Robotnik and Eurecat develop a collaborative robot for the autonomous transport of materials outdoors in industry and construction.

Robotnik and the Eurecat technology center have developed a highly modular, autonomous, and collaborative ground robot designed for the autonomous transport of materials in the industrial and construction sectors. Its design provides an advanced human-robot collaboration.

Developed within the European COBOLLEAGUE project, the robot is focused on autonomous navigation in outdoor industrial environments, characterized by uneven terrain and a wide variety of static and dynamic obstacles.

It is a highly mobile, all-terrain modular mobile base designed to transport loads of up to 200 kg. Its design includes features that enable person tracking, gesture detection, and voice-based control.

The robot is capable of generating a map of its surroundings and reliably and safely locating and navigating within them, enabling it to perform inter-floor or last-mile transport tasks. Additionally, this map is used to identify all obstacles, as well as potential cliffs and gaps through which the robot could fall, or to collect data in construction environments that can then be used in conjunction with the Building Information Modeling (BIM) system.

According to Roberto Guzmán, CEO of Robotnik, “the COBOLLEAGUE project once again demonstrates the usefulness of mobile robotics for applications that perform repetitive tasks, in this case, automating outdoor transportation in industry and construction. Our nearly 20 years of experience in service robotics allows us to adapt our general-purpose robots to different verticals, allowing us to provide mobile solutions in a wide variety of applications and sectors.”

In the words of Daniel Serrano, Director of Eurecat’s Robotics and Automation Unit, “After more than a decade of R&D in autonomous localization and navigation, in this project we have managed to develop 3D localization and mapping that leverages the building model extracted directly from BIM. This project demonstrates the potential for applying service robots in the construction sector, where there is potential for the future.”

Within the project, Robotnik was responsible for providing the mechatronic solution and developing the conceptual design, safety, and human factors, as well as validating business cases and ensuring industrial engagement. A new kinematic configuration was developed that provides greater mobility to the RB-VOGUI robot chassis and enables it to perform autonomous transport tasks in urban environments or in unstructured environments with difficult terrain. A 3D laser localization and navigation system was developed that has proven to work robustly, both indoors and outdoors.

For its part, Eurecat was tasked with developing a BIM (Building Information Model)-based interface that processes 3D building information, adding structural data to a simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) system used by a mobile robot. This allows the robot to access a 3D map of the reference model and determine its own location within the building environment, saving time and enabling autonomous navigation to a destination without having to previously explore the map.

Furthermore, the Eurecat implementation allows for building status monitoring and reference model updates, a relevant feature for the construction industry. Eurecat also provides the integration of a multimodal worker-robot interface, allowing the robot to follow workers in complete safety.

COBOLLEAGUE has been supported by the ESMERA (European SMEs Robotics Applications) project, in its call for robotic solutions to industrial challenges. ESMERA is a consortium comprised of four technology centers (the Laboratory for Manufacturing and Automation Systems at the University of Patras; the Commissariat for Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies; the Tekniker Foundation and Technische Universität München) and three industrial partners (Blue Ocean Robotics; COMAU; and R.U. Robots).

You can watch a demonstration video here.

More information at www.eurecat.org