Service Robots

224 Pages·2000·50.606 MB·\224

by  Rolf Dieter Schraft (Author), Gernot Schmierer (Author)

Rolf Dieter Schraft
Gernot Schmierer
S e r v i c e R o b o t s
Products
Scenarios
Visions
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ISBN-13: 978-1-56881-109-3 (hbk)
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Schraft, R. D. (Rolf-Dieter), 1942-
[Serviceroboter. eng]
Service robots / Rolf Dieter Schraft, Gernot Schmierer.
p. cm.
Translation of Serviceroboter
ISBN 1-56881-109-8 (alk. paper)
1. Robotics. 2. Robots, Industrial. I. Schmierer, Gernot, 1969-II. Title.
TJ211 .S42 2000
629.8'92--dc21 00-024963
Authors' address: Professor Dr.-lng. Dr. h. c. mult. Rolf D. Schraft
Dipl.-lng. Gernot R. Schmierer
Fraunhofer-lnstitut fiir Produktionstechnik und Automatisierung
Nobelstr. 12
D-70569 Stuttgart (Germany)
Design by reform design Stuttgart
www.reform-design.de
[email protected]
Industrial Robots are Gaining Popularity
According to the last count of industrial robots In the mid- and long-term, leading robotics
by the United Nations Economic Commission experts forecast that the number of service
for Europe, one million industrial robots will robots will overtake the number of industrial
soon be operating in automated production robots. Development is accelerating in this
throughout the world. Among the various indu­ area. Innovations and, in particular, creativity,
stries now using industrial robots, the auto­ are the driving forces that give this process
mobile industry is in the lead, where most of the required impulsion.
the industrial robots carry out welding tasks
Together with Fraunhofer IPA, both of the editors
such as point welding.
of this book have taken on the important
It goes without saying that in industrial manu­ task of clarifying current developments. In their
facturing, automated installations and systems work, they have aimed to do this not only
are used to perform heavy, dirty, and repetitive for the German research and development
tasks. In a few years' time, it is possible that market, but in particular, to portray the
robotic systems will also become a common sight present situation worldwide. This is an ongoing
in the service sector. Automating specialists in task. I wish them the strength and the
this field have focused on cleaning applications, stamina required to continue their efforts.
in an effort to save humans from the unplea­
Prof. Dr.-lng. Dr. h.c. mult. Hans-Jurgen Warnecke,
sant and sometimes dangerous task of industrial
President of the Fraunhofer-Society
cleaning.
Technical advances in the fields of sensor, control,
and drive technology enabled intelligent
robotic systems to be implemented in areas other
than industrial production.
The disproportionate growth in the service sector,
in comparison with other branches, has
made it necessary to consider optimization and
improvements in work methods. Already,
nearly all areas of the expanding service industry
are introducing modern information and
communication technology to carry out tasks
economically and in a customer-friendly
manner.
Further economic considerations and efforts for
humane working conditions in the service
sector increasingly point toward having partially
or fully automated mechanized work
sequences in the future.
Foreword
Innovation Incentive to the Service Sector
Since the beginning of the 1990s, the globaliza­ Here, not only existing companies but also new
tion process in Germany has accelerated. ones and spin-offs will have an excellent
One reason for this is the addition of new market chance to participate in this process if they have
providers from the American and Asian innovative concepts. New companies have
regions, as well as the former East Block coun­ several advantages. As well as possessing
tries. The development has been markedly creativity and the ability to implement
influenced by the information and communica­ changes, new companies also are free from the
tion technologies available today, which bureaucratic structure of large companies,
have made the previous problem of distance and therefore are able to be flexible and quick-
almost negligible. moving in order to keep up with the market.
In our experience, the most promising companies
The resurgence of competitiveness and thus a
are those that put their concepts into action
lasting revival of the German economy
using strategic alliances, and optimize their com­
can, in view of this background, only be attained
pany performance in this respect with pro­
if we meet this global challenge with a
fessional coaching. On the basis of such partners­
powerful offer at suitable prices.
hips, (e.g., with "venture capital" societies
Various companies throughout the world have or established companies) the IKB Deutsche
already recognized the march of progress Industriebank AG supports innovative projects
and are in the process of adjusting their struc­ with equity and borrowed capital, and therefore
tures for the new conditions; by using inno­ contributes toward anchoring new techno­
vative products and methods, they are creating logies in the German industrial and service sec­
room to move in their widened field of tors to bring about an urgently necessary
competition again. increase in productivity.
With a view to the increasing importance of Georg-Jesko v. Puttkamer,
outsourcing, especially in service, the lasting Member of the Board of Directors,
strength of one's own competitive position will IKB Deutsche Industriebank AG
depend greatly on not only placing innovative
impetus to the industrial sector, but particularly
