Established in 1996, the IRAS – Intelligent and Autonomous Robot Systems Group  of Istituto di Tecnologie Industriali ed Automazione is a leading research group active in the field of Industrial and Medical robotics with a specific focus: Intuitive Programming and Intelligent sensors (3D Laser Scanning Systems) , Robot-Environment Interaction (control algorithms and control architecture), Safe Physical Human-Robot Interaction (cooperation and workspace sharing), Parallel Kinematic Machines (Methodologies for the kinetostatic analysis and optimization of PKMs). IRAS, as a promoter of industrial innovation, performs strategic activities of Scientific Research and Technological Development for the Competitiveness and Sustainability of Italian and European Manufacturing Industries. IRAS acts in tight collaboration with Enterprises, Universities, Research Centres and Institutions within National, European and International Programmes, Projects and Industrial Contracts. Facilities within the laboratory include a COMAU NS16 arm and Shunk hand, Mitsubishi PA10, Kuka LWR, BTS and Vicon trackers, 3D laser scanning systems, several haptic interfaces (forces and tactile).

What motivates us

The ECHORD experiment support the Industrial Innovation and Technology Transfer helping in bridging the gap between research and innovation. There are multiple manufacturing processes where robots play (or might play) an important role. It is well known their use in welding, deburring and other un-safe or risky operations. Despite the intrinsic usefulness of robot manipulators of anthropomorphic type, normal utilization does not reach beyond reiteration of pre-programmed trajectories. While static robot programs may be sufficient for high volume manufacturers, they are not adequate in one-off or small-batch manufacturing. The result is that industrial robots are hardly ever used for small- batch and one-off manufacturing. The objective of our EasyPro experiment is to facilitate robot programming by combining hand guided end-effector rough movement planning and 3D visual servoing based accurate trajectory following.