Robot Programming Environment Research Articles

The Use of Virtual Twins in the Robotic Yoghurt Mixing Process

This paper presents the results of computer simulations related to the selection and optimisation of parameters for a robotic yoghurt mixing process. The authors proposed a station configuration using the RobotStudio environment for off-line robot programming and virtual controller technology and determined the performance of the robotised production line. The main component of the study was a computer simulation of the station based on the Picking PowerPac package and Pick Master 3 program. As a result of the simulations, numerical values were obtained informing about the number of handled and rejected products, filled containers and the times of production cycles of the station.

Software analysis for mobile robots control programs

The use of the software allows the mobile robot to control the working parameters: turn on and off the mechanisms and devices, monitor the indicators of the sensors, perform various technological operations (cutting, welding, painting, etc.), calculate the trajectory of movement depending on the working surface, etc. Research in the field of robotics testifies to the high activity of scientific works on the creation of high-precision and energy-efficient robotic systems in general for autonomous mobile robots by improving control programs. The work is devoted to the review and analysis of the software for creating control programs for mobile robots. The work presents a generalized structural diagram of a hierarchical mobile robot control system, in which decentralized software processing of information takes place, and separate software and hardware components are remote from each other. When building a mobile robot control system, various robot programming environments are considered, which represent a wide range of tools for creating various models and systems. Moreover, the issues of using graphic and text software environments with high-level programming languages are considered. Development environments are considered among the software complexes: LabView; NXT-G; Robolab; EV3-G; MRDS; Scratch; 12Blocks; Simulink; ROBO Pro; Arduino Studio and TRIK Studio. The following are considered the most common programming languages at work: C++, Python, Pascal, JAVA and Scratch. All software is analyzed according to the following criteria: mathematical expressions, computational model, interpretation, stand-alone use, code generation, modeling, debugging, tutorials, free, platforms, designers, license and development prospects. Among the software, EV3 and Arduino text tools stand out for their capabilities, and Simulink and LabView among graphic tools, as these software tools have proven themselves to be powerful development environments with fairly universal approaches to creating programs in mobile robotics.

Training industrial end‐user programmers with interactive tutorials

AbstractNewly released robot programming tools have made it feasible for end‐users to program industrial robots by combining block‐based languages and lead‐through programming. To use these systems effectively, end‐users, who usually have limited or no programming experience, require training. To train users, tutoring systems are often used for block‐based programming—some even for lead‐through programming—but no tutorial system combines these two types of programming. We present CoBlox Interactive Tutorials (CITs), a novel tutoring approach that teaches how to use both the hardware and software components that comprise a typical end‐user robot programming environment. As users switch between the two programming styles, CITs provide them with extensive scaffolding, give users immediate feedback on missteps, and provide guidance on next steps. To evaluate CITs, we conducted a study with 79 industrial end‐users using a programming environment released by ABB Robotics that compares our approach to training with training videos, the most commonly used training in industry. This study, one of the largest to date on training professional end‐users, found that CIT‐trained users authored more correct programs in less time than video‐trained users. This shows that a tight integration of hardware and software concepts is crucial to training end‐users to program industrial robots.

Stem Robotics in Primary School

Robotics has a significant role in modern life. Complex programmable devices are used in high-tech manufactures as well as in many households. More and more people encounter the need to control and program robotic devices. For this reason, STEM education aims to develop such digital competencies in modern students. This article represents the results from a questionnaire held for students from the primary school stage who participate in a STEM education in robotics and assess the activities positively. We suggest three variants of tasks with solutions suitable for the students and for the working process with the robot Edison and programming environment of EdBlocks.

Utilization of OLP method in the analysis of a robotic 3d scanning process

In the paper the assessment of the feasibility of using a selected off-line robot programming environment in the design process of a robotic 3D scanning process was presented. First of all, basic information about modern industrial robots implementations were outlined. Secondly, a developed virtual model of an analyzed robotic cell was described. Moreover, analyses on selected aspects of the considered issue were discussed. The study has confirmed that utilization of OLP method is very useful and needed for improvement of robotic production processes.