on steering towards the tertiary area. In this
way, and with a good value-to-money ratio on
the offer, the goal must be to increase the
utilization of existing services and to open up
new fields of operation for individuals in services.
Service robots are particularly suited to this
requirement, and the authors of this book have
shown this effectively in many examples. In
this context,,modern technology will open up
promising development perspectives and, to
some extent, even create completely new fields
of application for the "service society" of
tomorrow.
The Evolution from the Industrial Robot to
the Personal Robot
The robot made its final breakthrough into indu­ The use of service robots in the future provides
strial manufacturing in the 1980s. This trend the opportunity to perform tasks in the service
for industrial robots is increasing in the 1990s. sector
Statisticians forecast that by the turn of the
• economically,
millennium, over 800.000 industrial robots will
• dependably,
be installed worldwide.
• flexibly and individually,
Despite this, renowned robot manufacturers • at a qualitatively high standard, and
are already changing direction: Due to the fore­ • in an ecologically and socially
seeable saturation of the market, they are acceptable manner.
investing in the service sector as a future field
In numerous service sectors, efforts are being
of application with enormous growth potential.
taken either to develop service robots or to
Innovative developments in the area of sensor,
implement them on a greater scale. In contrast
control, and drive technologies are opening
with the field of industrial robots, the majority
up a whole variety of new implementation pos­
of service robots will be adjusted individually
sibilities for robotic systems outside of the
according to their type, environment, and task
field of industrial production. In the evolution
sequence, even if important subsystems such as
from industrial to personal robots, these
mobile platforms, drive and control techniques,
so-called service robots represent the halfway
sensors, and operating systems are constructed
point. They are mobile, manipulate things,
in a modular form and can be applied to other
interact with people, and carry out tasks inde­
operational uses.
pendently to relieve the strain on humans.
Their partially or fully automated tasks do not This book does not claim to be comprehensive,
serve the industrial manufacture of goods, but rather tries to give a representative overall
but instead, perform tasks for people and view of the developments in the field of service
equipment: They perform services. robots worldwide. In many countries at the
moment, various research and development pro­
The disproportionate growth in the service
grams are running on a broad scope-of-field.
sector, in comparison with the primary and secon­
Among them are large research projects financed
dary sectors, is a widely accepted fact.
by the state, as well as discoveries made by
Growth increases in the area of service are seen
enthusiastic engineers; they all see a chance to
as marks of progress; the spectrum and
find a place for their product in the growing
availability of services is an important measure­
commercial market.
ment of quality-of-life.
Foreword
We have not only set a precedent in the area of Last but not least we would like to thank
visual and graphical representation with this Alice and Klaus Peters, Kathryn Maier, and the
book, we also present a direction for the future production team at AK Peters.
in the field of marketing. Thanks to Mr. Hubert
Rolf Dieter Schraft, Gemot Schmierer
Grosser, personal assistant to the President of the
Stuttgart, Germany, December 1999
Fraunhofer Society, we have found a new
partner in the IKB Deutsche Industriebank AG,
which has already been involved with inno­
vative strategies and visions in the past.
We would also like to thank the employees of
the Fraunhofer IPA, who have played a decisive
role in this book with their technical contribu­
tions and critical discussions. In particular, we
would like to mention Mrs. Andrea Hiller and
also Mr. Baum, Mr. Cottone, Mr. Dahlkemper,
Mr. Erhardt, Mr. Gehringer, Mr. Hagele, Mr.
Hornemann, Mr. MeiBner, Mr. Muller, Mr. Ritter,
Mr. Rust and Mr. Andreas Wolf, who, in addi­
tion, encouraged us to use a new graphical
layout.
We would like to thank Mrs. Melissa Delein for
her remarkable commitment to data research.
The technical journalistic support given by Mr.
Roland Dreyer helped us in our work enor­
mously. We would also like to thank Mrs. Helen
Schliesser for translating the German edition
of this book with a dedication to perfection.
Mr. Kellner, Mr. Kotulla and Mr. Kull designed
the graphical layout with considerable dedication
and thought to giving a suitable form to the
innovative contents of this book.

Contents
Introduction <STRRT> at pos 2
From Idea to Product <J!JHP> to pos 5
Basic Functions of a Service Robot <JUf1P> to pos 13
Scenarios - Service Robots in Action:
Refueling <nOUE> pos 23
Agriculture and Forestry <f1QUE> pos 35
The Construction Industry <MOUE> pos 43
Renovating <fl0UE> pos 53
Cleaning < flOUE > pos 67
Office <riOUE> pos 89
Surveillance <H0UE> pos 97
Firefighting <f10UE> pos 105
Sorting <f10UE> pos 115
Hotel and Cooking <MOUE> pos 123
Marketing <H0UE> pos 129
Hobbies and Recreation < f10UE > pos 137
Entertainment <H0UE> pos 145
Nursing care <f10UE> pos 155
Medicine <nOUE> pos 163
Underwater '<HOME> pos 177
Space <M0UE> pos 189
Future <JUMP> to pos 207
Reference <junp> to pos 215
<RETURN>