DARKO: Dynamic Agile Production Robots That Learn and Optimize Knowledge And Operations

Agile Production crucially depends on the effectivity of the intralogistics processes. Robots, as components of these processes, have the potential to be game changers, if they are highly flexible, capable, cost- and energy efficient, safe and able to operate in work environment shared with humans. DARKO sets out to realize a new generation of agile production robots that have energy-efficient elastic actuators to execute highly dynamic motions. The DARKO consortium brings together leading academic and corporate researchers, technology providers and end-users, with the required long-standing expertise.

Project Goals

Together with the largest manufacturer of home appliances in Europe, the DARKO project will demonstrate autonomous capabilities of robots significantly beyond the current state of the art in dynamic manipulation – throwing goods, picking and placing objects while in motion, and able to operate safely in a changing environment.

DARKO and the KI.FABRIK

The KI.FABRIK is a lighthouse initiative and long-term framework to transform future manufacturing, in which AI (embodied AI) technologies are developed and matured under realistic industrial conditions. It enables robots and humans to jointly structure production systems, continuously learn and adapt skills, and coordinate intralogistics to realize flexible, agile, AI-driven manufacturing and Production-as-a-Service. The DARKO project aligns within this framework by providing a glance on the deployment of mobile manipulators in a use case inspired from a practical industrial application. In particular, DARKO explores how mobile manipulators can autonomously navigate in a logistic environment, safely interact with humans, and plan and perform specific manipulation tasks.