US Ignite: Collaborative Research: Track 1: Industrial Cloud Robotics across Software Defined Networks

目前，工业机器人在重复性和大批量的任务（如焊接和喷漆）中具有成本效益，但在小批量、混合零件生产中则不适用。非结构化工业应用对机器人零件处理的需求是多种多样的。在制成品配送中心，操作员会看到多个箱子，需要一个人来处理一系列必须装箱和运输的零件。在回收和回收工业中，人类在传送带上对混合产品的废物流进行分类。制造中的装配和装配操作被称为？机器人的机会?但是它们需要在同一个工作单元中处理多种部件类型的解决方案。该项目将研究和整合技术，使工业机器人能够用于小批量混合零件生产任务。提出的解决方案将包括3D图像传感器和高速灵活网络、云计算和工业机器人。包括尖端的新软件，如机器人操作系统工业（ROS-I）和云计算平台为本科生和研究生提供了极好的教育机会。在这个项目中开发的软件将被广泛分发，使其他团队能够进一步创新。该项目的目标是开发利用高性能计算和高速软件定义网络（SDN）的云机器人应用程序。具体来说，目标应用将传感器数据的大数据分析（从工厂车间收集的类型）与工业机器人的控制相结合，以完成小批量、混合部件的生产任务。位于相对于工业机器人操作的工厂车间的远程设施的云计算机可用于计算密集型应用，例如从3D传感器数据中识别物体，并掌握机器人执行物体操作的计划。项目方法将包括(i)集成ROS-I组件并根据需要开发新软件，以将3D传感器数据传输到远程计算机，运行目标识别和掌握规划应用程序，并将机器人指令返回到原始站点，（ii）在地理分布的计算云上运行该软件，（iii）收集测量数据并增强软件以满足实时延迟要求。技术上的挑战在于满足这些严格的实时要求。例如，需要具有连接任意工厂车间和数据中心的灵活性的高速网络，以便将3D传感器数据快速传输到远程云计算机，并传递计算机器人指令（因此，SDN）。

Currently, industrial robots are cost-effective for repetitive and high-volume tasks such as welding and painting, but not for lower-volume, mixed-part production. The need for robotic part handling for unstructured industrial applications is diverse. In manufactured-goods distribution centers, where multiple bins are presented to an operator, a human is required to handle a range of parts that must be boxed and shipped. In the reclamation and recycling industry, humans sort waste streams of mixed products on conveyor belts. Assembly and kitting operations in manufacturing are termed ?robotic opportunities? but they require a solution for handling many part types in the same work-cell. This project will research and integrate technologies to enable the use of industrial robots for low-volume mixed-part production tasks. The proposed solution will include 3D image sensors and high-speed flexible networking, cloud computing, and industrial robots. The inclusion of cutting-edge new software such as the Robot-Operating System Industrial (ROS-I) and Cloud Computing platforms offer excellent educational opportunities for both undergraduate and graduate students. The software developed in this project will be widely distributed to enable further innovations by other teams.The project objective is to develop cloud robotics applications that leverage high-performance computing and high-speed software-defined networks (SDN). Specifically, the target applications combine big-data analytics of sensor data (of the type collected from factory floors) with the control of industrial robots for low-volume, mixed-part production tasks. Cloud computers located at a remote facility relative to the factory floor on which industrial robots operate can be used for compute-intensive applications such as object identification from 3D sensor data, and grasp planning for the robots to perform object manipulation. The project methods will consist of (i) integrating ROS-I components and developing new software as required to transmit the 3D sensor data to remote computers, running the object identification and grasp planning applications, and returning robot instructions to the original site, (ii) running this software on geographically distributed compute clouds, (iii) collecting measurements and enhancing the software to meet real-time delay requirements. The technical challenge lies in meeting these stringent real-time requirements. For example, high-speed networks with the flexibility to connect arbitrary factory floors and datacenters are needed to transfer the 3D sensor data quickly to the remote cloud computers and to deliver the computed robot instructions(hence, SDN).