Institute for Systems Engineering and Computers at Coimbra - INESC Coimbra

Funder

Organizational Unit

Publications

Developing an OPC UA Server for CNC Machines

Publication . Martins, André; Lucas, João; Costelha, Hugo; Neves, Carlos

This paper addresses the concept of Industry 4.0 from the perspective of the molds industry, a key industry in today’s industrial panorama. With its constant modernization, several technologies have been introduced, in particular regarding machining equipment. With each brand and model requiring different (proprietary) interfaces and communication protocols, this technological diversity renders the automatic interconnection with production management software extremely challenging. In this paper a methodology to build monitoring solutions for machining devices is defined, based on the main equipment and operations used by molds industry companies. For a standardized approach, OPC UA is used for high-level communication between the various systems. As a key result of this paper, and given the variety of monitoring systems and communication protocols, the developed approach combines various different machine interfaces on a single system, in order to cover a relevant subset of machining equipment currently in use by the molds industry. This kind of all-in-one approach will give production managers access to the information needed for a continuous monitoring and improvement of the entire production process.

2021Conference object

Open access

Monocular Camera Calibration for Autonomous Driving — a comparative study

Publication . Martins, Pedro Filipe; Costelha, Hugo; Bento, Luís Conde; Neves, Carlos

Autonomous driving is currently a widely researched topic worldwide. With a large research effort being taken by industrial research units in the automotive sector, it is no longer exclusive to academic research labs. Essential to this ongoing effort towards level-5 vehicle autonomy, are the sensors used for tracking and detection, mainly lasers, radars and cameras. Most of the cameras for automotive application systems use wide-angle or fish-eye lens, which present high distortion levels. Cameras need to be calibrated for correct perception, particularly for capturing geometry features, or for distance-based calculations. This paper describes a case-study concerning monocular camera calibration for a small scale autonomous driving vehicle vision system. It describes the fundamentals on camera calibration and implementation, with results given for different lenses and distortion models. The aim of the paper is not only to provide a detailed and comprehensive review on the application of these calibration methods, but to serve also as a reference document for other researchers and developers starting to use monocular vision in their robotic applications.

2020-04-15Journal article

Restricted access

Robot trajectory generation, simulation and execution for shotcrete automation

Publication . Moniz, Gonçalo Carriço; Castro, Hugo Filipe Costelha de

Shotcrete is a widely used civil and mining engineering method that consists of projecting concrete at high-speed using specialized equipment. Nowadays, the trajectory of the projection nozzle is still controlled by an operator (manually or by teleoperation). Automating this process has the potential to improve shotcrete efficiency, quality, and worker safety. This report details the work done within the RoboShot@FRC project, to automate the generation and execution of trajectories for robot-based application of shotcrete in the reinforcement of railway tunnels. The developed work focused on two main components: one that generates a set of poses based on an input mesh of the surface to be shotcreted (path generation program), and another one that simulates the shotcrete process. Extensive tests were done in a simulated environment, and some tests were also performed in real robots. The path generation and shotcrete simulation programs were used together to optimize the trajectory parameters, in order to maximize the resulting concrete layer homogeneity.

2024-01-22Master thesis

Open access

Arduino based Open Source Electronic Control Unit for Electric Utility Vehicles

Publication . Francisco, Alexandre; Lopes, Nuno Vieira; Conde Bento, Luis; Ferreira, Carlos

This paper presents the design and development of a low-cost Electronic Control Unit (ECU), aimed for the application and control of Electric Utility Vehicles (EUV). The selection of components and features, as well the design and project of all the necessary hardware, was also carried out. The major features that overcome other available solutions are: multiple Controller Area Network (CAN) buses, electrical isolation of inputs, outputs, two CAN buses and serial interface, outputs with current feedback and its reduced overall cost. Validation tests were conducted in order to verify all functionalities. Moreover, an electric vehicle simulator was developed to assess the performance of the ECU in a real world working environment. The fully functional prototype of the ECU proved to be robust and experimental results fulfill the proposed objectives.

2020Conference object

Restricted access

CNC Machines Integration in Smart Factories using OPC UA

Publication . Martins, André; Lucas, João; Costelha, Hugo; Neves, Carlos

This paper examines the idea of Industry 4.0 from the perspective of the molds industry, a vital industry in today’s industrial panorama. Several technologies, particularly in the area of machining equipment, have been introduced as a result of the industry’s constant modernization. This technological diversity makes automatic interconnection with production management software extremely difficult, as each brand and model requires different, mostly proprietary, interfaces and communication protocols. In the methodology presented in this paper, a development of monitoring solutions for machining devices is defined supporting the leading equipment and operations used by molds industry companies. OPC UA is employed for high-level communication between the various systems for a standardized approach. The approach combines various machine interfaces on a single system to cover a significant subset of machining equipment currently used by the molds industry, as a key result of this paper and given the variety of monitoring systems and communication protocols. This type of all-in-one approach will provide production managers with the information they need to monitor and improve the complete manufacturing process.

2023-08Journal article

Open access