

Priority Group 7-9

 

 

 

Fri
PSL

22/4

13-17

Per Nyqvist

Lab Session: ABB

Priority Group 10-12 

 

 

 
W17

Mon
PSL

25/4

13-17

Per Nyqvist

Lab Session: ABB

Priority Group 13-15

 

 

 

Tue
PSL

26/4

13-15

Henrik Stranne
Peter Petersson
Per Nyqvist

Shop Floor Toolkit demo together with Hexagon

2.2, 2.3, 3.1-3.5

L4

Q17, Q18, Q19

Wed
PSL

27/4

13-17

Per Nyqvist

Lab Session

Extra opportunity

 

 

 

 

Thu
EC

28/4

13-15

Johan Nordling
Siemens

Henrik Carlsson
Volvo Cars

Enterprise Robotics

2.1, 2.2

L3, L7

Q20, Q21

 

Thu
EC

28/4

15-17

 Per Nyqvist Parallel Kinematics L11 Q24, Q25, Q27

 

Fri
Per's Virtual Classroom

29/4

13-17

Per Nyqvist

Kinematic Training

 

 

 

W18

Mon
Per's Virtual Classroom

2/5

13-17

Per Nyqvist

Kinematic Training

 

 

 

Tue
EC

3/5

13-15

Robert Bohlin
FCC Chalmers

Path Planning SW

Advanced Simulation

2.4

L6

Q12, Q13, Q14

 

Tue
EC

3/5

15-17

Jonas Lindgarde

IFM Electronic

Industry 4.0

Internet of things

 

L4

Q22, Q23

 

Wed
PSL

4/5

13-17

Per Nyqvist

Lab Session: PathPlanner

Priority Group 1-4

 

 

 

 

Thu

5/5

13-17

No lecture

Self studies

 

 

 

 

Fri
PSL

6/5

13-17

Per Nyqvist

Lab Session: PathPlanner

Priority Group 5-8

 

 

 

W19

Mon
PSL

9/5

13-17

Per Nyqvist

Lab Session: PathPlanner

Priority Group 9-12

 

 

 

Tue
EC

 10/5

13-15

Bertil Thorvaldsson
ABB Robotics

Robot research at ABB
(Compulsory) 

 

 

 

 

Tue

10/5

15-17

 No lecture

Self studies

 

 

 

 

Wed
PSL

11/5

13-17

Per Nyqvist

Lab Session: PathPlanner

Priority Group 13-15

 

 

 

 

Thu

PSL

12/5

 13-17 Per Nyqvist

Lab Session

Extra opportunity

 

 

 

 

Fri
PSL

13/5

13-17

Per Nyqvist

Lab Session

Extra opportunity

 

 

 

W20

Mon

Torslanda

Bus departure will be from Chalmers Library at Chalmers Tvärgata (close to Gibraltargatan)

16/5

12.30-17.00

 Factory visit
Volvo Cars

Remember to wear (or bring) long trousers.

Register yourself for bus transport in one of the groups:

- Factory visit Volvo Cars - Bus from Chalmers 12.30

- Factory visit Volvo Cars - Bus from Chalmers 14.30

(Compulsory) 

 

 

 

 

Tue
ZOOM

17/5

13-15

Robin Lindor, Yaskawa

System integration of Motoman robots
(Compulsory) 

 

 

 

 

Tue
ZOOM

17/5

15-16

Magnus Johansson

Body-in-white at Volvo Trucks
(Compulsory) 

 

 

 

Tue
ZOOM

17/5

16-17

Henrik Kihlman

Demonstrating 3DExperience for Robotics
(Compulsory) 

 

 

 

 

Wed
PSL

18/5

13-17

Henrik Kihlman

Lab Group 1-5
3DExperience lab

 

 

 

 

Thu
PSL

19/5

13-17

Henrik Kihlman

Lab Group 6-10
3DExperience lab

 

 

Fri

SII-Lab

Lindholmen

20/5

13-15

Omkar Salunkhe

Collaborative robots

5.7

L13, L14

Q31

 

Fri

SII-Lab

Lindholmen

20/5

15-17

Omkar Salunkhe

Collaborative Robots (lab)

(Compulsory) 

 

L10, L12, 

Q31

W21

Mon

SII-Lab

Lindholmen

23/5

13-17

 Omkar Salunkhe

Collaborative Robots (lab)

(Compulsory) 

 

L10, L12, 

Q31

Tue
EC

24/5

 13-15

Per Nyqvist

Kinematic Training

 

L5, L11

 

Tue
PSL

24/5

 15-17

Henrik Kihlman

Repetition Summary

 

 L1-L9
Wed 25/5

13-17

Henrik Kihlman

Lab Group 11-15
3DExperience lab

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Course summary:

Date Details Due