LEROSH | Training robots in skilled crafts
Simply work with robots!
With the LEROSH project, we are exploring how to enable craftspeople to seamlessly integrate robots in their daily business by teaching them fine craft skills, such as sanding. The project is part of the initiative “Handcraft 4.0” founded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Our research network includes the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the Fraunhofer Institute (IWU), software interaction experts from Interactive-Scape, and small to medium size craft enterprises. Together, our goal is to create an end-to-end system that improves the productivity, product quality, and comfort of craft work — without requiring to be a robotic expert.
The challenge
Craft is first and foremost unique. Every wokpiece requires fine adaptations depending on the raw material and variation. Sanding is a particularly delicate task where wood grain affects the sanding paths and the nature of the necessary tools. Humans visually and haptically assess the necessary pressure, sanding direction, and grit, and perform the sanding process almost intuitively.
Yet, on the other hand…
Hardly any other craft process is as unpopular as sanding, it causes dust and dirt and costs many hours of labor and apprenticeship. Typical dirty, dull, and dangerous job that we usually like to outsource to robots.
However, sanding is a particularly challenging task to automate. It requires gathering and understanding rich sensory data, generating natural sanding paths, and continuously monitoring and assessing the surface quality. Furthermore, frequent turn taking between the craftspeople and the robot should be enabled in a seamless fashion at all times. We aim to address all these challenges with our exploratory system LEROSH.
Our goal
If trainee robots were as good at sanding as humans, we could minimize the health burden on employees, increase the efficiency and attractiveness of the skilled trades, and effectively counter the coming shortage of skilled workers.
We’ll keep you up to date with our progress via our newsletter (in German for now), or if you have any questions you can always contact us directly via e-mail.
The LEROSH Team
Craft + Research :
werk5 new craft – Prototyping, Berlin | Tischlerei Eigenstetter – Carpenter, Rehna | Modellbau Schröter – Prototyping, Oberpframmern | Strehl Kinderrehatechnik – Orthopaedic technology, Bremervörde | Kreul und Stoll – Musical instrument making, Markneukirchen | Institut für Robotik und Mechatronik des DLR – Research, Oberpfaffenhofen | Fraunhofer-Institut für Werkzeugmaschinen und Umformtechnik IWU – Research, Chemnitz | Interactive Scape – Software development, Berlin
Supporters :
Handwerkskammer Berlin Chamber of Crafts | Handwerkskammer Dresden Chamber of Crafts | Heinz Piest Institut Institute of Craft Technology | Robotics and Biology Laboratory, TU Berlin | Bundesverband Modell- und Formenbau Federal Association Model and Mold Making | Bundesinnungsverband – Tischler Schreiner Deutschland Federal guild association carpenter joiner | Musicon Valley e.V. Project management | joke Technology Surface technology | KUKA – Robotics and systems engineering
ROBOTICS IN THE CRAFT
Tools for the future?
For a perfect manual workflow, robots and handling must always be designed to suit the respective task. To ensure that components can also be individually manufactured with the necessary efficiency, LEROSH relies on increased sensor technology and machine learning and thus on optimization and flexibility in the sanding application – up to ‘ad-hoc automation’ of recurring, similar and even individual tasks. For the best possible intuitive usability (‘no-code robotics’), LEROSH is equally focused on developing new UI/UX elements that empower users to independently control and improve their processes.
VIDEO OF THE WEEK
The KUKA iiwa feels its way on an unknown 3D object and gradually orients its tool towards the shape.
Do you have any questions about robotics in the skilled trades? Write to us!
Crafts 4.0: digital and innovative
With this funding measure, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is pursuing the goal of advancing the development of customised, innovative and digital technologies in the skilled crafts sector. The aim is to enable craft enterprises to offer new or significantly improved craft services or to provide their services significantly more efficiently and sustainably than before.
Project management by:
Project Management Agency Karlsruhe (PTKA) – Production, Service and Work, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
