Intelligent Parts Recognition and Navigation using Robotic Arms (IPRN)**

零件生产是制造过程中必不可少的一道工序。必须识别原始机器部件，并将其安装到特定位置，以便进行切割、钻孔、打磨等。目前，这一过程主要是手工和劳动密集型的。由于北美的劳动力成本较高，零部件生产过程往往外包给加拿大以外更便宜的劳动力市场。Rational Robotics是一家总部位于埃德蒙顿的公司，专门开发机械臂。这项提议的目标是使用机器人操作并应用最先进的人机交互、计算机视觉、图像分析和模式识别技术，实现零部件生产过程的自动化。将部署摄像头来捕捉多个视图，而不是手动识别和检查部件。捕获的图像将被分析，以匹配部件数据库中的特定配置文件。挑战是用最少的观看次数实时识别独特的部分。我们将比较传统的基于视觉的算法和机器学习方法，最终设计出一种有效的方法来解决这一研究问题。拟议的任务将支持机器人自动化流水线：从一堆零件中挑选物品，查看和识别，并安装到正确的机器位置。加工完成后，将执行检查步骤。如果需要，可以使用恢复程序。通过将Engage成果嵌入到Rational Robotics已经开发的机械臂中，该公司不仅可以在零部件生产领域加速开拓新市场，还可以加速其他机器人应用领域的发展。不需要将劳动密集型工作外包到国外，加拿大可以在经济和技术上受益。

Parts production is a necessary process in manufacturing. The raw machine parts have to be identified and fitted into specific locations for cutting, drilling, grinding and so on. Currently, this process is mainly manual and labour intensive. Due to the high labour cost in North America, the parts production process is often out-sourced to cheaper labour markets outside Canada. Rational Robotics is an Edmonton based company, which specializes in developing robotic arms. The goal of this proposal is to automate the parts production process, using robotic operation and applying state-of-the-art human-computer interaction, computer vision, image analysis and pattern recognition techniques. Instead of identifying and inspecting parts manually, cameras will be deployed to capture multiple views. The captured images will be analyzed to match specific profiles in a parts database. The challenge is to recognize a unique part using minimum number of views in real-time. We will compare traditional vision-based algorithms with machine learning methods, and finally design an efficient approach to address this research problem. The proposed tasks will support a robotic automation pipeline: picking up an item from a pile of parts, viewing and recognizing, and fitting into the correct machine position. When the machining is done, an inspection step will be performed. A recovery procedure is available if needed. By embedding the ENGAGE outcome into Rational Robotics' already developed robotic arms, the company can accelerate a new market not only in parts production, but also other robotic applications. Without the need to out-source labour intensive jobs outside the country, Canada can benefit economically and technologically.