Crowdsourced Evaluation of Robot Programming Environments: Methodology and Application

Industrial robot programming tools increasingly rely on graphical interfaces, which aim at rendering the programming task more accessible to a wide variety of users. The usability of such tools is currently being evaluated in controlled environments, such as laboratories or companies, in which a group of participants is asked to carry out several tasks using the tool and then fill out a standardized questionnaire. In this context, this paper proposes and evaluates an alternative evaluation methodology, which leverages online crowdsourcing platforms to produce the same results as face-to-face evaluations. We applied the proposed framework in the evaluation of a web-based industrial robot programming tool called Assembly. Our results suggest that crowdsourcing facilitates a cost-effective, result-oriented, and reusable methodology for performing user studies anonymously and online.

Rosy: An elegant language to teach the pure reactive nature of robot programming

Robotics is very appealing and is long recognized as a great way to teach programming, while drawing inspiring connections to other branches of engineering and science such as maths, physics or electronics. Although this symbiotic relationship between robotics and programming is perceived as largely beneficial, educational approaches often feel the need to hide the underlying complexity of the robotic system, but as a result fail to transmit the reactive essence of robot programming to the roboticists and programmers of the future. This paper presents Rosy, a novel language for teaching novice programmers through robotics. Its functional style is both familiar with a high-school algebra background and a materialization of the inherent reactive nature of robotic programming. Working at a higher-level of abstraction also teaches valuable design principles of decomposition of robotics software into collections of interacting controllers. Despite its simplicity, Rosy is completely valid Haskell code compatible with the ROS~ecosystem. We make a convincing case for our language by demonstrating how non-trivial applications can be expressed with ease and clarity, exposing its sound functional programming foundations, and developing a web-enabled robot programming environment.

Leveraging Graphical User Interface Automation for Generic Robot Programming

A novel approach to generic (or generalized) robot programming and a novel simplified, block-based programming environment, called “Assembly”, are introduced. The approach leverages the newest graphical user interface automation tools and techniques to generate programs in various proprietary robot programming environments by emulating user interactions in those environments. The “Assembly” tool is used to generate robot-independent intermediary program models, which are translated into robot-specific programs using a graphical user interface automation toolchain. The generalizability of the approach to list, tree, and block-based programming is assessed using three different robot programming environments, two of which are proprietary. The results of this evaluation suggest that the proposed approach is feasible for an entire range of programming models and thus enables the generation of programs in various proprietary robot programming environments. In educational settings, the automated generation of programs fosters learning different robot programming models by example. For experts, the proposed approach provides a means for generating program (or task) templates, which can be adjusted to the needs of the application at hand on the shop floor.

Web Environment for Programming and Control of a Mobile Robot in a Remote Laboratory

Remote robotics laboratories have been successfully used for engineering education. However, few of them use mobile robots to to teach computer science. This article describes a mobile robot Control and Programming Environment (CPE) and its pedagogical applications. The system comprises a remote laboratory for robotics, an online programming tool, and a virtual learning environment. It allows experiments with a mobile robot to be carried out, tested and validated remotely, using a simple graphic interface via web browser, without additional software installation on the user's computer. Students can control and manipulate the robot with simple commands without worrying about hardware details or use C/C++ programming language to develop complex programs. The robot has been built with inexpensive components and has sensors that enable its use in several experiments. CPE can be used in contextualized teaching in various subjects of computer science, both in class and at distance. A practical application of the whole system using CPE, introducing programming concepts, is also described in this paper. The initial assessment of the environment as an educational tool shows high levels of interest among our students, an improvement in their academic scores, and potential for application in the context of computing education, when properly introduced as a learning tool.

