Robotics Centre

Research fields of the CERI

Robotics is among the 21st century mega trends. Robots become increasingly smart and are used in many areas, e.g. in industrial applications, transport (autonomous driving), in agriculture, in the care sector etc.

CERI is committed to addressing the needs of regional companies in the field of robotics through applied research. This includes complete or partial automation of industrial processes with the goal of maintaining production in high-wage countries like Germany. Here, robotics play an essential role: with smart sensors and methods of artificial intelligence, the future of manufacturing will become more productive and flexible, even for small lot sizes.

Research fields in detail

Robot-assisted workplaces of the future

To remain competitive in high-wage countries, new automation paradigms need to be developed. One of these approaches is human-robot collaboration (HRC), which combines the strengths of humans and machines to achieve increased productivity and improved ergonomics. Occupational safety and worker acceptance are important aspects that must be taken into account. Human and machine must interact and communicate effectively to understand their respective intentions and goals. In the longer term, this can create a basis of trust where "colleague robot" can act as a full member of the human-robot hybrid team.

Intralogistics with focus on Smart Factories

In addition to production and assembly activities, robots are taking on more and more intralogistics tasks in the modern factory. Components and tools must be transported between different processing stations in a timely manner. To achieve this, the so-called automated guided vehicles (AGVs) must be able to navigate safely in highly dynamic environments, recognise objects in the environment and pick them up and put them down if necessary. Additionally, the logistics processes must be efficiently planned and optimised and interact with the workflows at the processing stations to ensure a productive manufacturing chain. Intralogistics tasks also extend to applications outside of factories, e.g. to warehouses, hospitals or hotels.