Towards tailor made robot co workers based on a plug&produce framework

Abstract

Current industrial robots are optimized to “economy of scale” while new business models demand customization, individualization and service-orientation. The next generation of robotic workers will have to cope with more complex tasks, rapidly adapt to new situations and provide high flexibility. Additionally demographic change requires a paradigm shift to put the human workforce in the center of a production system. The LOCOBOT project proposes a toolkit for building customized low cost robot co-workers for a broad spectrum of scenarios. The system approach envisaged keeps the human worker in the loop. So far the approach is user centered design.