![](https://www.salzburgresearch.at/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Qubo_RobxTask_2.jpg)
Manufacturer-Independent Robot Control for Production and Maintenance
Autonomous and collaborative robots are a great future opportunity for companies as well as logistics support in care.However, the complexity of the required programming and manufacturer-specific interfaces represent a major hurdle. An Austrian consortium headed by Salzburg Research is developing an open source solution for simplified robot control: This should make tasks and capabilities of social and industrial robots easier to transfer and combine.
The possible uses of autonomous robots sound promising – in manufacturing as well as in care. However, the complexity of the application-specific programming slows down many innovative implementation ideas. In addition, provider-specific programming interfaces for each device and for each robot task require specialist technical knowledge. This leads to a high level of dependency and not infrequently to a lock-in effect with regard to the manufacturer and market segment. A platform for the manufacturer-independent exchange of robot control tasks and processes is intended to solve this dilemma.
Platform for Manufacturer-Independent Exchange of Robot Control Tasks and Processes
Regardless of the manufacturer or the area of application, robots often perform very similar tasks: A typical robot task in production is lifting, transporting and placing objects – a skill that can also be used as a logistical support in the care sector. On the other hand, social robots increasingly have cognitive abilities such as gesture recognition or the interpretation of emotions and stress – abilities that are also becoming increasingly important when using collaborative robots in a business environment.
![](https://www.salzburgresearch.at/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Qubo_Robxtask_3-450x563.jpg)
The core element of this platform is therefore the separation of task design, configuration and implementation. In this way, skills should be available across all robots and in different domains – mutual inspiration not excluded. The robot skills can also be run as a simulation on digital twins for testing.
The research project ROBxTASK is funded by the BMK in the program „ICT of the Future“.