The whole of Germany joined in rejoicing the DFB squad‘s victory over the American team. And we are not only talking about humans here. At the University of Bremen, the German eleven was cheered on by an industrial robot that has been modernized by a student project group in the Department of Systems Engineering. Over the course of a project lasting several years, students have been working on the technically obsolete control system of a KUKA IR 163.15 industrial robot to bring it up to modern-day scratch – just in time to play its part in cheering on the German national soccer team.
In order to achieve their objective, the students at the University of Bremen had to remove from the control cabinet all the components that made up the numerical controls and replace them with a PC-based system. Following this, they first had to get the different motors working and make the whole system operational. The most challenging task facing the aspiring engineers was to create the program for the operating system. In order that the robot’s individual axes synchronize in a coordinated movement of the robot’s arms, they had to carry out a mathematical transformation of the axis angles. In addition to this, the input commands have to calculate for motor angles and turning speeds. Finally, safety issues also had to be taken into account to avoid collisions or human injury.
The modernized robot could be completed just in time for the football world cup in Brazil. To fit the occasion, it was decided the initial public demonstration would show the robot waving the German flag. You can view the result under: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiTEY0qBg5U
All the work, from the retrofit, through programming, and up to final commissioning was carried out by the students themselves. However, the staff of the Bremer Instituts für Strukturmechanik und Produktionsanlagen (bime) [Bremen Institute for Structural Mechanics and Manufacturing Facilities] in the University of Bremen’s Faculty of Production Engineering was always at hand to provide intensive support when needed. Much of the thanks for the successful project also go to the Bremen private enterprise Beckhoff: The company helped the next-generation engineers with material and informal support.
If you would like to obtain more information on this topic, please contact:
University of Bremen
Faculty of Production Engineering
bime | Bremer Institut für Strukturmechanik und Produktionsanlagen
Sebastian Hogreve
Phone: +49 421 218-64837
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