A message from the ECHORD coordinator Alois Knoll

KANMAN - KAN ban integrated, magnetic orientated modular mobile MANipulator

The Kanban system is a widely used production control method for JIT (just-in-time) production. It is often compared to supermarkets, where customers take only what they need, and the stock is refilled automatically.

The KANMAN experiment will develop an application in which a robotic co-worker supports a Kanban production process by taking care of the flow of materials. While the Kanban process is controlled by crates containing the production materials, these crates will be transported by a mobile service robot platform with a manipulator. First of all, in order to be able to fulfil this task in a joint workspace with humans, the safety of the system needs to be guaranteed. Within the KANMAN experiment, several new concepts for a general solution will be developed, evaluated, and the most promising one will be implemented.

KANMAN contains a second research challenge: a magnetic approach for mobile navigation and manipulation. KANMAN will use the ambient magnetic field to localise itself – especially in environments with big open spaces and a constantly changing environment.