EURECA H2020 CleanSky 2: a Multi-Robot Framework to Enhance the Fourth Industrial Revolution in the Aerospace Industry

Exploiting the new technologies and principles of Industry 4.0, the aerospace industry is ready to take its first step into a completely new automation production. The EURECA H2020 CleanSky 2 project takes part in such epochal change, proposing a multi-robot human-centered framework dedicated to innovate the assembly of aircraft interiors by means of advanced human-robot collaborative solutions. The human operator remains the central element in the production process, while robotic devices aim at improving his/her working conditions while improving productivity and efficiency. The definition of a methodology as general as possible (that can be extended to any industrial scenario, e.g., the automotive industry) is based on four main robotic components: i) a Lightweight Mobile Arm (LMA), ii) a human assistive and empowering robotic system, iii) a sensing solution for cluttered environments, iv) a software platform, called Application Assistant. Analyzing each robotic system in view of its main application, the aim of this paper is to investigate the different robotic solutions in order to design the best multi-robot framework for the proposed automation scenario.