ROBxTASK RTE - a lightweight runtime environment to implement collaborative processes across different robotic systems

Zörrer, Helmut; Propst, Matthias; Weichhart, Georg; Pichler, Andreas; Strohmeier, Felix; Schmoigl-Tonis, Mathias

doi:10.1016/j.ifacol.2022.10.109

Cited by 3 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…The platform currently supports only basic interoperability (messaging) to be used between agents for the ROBxTASK platform. Further improvements that support service discovery and mediation have been implemented in the RxRTE [19] but are currently not available using Google Blockly blocks to be used in the platform. In general additional RxRTE features added later, can also be registered on the platform to provide additional blocks for task programming.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…When the Robot Co-Worker presses the button "</> OPCUA", the flexible generator (https://github.com/ROBxTASK/codegen-service, accessed on 8 May 2023) generates Python code that supports our ROBxTASK RTE (RxRTE) developed within the project [19]. RxRTE also supports the use of different test environments during the execution of the workflow, e.g., to test workflows without hardware by using mock objects (skill calls are then only emulated by waiting, e.g., 2 s) or to simulate the workflow using a digital twin, and enables the monitoring of the distributed workflow using some additional tools (see Section 3.2.1).…”

Section: Robxtask Platformmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Finally, a monitoring application was developed in the project, that enables users to follow the message exchange between devices and see the execution of the skills. A sample ROBxTASK monitor [19] webview of the running UCI2 process of Figure 16 is depicted in Figure 17. Later both industrial use cases were also tested successfully by usage of the simulation system twin (https://www.digifai.com/twin, accessed on 8 May 2023) which was provided by our project partner Eberle Automatische Systeme GmbH & Co KG.…”

Section: Developing the Industrial Use Cases By Using Opc Uamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the project ROBxTASK, we have focused on the second approach [16][17][18][19]. In brief, in this project we support multiple user groups working together on the task of creating robotic programs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We currently only use simple messages for coordination in the scenario UCI2. The RxRTE has some additional choreographic features which can be used if tasks shall run as autonomous services [19], but at the time of writing these features are not implemented as Blockly blocks for the platform.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Enabling End-Users in Designing and Executing of Complex, Collaborative Robotic Processes

Zörrer,

Weichhart,

Schmoigl Tonis

et al. 2023

ASI

Self Cite

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Over the last years, capabilities of robotic systems have quantitatively and qualitatively improved. But going beyond isolated robotic systems, the integration and interoperability of robotic capabilities in complex work processes remains a major challenge. This lack of tools to integrate robots needs to be addressed on technical, semantic and organizational level. In the ROBxTASK research project, we developed an approach to support cooperation between different types of users in order to enable domain experts, with no robotic know-how, to work with robot-assisted workflows. By engineering robotic skills at a useful and usable level of abstraction for experts in different domains, we aim to increase re-usability of these skills on two different levels, (robotic) device level, and on level of application specific workflows. The researched prototype consists of a web platform, which allows (a) engineers to register (robotic) devices and the implemented skills of the devices, (b) domain experts to use a graphical task design environment to create workflows across multiple robotic devices and lastly (c) robot co-workers to download and execute the workflow code in a local environment with digital twins or real robots. Additionally skills and workflows can be shared across organisations. Initial user studies have shown that the visual programming environment is accessible and the defined skill-set is easy to understand even for domain experts that are inexperienced in the field of robotics.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Robxtask Platformmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Developing the Industrial Use Cases By Using Opc Uamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Enabling End-Users in Designing and Executing of Complex, Collaborative Robotic Processes

Zörrer,

Weichhart,

Schmoigl Tonis

et al. 2023

ASI

Self Cite

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A Python Framework for Robot Skill Development and Automated Generation of Semantic Descriptions

Vieira Da Silva,

Köcher,

Topalis

et al. 2023

2023 IEEE 28th International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation (ETFA)

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Enabling Cross-Domain Robot Programming By End-Users: The ROBxTASK Platform

Bieg

Schmoigl-Tonis²,

Sturm³

et al. 2022

2022 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing (VL/HCC)

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Robots are increasingly being used in a wide range of sectors, for example industry, care, and education. To further support this development, flexible and accessible interfaces appear to be a promising avenue allowing users without extensive programming experience to design robot-based applications. While research prototypes of such interfaces already exist, they are limited to specific use cases or application domains. However, approaches to robot programming for end-users that are applicable across different domains would bring significant benefits as robots in different application domains often perform similar tasks. Addressing this gap in existing research, we present a prototype of the ROBxTASK platform for cross-domain robot programming by end-users. The centerpiece of the platform is a visual programming environment (VPE) based on Google Blockly that consists of an extensible set of blocks allowing end-users to define and exchange complex sequences involving robot-based tasks for different application domains. The development of the platform is embedded into an extensive human-centered design process including initial stakeholder workshops and a series of user studies. Upcoming evaluations of revised versions of the platform and its VPE will involve the implementation of use cases by end-users in real-world scenarios.

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ROBxTASK RTE - a lightweight runtime environment to implement collaborative processes across different robotic systems

Cited by 3 publications

References 7 publications

Enabling End-Users in Designing and Executing of Complex, Collaborative Robotic Processes

Enabling End-Users in Designing and Executing of Complex, Collaborative Robotic Processes

A Python Framework for Robot Skill Development and Automated Generation of Semantic Descriptions

Enabling Cross-Domain Robot Programming By End-Users: The ROBxTASK Platform

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