Development of an AI-based system for the automated determination of optimal trajectories for handling robots – Subproject: Development of innovative AI-based software for intelligent trajectory planning

One of the greatest challenges in the use of industrial articulated arm robots for material handling is the determination and implementation of an optimal trajectory.

The challenge is to plan a collision-free trajectory – while complying with the permissible speeds and accelerations – and to realize this trajectory through the coordinated interaction of the robot drives and joints. Currently, this is done either through considerable manual programming effort or through primitive algorithms that take over some of this work, but without taking into account relevant aspects such as cycle time, energy consumption, robot wear, and environmental conditions.

In order to automatically determine the optimal trajectory of handling robots, the “AutoMover” research project aims to develop a novel AI-based software in combination with modern camera technology and sensorics. This will reduce cycle times, energy consumption, and robot wear to a minimum, eliminate the programming effort for the robot operator, and enable dynamic trajectory adjustment.