Nowadays, robots are an important tool for object handling in a flexible production. Primarily, they are used for big production batches, in case position and orientation of parts don't vary and therefore do not have to be detected by sensors. Often handling, picking and unloading e.g. from containers cannot be automated by robots, since the parts either differ in position and orientation or shape and weight or are jammed.
These problems occur in many branches of industry. In manufacturing and assembly, the parts are delivered in containers for further processing. In distribution centres and mail-order companies parts have to be unloaded from paletts and then have to be picked, also in mail- and packet delivery. Baggage containers have to be loaded and unloaded in airports.
The GENESYS project (Generic unloading system) focusses on a new universal highly-flexible robot and sensorsuported system for unloading, which is suitable for the above mentioned tasks.
In GENESYS, automation is approached in significantly more difficult constraints. Thus, only the maximum dimensions of objects are known and the objects can be jammed.
Additionally, current sensors are difficult to mount on the robot without a significant loss in field of view, since the space in which the robot has to operate is very limited. Furthermore, processing the sensor data and reconstructing the 3D scene is still very time-consuming and therefore do not allow for the necessary cycle-times. Thus, also new sensor concepts and evaluation methods have to be designed that use the new sensor technology.