Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation
and Automation IFF
Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation
and Automation IFF

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Informational Material in Robotic Systems

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Tactile Sensor Systems

Novel tactile sensor systems are based on pressure sensors dispersed over a surface. They endow technical systems with the capability to detect contact and measure pressure distributions spatially resolved. This will make it possible to equip machines, assistance systems and robots in the manufacturing, medical and, in the future, even healthcare and household sectors with pressure sensitive surfaces and interface systems so that they are not only easier to operate but also interact safely with their environment. (03/2013)

Safe Manipulators for Human-Robot Interaction

Industrial robots normally consist of high-performance joints joined by rigid coupling elements into a complete manipulator. In principle, such structures harbor a high risk of injury for humans, the moment they are in a robot’s area of movement. The Fraunhofer IFF is developing, among other things, safe manipulators that entail a low or permissible risk of injury at the most. (05/2012)

Workplace Monitoring

Improving the compatibility of humans and machines or robots is being worked on intensively in order to boost efficiency in manufacturing. Flexible and dynamic production and work environments in which they work directly with one another are an important advance in this direction. The Fraunhofer IFF has developed a novel and innovative sensor system for workplace monitoring that relies on state-of-the-art projector and camera equipment. (05/2012)

Robots: Humans' Reliable Helpers

The Fraunhofer IFF’s Robotic Systems Business Unit is already developing tomorrow’s robots and their key components in contracted industry projects and publicly funded research projects. The range of robotic applications is no longer isolated to manufacturing. New robot systems are taking over inspection and cleaning tasks for humans in hazardous environments and working directly together with humans. Others share workplaces with humans in offices or households. (03/2011)

Safe Human-Robot Interaction

In addition to the classic application scenarios for robots in industrial settings, new fields of application are opening up for service robots and assistance systems in manufacturing, the service industry and the household sector. In the future, robots will, for instance, assist with small batch production and mobile robots will take over transport and routine tasks in the household and healthcare sectors. (03/2011)

Image Processing for Inspection Tasks

The Emschergenossenschaft and the Fraunhofer IFF have developed novel inspection equipment to map the condition of the future Emscher sewer system. The integration of systems and current findings from image processing research play an important role. (04/2010)

LiSA: Assistant Robot in Life Science Company Labs

Long banished behind steel barriers, robots are increasingly being implemented as service robots and assistance systems in direct proximity to humans. Fields of application have long ceased to be limited to industrial manufacturing. Applications in lab automation, medical technology and private households are making robots universally implementable systems. (03/2010)

Automated Sewer Inspection for a Clean Environment

The Emschergenossenschaft has been planning to modernize its existing above ground sewer system since 1990. In the future, subterranean sewers will drain off sewage so that clean water flows in the river Emscher again. One-pipe sewer inspection and cleaning and the resultant savings are only possible with special robotic systems. (04/2009)

Collision Analyses for Human-Robot Interaction

Humans and robots will be collaborating and interacting in shared work areas in the near future. Then, people will no longer be protected by barriers from injuries but rather by a wide variety of technologies such as sensor systems and safe manipulators. A measuring unit developed by the Fraunhofer IFF has made it possible to perform collision tests with human subjects for the first time ever. (03/2013)

Robot System for Additive Manufacturing of Large Parts

Model and mold making is affected by the great variety of products and options. Every modification of a product entails modifications of the mold and tool, which must be responded to quickly and cost effectively. Combining rapid prototyping systems with high-performance industrial robots is a new approach that eliminates existing restrictions. (04/2012)

Projection and Camera-based System for Optical Workplace Monitoring

The vision of humans and machines collaborating in a shared workplace will become reality in the near future. Novel technologies will monitor workspaces where protective barriers now separate humans and, for instance, robots, and reduce a robot’s speed or stop it when a human approaches, for instance. (03/2011)

Visual Position Sensing and Navigation for Mobile Robots

Continuous localization of mobile units and computer controlled navigation that builds upon this, e.g. automatic guided transport systems, have become a basic technology in automation and logistics.visual localization based on digital camera systems without the need for artificial landmarks provides significant potential to reduce the costs of such systems. (02/2010)

Workspace Monitoring and Dynamic Safe Area Planning

The utilization of different forms of intelligent and even mobile robots such as assistance systems is one response to demand for increasingly flexible production environments. The Fraunhofer IFF is developing new methods and technologies that safely detect objects such as people in a robot’s workspace. (02/2010)