Internship or Graduation assignment: Path Planning

What are you going to do?

The Fabricator is our automatic welding machine using 6-axis industrial robot arms. This machine has a handling robot to position the parts to the beam and one or multiple welding robots to weld those parts to the beam. In order to safely move around with the robot, a path planning algorithm is used. The current algorithm in place has been developed by ourselves and even though it works quite well with finding a path, it is not always the best or most efficient path. The algorithm simply tries to find the shortest path from A to B, and when it encounters other objects on its way, it will move around those with a brute force approach. There is already logic in place to do collision checks with objects in the machine, so this can be re-used.

Assignment

Your task would be to investigate which existing path planning algorithms for 6-axis industrial could be used for our situation. We are looking for a solution that can be implemented using our own software. Furthermore, a proof of concept should be created where you proof that your solution could work. Note that the solution does not have to be real-time. All paths are calculated before executing the robot operations.

Tasks

• Investigate existing path planning algorithms that can be applied;

• Create a design on how to implement solution in our current software solution;

• Create a proof of concept;

• The final solution should be time-efficient, as it is used a lot during cycle list generation;

• The final solution should come up with logical and efficient robot paths;

• The final solution should be maintainable and (unit)tested.

We ask

Master student in computer science or related fields

We offer

• Internship allowance of €600 per month;

• Travel allowance: so you do not incur unnecessary expenses;

• Equipment and materials: for example, a laptop, special tools or software;

• Experienced coach: good guidance is important and so you will get a permanent coach to support you;

• Room for personal development: e.g. through training, courses or seminars.