Flexible schedule optimization for human-robot collaboration

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2013.

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Wilcox, Ronald James
Other Authors: Julie A. Shah and H. Harry Asada.
Format: Thesis
Language:eng
Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/81713
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author Wilcox, Ronald James
author2 Julie A. Shah and H. Harry Asada.
author_facet Julie A. Shah and H. Harry Asada.
Wilcox, Ronald James
author_sort Wilcox, Ronald James
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description Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2013.
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spelling mit-1721.1/817132019-04-10T12:09:41Z Flexible schedule optimization for human-robot collaboration Wilcox, Ronald James Julie A. Shah and H. Harry Asada. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering. Mechanical Engineering. Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2013. Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. Includes bibliographical references (p. 99-101). Robots are increasingly entering domains typically thought of as human-only. This convergence of human and robotic agents leads to a need for new technology to enable safe and efficient collaboration. The goal of this thesis is to develop a task allocation and scheduling algorithm for teams of robots working with or around teams of humans in intense domains where tight, fluid choreography of robotic schedules is required to guarantee the safety of all involved while maintaining high levels of productivity. Three algorithms are presented in this work: the Adaptive Preferences Algorithm, the Multi-Agent Optimization Algorithm, and Tercio. Tercio, the culminatory algorithm, is capable of assigning robots to tasks and producing near-optimal schedules for ten agents and hundreds of tasks in seconds while making guarantees about process specifications such as worker safety and deadline satisfaction. This work extends dynamic scheduling methods to incorporate flexible windows with an optimization framework featuring a mixed integer program and a satisficing hueristic scheduler. By making use of Tercio, a manufacturing facility or other high-intensity domain may fluidly command a team of robots to complete tasks in a quick, efficient manner while maintaining an ability to respond seamlessly to disturbances at execution. This greatly increases both productivity, by decreasing the time spent recompiling solutions, and responsiveness to humans in the area. These improvements in performance are displayed with multiple live demonstrations and simulations of teams of robots responding to disturbances. Tercio acts as an enabling step towards the ultimate goal of fully coordinated factories of dozens to hundreds of robots accomplishing many thousands of tasks in a safe, predictable, efficient manner. by Ronald J. Wilcox. S.M. 2013-10-24T17:47:26Z 2013-10-24T17:47:26Z 2013 2013 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/81713 860998491 eng M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 101 p. application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology
spellingShingle Mechanical Engineering.
Wilcox, Ronald James
Flexible schedule optimization for human-robot collaboration
title Flexible schedule optimization for human-robot collaboration
title_full Flexible schedule optimization for human-robot collaboration
title_fullStr Flexible schedule optimization for human-robot collaboration
title_full_unstemmed Flexible schedule optimization for human-robot collaboration
title_short Flexible schedule optimization for human-robot collaboration
title_sort flexible schedule optimization for human robot collaboration
topic Mechanical Engineering.
url http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/81713
work_keys_str_mv AT wilcoxronaldjames flexiblescheduleoptimizationforhumanrobotcollaboration