Project Details
- Activity Acronym: SOFOCLES
- Activity Title: Smart and Flexible Clamping Soluons for Sealing
- Pillar: Innovation
- Segment: Develop
- Flagship: People and Robots for Sustainable Work
- Duration: 01.01.2020-01.01.2021
Activity Overview
SOFOCLES project will develop a Flexible, Reconfigurable and Smart Collaborative Robotic System for the precise manipulation, positioning and clamping of large and complex aeronautical components for different processes, e.g. sealing, welding and WAAM processes. At the end of the project there will be a fully functional workcell that integrates the coordinated and collaborative robots for high payloads, a Handling and Tooling system, and a Digital Twin of the cell for the safe and efficient Human-Robot interaction.
Three main technological developments to be tackled:
1-A fully coordinated robotic system, consisting on 2 breakthrough Comau Aura collaborative robots, the ones with the highest payload (150 kg) and reach in the market. This robotic system will be fully prepared for a Human-Robot Collaboration, and for a Robot-Robot Cooperation, and will count with a high degree of autonomy and self-configuration for the different scenarios.
2- A Flexible and Reconfigurable Handling and Tooling (H&T) System, which will serve at the same time for manipulating and holding /clamping the parts during the processes (concept “Robot as a Tooling”);
3-A Digital Twin of the whole robotic system, integrating both virtual and real tools, and including the human operators in it, for an optimized H-R collaboration.
SOFOCLES will integrate different I4.0 technologies: Large Industrial Collaborative Robotics for handling heavy components; IoT for monitoring the tooling and handling systems; 3D Artificial Vision for positioning and identifying the components with accuracy; Additive Manufacturing for making complex parts of the H&T system; Horizontal and Vertical Communications; Advanced Robotic and Mechatronics Simulations, integrating all the sub-systems of the workcell, for optimizing the design; Data Analytics for analyzing the data provided by IoT.
SOFOCLES project will be validated in two Use-Cases, for two different End-Users (AERNNOVA and KEYTECH), with different parts, processes and materials, but with similar needs to which the SOFOCLES project and system can respond.