Related Projects

SOcial Cognitive Robotic Agents in The European Society

SOCRATES addresses research in social robotics and focuses on Interaction Quality. Fraunhofer IPA will develop variants of the robotic home assistant Care-O-bot 4 allowing to adapt the robot hardware to individual user requirements. The second focus is on activity recognition which can be used by the robot to offer services as needed.

Attention-sensitive assistance robot

Goal of the project is the development of new skills for assistant robots so as to enable them to gauge the attentiveness of their counterparts and if necessary, influence and direct their behavior. The project is implemented using the assistant robot Care-O-Bot 4 on the basis of two practical application scenarios.

Robust perception to interactively support elderly users with handling tasks in domestic environments

The research project will further develop the skills of service robots such that everyday handling tasks can be carried out safely and interactively. The developed functions are to be used on the robot assistant Care-O-Bot 4 in the application context of bite-sized provision of food.

Modular system for cost-efficient cleaning robots

In the BakeR project service robot technologies for cleaning robots will be further developed to drive them towards market readiness. The aim is to build a modular cleaning robot with a mobile platform that detects the cleaning modules automatically and adapts its functionality to them.

Service Robotics providing support for personal services

The intelligent use of service robotics in elderly care facilities or hospitals can relieve nursing staff from daily routine and physically exhausting tasks and reduce walking distances. In particular, three scenarios shall be realized: an intelligent care cart that navigates autonomously to the usage site and documents automatically the use of care utensils, a multifunctional person lifter with assistive functions as well as a service assistant, which provides drinks and snacks to inhabitants and patients. A first implementation of the care cart is based on the Care-O-bot®-4-platform.

The Productive Robot Apprentice

The goal of this project is to develop a mobile two-arm assistance system for automation of manual production processes in a manufacturing environment. The PRACE concept basically relies on robot learning by demonstration. The project demonstrator is based on the rob@work 3 platform.

The ACCOMPANY system consists of a robotic companion as part of an intelligent environment, providing services to elderly users in a motivating and socially acceptable manner to facilitate independent living at home. Care-O-bot 3 is used as application platform. User studies are included to advance further development of the robot in line with user requirements.

The goal of the project is to provide european industry with new leading-edge innovation that will enable the production of advanced robust and safe cognitive, reasoning autonomous and co-operative robotic systems at reduced cost. Fraunhofer IPA focusses on the development of key technologies for assistance systems, specifically Care-O-bot 3. Technologies and components like for example robust perception and collision free manipulation are developed.

Plug and Play for Automation Systems

Target of the AutoPnP project is the development of a standardized software architecture allowing dynamic integration of different hardware and software components. This infrastructure should enhance the simple and efficient programming and adaptation of complex systems in dynamic application fields. Care-O-bot 3 applied to an office cleaning scenario is one of the demonstrators.

Multi-Role Shadow Robotic System for Independent Living

The SRS project focuses on the development and prototyping of a remotely-controlled, semi-autonomous service robot to support elderly people in domestic environments. The implementation is based on Care-O-bot 3. By remote controlling the robot, the users, e.g. the children or relatives of an elderly person, can provide active support, for example with fetch and carry tasks.

Interactive Mobile Manipulators for Advanced Industrial Diagnostics

The main goal of InterAID was to demonstrate the feasibility of applying mobile robots with manipulation capabilities to advanced diagnosis and quality control in industrial environments. The application environment was the reliability lab of a white goods factory producing washing machines. The mobile robot was equipped with an arm and a gripper as well as several 3D sensors for observing the environment and had to solve different tasks. The task of Fraunhofer IPA was the development of suitable algorithms for 3D environment perception and collision-free arm motion.

Best Practice in Robotics

was a European Union funded research project, which aimed on formalizing and structuring the robot development process itself. One goal was to provide tools, models and libraries that simplify the development process significantly. Care-O-bot 3 is one of the robot platforms used within BRICS to perform experiments regarding the evaluation of the developed toolchain.

Förderung des Wissenstransfers für eine aktive Mitgestaltung des Pflegesektors durch Mikrosystemtechnik

The WiMi-Care project aimed on fostering the transfer of robotics technologies into the elderly care sector. Two application scenarios were implemented on Care-O-bot 3: providing drinks of water for the residents and use of the robot as an entertainment platform.

Deutsche Servicerobotik Initiative

was a BMBF(Federal Ministry of Education and Research) funded research initiative with a strong focus on systems integration and software-architecture. In this broad scale project 13 partners from universities, diverse research institutes and industry were integrating software on a shared experimental platform. Care-O-bot 3 has inherited several of its system components, e.g. the omnidirectional drive system, from the DESIRE experimental setup.

The Cognitive Robot Companion

was funded by the European Union as part of their “Beyond Robotics” work program. The focus of COGNIRON was the study of the perceptual, representational, reasoning and learning capabilities of embodied robots. At Fraunhofer IPA Care-O-bot 3 was used for the real-life evaluation of the developed algorithms.