Information tools for teaching the basics of programming in high school

The article focuses on the problem of finding methodological approaches to the use of information programming tools in the course of computer science high school. The definition of information tools for teaching as electronic means of storage, processing and transfer of educational information through computers is set out. The authors, based on the analysis of four existing training programs in computer science 5-9 classes, identified the topics for studying students of the middle classes of programming: "Algorithms and Programs", "Algorithms and their Implementers", "Algorithmization and Programming", "Fundamentals of algorithmization and programming". It is revealed that the computer science curriculum for grades 8-9 for general education institutions with in-depth study of individual subjects does not include any programming topics. The analysis of methodological recommendations on informatics teaching in 2016-2018 academic years allowed to determine the competency tasks that students should learn to solve when they study computer science in high school, for example, to develop and run a linear geometric figure drawing algorithm, to recreate the motion of a computer ' object on the plane, including the interception of obstacles, create a simple computer game using variables, analyze the results of the implementation of programs for processing values of numeric type, create a software project and more. The authors analyze the possibilities of such information learning tools as online gaming platforms, Internet resources, online programming learning environments, graphical programming environments, interactive learning environments, and application development environments. The methodical approaches to the use of informational learning tools in the course of computer science high school: the implementation of online online exercises to learn theoretical concepts, solving problems from the basics of algorithmization and programming in the online environment, teaching the stages of creating a program project through the study of online courses, the implementation of tasks for training programming in the online learning environment; learning in action with a graphical programming environment for robots; development of a software project in the programming environment.

A Monte Carlo Localization Assignment Using a Neato Vacuum with ROS

Monte Carlo Localization (MCL) is a sampling-based algorithm for mobile robot localization. In this paper we describe an MCL assignment and its required hardware and software. The Neato vacuum robot and a Raspberry Pi serve as the core of the robot model. The Robot Operating System (ROS) is used as the robot programming environment. Students are expected to learn the localization problem, implement the MCL algorithm, and better understand the kidnapped robot problem and the limitations of MCL by observing the performance of the algorithm in real-time application.

Development and evaluation of a virtual training environment for on-line robot programming

The paper reports on the development and evaluation of a virtual reality system to support training in on-line programming of industrial robots. The system was evaluated by running training experiments with three groups of engineering students in the real, virtual and virtual augmented robot conditions. Results suggest that, the group with prior training in the virtual reality system augmented with cognitive/perceptual aids clearly outperformed the group that executed the tasks in the real robot only. The group trained in the non-augmented virtual reality system did not demonstrate the same results. It is concluded that the cognitive/perceptual aids embedded in the augmented virtual reality system had a positive effect on all task performance metrics and on the consistency of results across participants on the real robot. Virtual training environments need not be designed as close as possible to the real ones. Specifically designed augmented cognitive/perceptual aids may foster skill development that can be transferred to the real task. The suggested training environment is simple and cost effective in training of novices in an entry level task.

MODEBOTS: Environment for Programming Robots for Children Between the Ages of 4 and 6

Learning how to program in early age helps children to develop some capabilities as logical thinking, problem solving, and creativity. Incorporating robotics in programming children can help to learn in a concrete and funny way, collaborating with each other. The research project presented in this paper describes the first prototype that implements a programming environment for robots using mobile devices, for children in early childhood-4 to 6 years old. This prototype is fully functional and allows Bluetooth communication one by one. We expect that our research will contribute to human-computer interface field, providing a new nontraditional interface to support the learning process of programming in preschoolers.

The robot software framework ArmarX

Abstract With ArmarX we introduce a robot programming environment that has been developed in order to ease the realization of higher level capabilities needed by complex robotic systems such as humanoid robots. ArmarX is built upon the idea that consistent disclosure of the system state strongly facilitates the development process of distributed robot applications. We show the applicability of ArmarX by introducing a robot architecture for a humanoid system and discuss essential aspects based on an exemplary pick and place task. With several tools that are provided by the ArmarX framework, such as graphical user interfaces (GUI) or statechart editors, the programmer is enabled to efficiently build and inspect component based robotics software systems.

