Periodic Reporting for period 3 - VOJEXT (Value Of Joint EXperimentation in digital Technologies for manufacturing and construction)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2022-10-01 al 2024-06-30
The VOJEXT project has been a 48 months innovation action project co-funded by the European Union Horizon 2020 (grant agreement No 952197) under the domain of the Factories of the Future. VOJEXT started on July 1st 2020, driven by 19 partners from 14 European countries including large, medium and small manufacturing companies, large construction company, SME associations, DIHs, ICT consultants, robot manufacturer, research centers, and universities.
The VOJEXT project aimed at providing a next generation of mobile cobots linked to a technological framework that supports Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) and cognitive autonomous systems. In this context, VOJEXT has developed a flexible and customizable modular suite of services that brings high-level, cognitive and perceptual as well as low-level control modules that allow to use robots in complex manufacturing and construction environments; enabling safety, business, and interoperability with physical manufacturing processes.
figure 1
VOJEXT uses the Value Of Joint Experimentation in digital Technologies and engages with artists for dynamizing science-driven industry approaches, enabling the design, development, and demonstration of affordable, market-oriented, easy-to-repurpose mobile cobots and safety-driven human-robot interaction.
VOJEXT focuses on the industrial sector, especially in the manufacturing and construction domains, aiming at involving SMEs and mid-caps that wish to integrate and experiment with more advanced digital and robotic practices in these sectors.
Through this approach, VOJEXT aims at enabling a more favourable business environment, and link with the Digital Innovation Hubs (DIH) and SME associations to support more effective sociotechnical and business ecosystems.
The following six specific objectives support the overall strategic goal:
• To develop an advanced Cyber-Physical System (CPS) with high-level reasoning that supports an effective and efficient management, control, and supervision of the manufacturing production process; involving mobile manipulation of objects/devices in production.
• To provide a beyond state-of-the-art modular mobile cobot system for human-robot collaboration.
• To foster a ground-breaking standardised perceptual system allowing accurate and safe navigation, movements, and human-robot collaboration by taking advantage from sensors and IoT devices deployed in the operational environments.
• To design a proactive safety preservation and ergonomic optimisation approach with adaptability/personalisation to gender, age, cognitive, and physical capacities; linked to co-working environments.
• To integrate, test, and validate the VOJEXT components, in additional experimental pilots as use case demonstrators, to be awarded through two open calls.
• To strengthen the European industry, stimulating the adoption of advanced technologies in the field of cognitive and autonomous systems and robotics, by SMEs and mid-caps through DIHs.
The VOJEXT project aimed at providing a next generation of mobile cobots linked to a technological framework that supports Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) and cognitive autonomous systems. In this context, VOJEXT has developed a flexible and customizable modular suite of services that brings high-level, cognitive and perceptual as well as low-level control modules that allow to use robots in complex manufacturing and construction environments; enabling safety, business, and interoperability with physical manufacturing processes.
figure 1
VOJEXT uses the Value Of Joint Experimentation in digital Technologies and engages with artists for dynamizing science-driven industry approaches, enabling the design, development, and demonstration of affordable, market-oriented, easy-to-repurpose mobile cobots and safety-driven human-robot interaction.
VOJEXT focuses on the industrial sector, especially in the manufacturing and construction domains, aiming at involving SMEs and mid-caps that wish to integrate and experiment with more advanced digital and robotic practices in these sectors.
Through this approach, VOJEXT aims at enabling a more favourable business environment, and link with the Digital Innovation Hubs (DIH) and SME associations to support more effective sociotechnical and business ecosystems.
The following six specific objectives support the overall strategic goal:
• To develop an advanced Cyber-Physical System (CPS) with high-level reasoning that supports an effective and efficient management, control, and supervision of the manufacturing production process; involving mobile manipulation of objects/devices in production.
• To provide a beyond state-of-the-art modular mobile cobot system for human-robot collaboration.
• To foster a ground-breaking standardised perceptual system allowing accurate and safe navigation, movements, and human-robot collaboration by taking advantage from sensors and IoT devices deployed in the operational environments.
• To design a proactive safety preservation and ergonomic optimisation approach with adaptability/personalisation to gender, age, cognitive, and physical capacities; linked to co-working environments.
• To integrate, test, and validate the VOJEXT components, in additional experimental pilots as use case demonstrators, to be awarded through two open calls.
• To strengthen the European industry, stimulating the adoption of advanced technologies in the field of cognitive and autonomous systems and robotics, by SMEs and mid-caps through DIHs.
The VOJEXT project has validated and demonstrated its results in five large use cases from different manufacturing (plastics, automotive, electronics, and crafts) and construction sectors, ten manufacturing experiments with external partners through open calls and three artistic residencies. All experimental cases have integrated, used, or built on VOJEXT outcomes or resources in real operational environments.
On June 2024, VOJEXT achieved all objectives and milestones set for the project, successfully finalizing the project. Results were built in three stages: 1) an in-depth business and industrial driven requirement collection phase, in which the needs and planning of the experimental use cases were planned to be prototyped; 2) a process and testbed oriented phase in which customisations and technical modules were developed, and 3) a strong and robust integration, validation, evaluation, and demonstration phase where the VOJEXT system was prototyped and experimented in more than 10 real operational environments.
On June 2024, VOJEXT achieved all objectives and milestones set for the project, successfully finalizing the project. Results were built in three stages: 1) an in-depth business and industrial driven requirement collection phase, in which the needs and planning of the experimental use cases were planned to be prototyped; 2) a process and testbed oriented phase in which customisations and technical modules were developed, and 3) a strong and robust integration, validation, evaluation, and demonstration phase where the VOJEXT system was prototyped and experimented in more than 10 real operational environments.
VOJEXT results expect to create impact by scaling on the experimental flagship cases as well as enabling motivation of large and small companies, along with specialized suppliers, service providers, universities, and associated institutions in DIHs to move towards the factories of the future. Also, VOJEXT shall bring together a critical mass of skills and talent; characterized by a high level of interaction among these entrepreneurs, researchers, and innovators.
Moreover, VOJEXT underpins Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) by involving artists and societal actors (researchers, workers, policy makers, business, etc.) for the whole research and innovation process to better align the robot/cobot enabled manufacturing and construction processes, its outcomes and the values, needs, and expectations of these sectors and society. The VOJEXT project experimental path and effective implementation is supported by the S+T+ARTS approach, using art-driven innovation. For this purpose, VOJEXT engages artistic research and innovation methodologies by hosting two S+T+ARTS residencies that selected through open calls in S+T+ARTS format, inviting artists, as art-science partners, to collaborate with VOJEXT technology, robotic, academic and industrial partners.
VOJEXT project website: https://vojext.eu/(si apre in una nuova finestra)
Moreover, VOJEXT underpins Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) by involving artists and societal actors (researchers, workers, policy makers, business, etc.) for the whole research and innovation process to better align the robot/cobot enabled manufacturing and construction processes, its outcomes and the values, needs, and expectations of these sectors and society. The VOJEXT project experimental path and effective implementation is supported by the S+T+ARTS approach, using art-driven innovation. For this purpose, VOJEXT engages artistic research and innovation methodologies by hosting two S+T+ARTS residencies that selected through open calls in S+T+ARTS format, inviting artists, as art-science partners, to collaborate with VOJEXT technology, robotic, academic and industrial partners.
VOJEXT project website: https://vojext.eu/(si apre in una nuova finestra)