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Accuracy and efficiency

KIT researchers are working with a surveying firm to develop an automated measuring and marking robot to make surveying work in production and logistics more efficient and accurate.

Small difference, big impact

They can be made of concrete or a combination of epoxy resin and polyurethane. Sometimes they are coated, sometimes raw. Some have a rough surface, others are smooth. Industrial floors in production and storage halls are as diverse as the products that are manufactured or stored in them. However, they have one thing in common: in order to ensure that work processes in the halls run safely, they must be tested according to DIN standards. “Even slight differences in height can cause industrial trucks to falter in high-bay warehouses. Incorrect gradients and missing drains can lead to puddles forming and make the floor as smooth as glass,” explains Peter Runge, a graduate engineer at the Geodetic Institute (GIK) of the KIT. There is therefore no question that control measurements are needed to detect safety-critical unevenness. It is also necessary to place markings for drilling precisely so that, for example, production lines can be assembled. Even small deviations can mean that machine foundations cannot be bolted on afterwards.

The modular RITA robot platform can perform marking and measuring tasks autonomously.

Get off your board

The currently common measurement practice for flatness testing involves manually searching and measuring the individual points of the measurement grid. When marking subsequent holes, it involves manual marking point by point by a person lying on a dolly. An independent visual inspection does not take place. In new industrial buildings, which today often cover several thousand square meters, these manual steps prove to be laborious and time-consuming. “For large halls and production lines, there can quickly be tens of thousands of points that need to be located and measured or marked. It is not only tiring, but with the available personnel it is sometimes impossible to measure or mark so many points manually in a given time frame. The halls are nevertheless built or the markings applied, with a reduction in accuracy that can lead to problems during later hall use or the assembly of the facilities,” explains Dr.-Ing. Christoph Naab, research associate at GIK.

The self-driving marking and surveying devices available on the market cannot perform an automatic acceptance test of the floors in accordance with DIN and are often too inaccurate to mark drilling points with maximum deviations of up to ten millimeters. It's high time for a smart solution. As part of the nationwide technology and industry-open funding program Zentrale Innovation Mittelstand (ZIM), Runge and Naab, together with a research team from GIK and the Institute for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (IPF) at KIT, led by Prof. Dr. techn. Corinna Harmening and Prof. Dr.-Ing. Markus Ulrich, and the surveying office Vermessungsbüro Lingel from Aalen, developed the mobile robot platform RITA. RITA stands for “Robot with Integrated Tacheometer / Tracker steering for different Applications” and is designed to perform a variety of surveying tasks automatically in just 20 percent of the usual time and with greater accuracy. Depending on the application, maximum deviations of less than one millimeter are required. In addition, a complete evaluation, documentation and optical quality control should take place on site.

Parts of the RITA team, the GIK and the IPF as well as the engineering office Lingel from Aalen: Prof. Dr. techn. Corinna Harmening, M. Sc. Sebastian Sinn, Dr.-Ing. Christoph Naab, Robert Adrian, Dipl.-Ing. Peter Runge and Lazaro Bayer (from left to right).

The structure as a key element

The high level of accuracy is the result of the sophisticated structure: a central reflector tracking system and a cardan-mounted pendulum mechanism that carries either the height measurement or the marking unit. An integrated camera can be used to determine additional quality parameters during marking. Based on the image data, modern AI-based methods analyze and decide in advance whether marking is possible based on the ground conditions. The position and quality of an applied marking are optically inspected using further image recordings. The robot is supplemented by a conventional tachymeter or a laser tracker and software developed as part of the project, which displays the position of the robot in real time. The basic parameters, such as accuracy profile, floor design and measurement grid, are entered in advance in order to define the point field to be traversed by the robot with its requirements for the flatness test. Point lists and accuracy specifications can be imported for floor markings. After manually determining the location of the stationary polar measuring instrument, a line of sight to the robot's reflector unit is established. The central arrangement of the ball reflector in the center of rotation now makes it easy for the robot to navigate independently. With just a few simple steps, it is able to work autonomously. To ensure that the robot moves consistently and precisely in a straight line during its surveying work, it has been equipped with specially developed wheels. By integrating a stationary measuring system, its position is always known and its direction can be constantly calculated. “This way, we can ensure that the robot is still on the correct course if, for example, it moves over a stone,” explains Naab. All data is fed into the software in real time and analyzed. “This is a great advantage if unevenness in the ground is detected or markings cannot be applied due to damage or artifacts on the ground. The accompanying trade can react to this directly. This saves time and money,” continues Naab.

The good height and position accuracy of the robots results from a central reflector tracking system and a gimbal-mounted pendulum, which carries either the height measurement unit (yellow robot) or the marker unit (orange robot).

Potential for precision

An intuitive system with maximum precision – a development that has attracted interest in industry. “It was only when we started getting enquiries from industry that we realized how wide the range of applications is,” says Runge. RITA will be able to provide valuable assistance in the future, particularly in interior areas where a high degree of precision in the sub-millimetre range is required. Whether it's for acceptance testing of hall floors according to DIN standards, for determining the quality of floors subject to heavy wear and tear, for marking holes for production plants or for visual inspection – the application scenarios are many and varied. “There are many customers who require a very high level of accuracy. We can work much more accurately than the solutions available on the market. Our limitation is not the robot, but the stationary measuring device. The greater the distance to the measuring device, the less accurate the measured values become. Our robot's readings, on the other hand, always remain equally accurate. It is important to understand the application and to map the previously manual process exactly in order to deliver high accuracy during automation,” says Runge, describing the unique selling point.

Measuring the market

There is a great demand for the robot in hand luggage format, but a market strategy has not yet been defined. The first two cooperation projects have been completed and a follow-up project is in preparation. “Our goal was to develop a mobile robot platform and we have successfully achieved that. In the first project, we developed the robot and the module for height control; in the second, the module for marking and camera-based optical control. Both applications work reliably. However, a concrete marketing strategy is needed to make the technology available to the general public,” says Naab, describing the current situation. The potential of the two prototypes is high. Regardless of whether it's a licensing model, a spin-off or some other form of cooperation, the researchers are open to future models for sending RITA on survey missions.

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Amadeus Bramsiepe / KIT

Dr.-Ing. Christoph Naab, academic assistant in the Department of Geodetic Sensor Systems at the Geodetic Institute (GIK)

The modular RITA robot platform can perform marking and measuring tasks autonomously.

The good height and position accuracy of the robots results from a central reflector tracking system and a gimbal-mounted pendulum, which carries either the height measurement unit (yellow robot) or the marker unit (orange robot).

Parts of the RITA team, the GIK and the IPF as well as the engineering office Lingel from Aalen: Prof. Dr. techn. Corinna Harmening, M. Sc. Sebastian Sinn, Dr.-Ing. Christoph Naab, Robert Adrian, Dipl.-Ing. Peter Runge and Lazaro Bayer (from left to right).

The robot can work autonomously in just a few simple steps.

Keyfacts:

GOAL

Development of a mobile robot platform to automate work processes in the surveying segment and increase their accuracy

APPLICATION

For marking and measuring industrial floors in production halls and warehouses

PROJECT PARTNER

Geodetic Institute (GIK), Institute for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (IPF), Lingel surveying office in Aalen

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