Design and Implementation of Modular Software for Programming Mobile Robots

This article describes a software development toolkit for programming mobile robots, that has been used on different platforms and for different robotic applications. We address design choices, implementation issues and results in the realization of our robot programming environment, that has been devised and built from many people since 1998. We believe that the proposed framework is extremely useful not only for experienced robotic software developers, but also for students approaching robotic research projects.

1A1-N-030 開発環境を統合したマルチロボットシステムアーキテクチャ : 協調動作を考慮したマルチロボットプログラミング環境(マルチエージェントロボットシステム,生活を支援するロボメカ技術のメガインテグレーション)

1A1-N-030 開発環境を統合したマルチロボットシステムアーキテクチャ : 協調動作を考慮したマルチロボットプログラミング環境(マルチエージェントロボットシステム,生活を支援するロボメカ技術のメガインテグレーション)

Leveraging on a virtual environment for robot programming by demonstration

The Programming by Demonstration paradigm promises to reduce the complexity of robot programming. Its aim is to let robot systems learn new behaviors from a human operator demonstration. In this paper, we argue that while providing demonstrations in the real environment enables teaching of general tasks, for tasks whose essential features are known a priori demonstrating in a virtual environment may improve efficiency and reduce trainer’s fatigue. We next describe a prototype system supporting Programming by Demonstration in a virtual environment and we report results obtained exploiting simple virtual tactile fixtures in pick-and-place tasks.

Vision guided flexible feeding made easy

Flexible feeding is an emerging alternative to traditional part feeding methods. This alternative greatly enhances the versatility of a manufacturing workcell by using a robot manipulator and sophisticated sensing devices such as machine vision, thereby significantly reducing both cost and set up time. This article explores the benefits of a new model in PC‐based robot control, which makes the development of flexible feeders and similar applications much easier than using traditional robot programming environments. It also explores how a programming paradigm based on a well‐defined model of the workcell greatly simplifies both the logic of the application and the calibration of the physical machine.

A knowledge-based task-level programming and execution environment for robots

A knowledge-based framework to support task-level programming and operational control of robots is described. Our bask intention is to enhance the intelligence of a robot control system so that it may carefully coordinate the interactions among discrete, asynchronous and concurrent events under the constraints of action precedence and resource allocation. We do this by integrating both off-line and on-line planning capabilities in a single framework. The off-line phase is equipped with proper languages for describing workbenches, specifying tasks, and soliciting knowledge from the user to support the execution of robot tasks. A static planner is included in the phase to conduct static planning, which develops local plans for various specific tasks. The on-line phase is designed as a dynamic control loop for the robot system. It employs a dynamic planner to tackle any contingent situations during the robot operations. It is responsible for developing proper working paths and motion plans to achieve the task goals within designated temporal and resource constraints. It is implemented in a distributed and cooperative blackboard system, which facilitates the integration of various types of knowledge. Finally, any failures from the on-line phase are fed back to the off-line phase. This forms the interaction between the off-line and on-line phases and introduces an extra closed loop opportunistically to tune the dynamic planner to adapt to the variation of the working environment in a long-term manner.

Vision-based robotics: a challenge to real world Artificial Intelligence

Vision is a key function not only for robotics but also for AI more generally. Today real-time visual processing is becoming possible; this means that vision based behavior can become more dynamic, opening fertile areas for applications. One aspect of this is real-time visual tracking. We have built a real-time tracking system and incorporated it in an integrated robot programming environment. Using this, we have performed experiments in vision based robot behavior and human-robot interactions. In particular, we have developed a robotic system capable of 'learning by seeing'. In general, it is important for the AI community not to lose sight of the problems and progress of robotics. After all, an AI system which acts in real-time in the real-world is no less (and no more) than an intelligent robot.