ARIAC Competition Project

Overview

The Agile Robotics for Industrial Automation Competition (ARIAC) evaluates industrial robot systems' agility to enhance productivity, autonomy, and task efficiency in manufacturing environments. Organized by NIST, it aims to develop solutions for challenges faced by small-to-medium manufacturers in industrial settings.

Key Challenges (ARIAC 2021)

Seven agility challenges were addressed in this project:

• In-process order changes
• Sensor blackout conditions
• Faulty part detection
• Part flipping requirements
• Insufficient inventory handling
• Gripper malfunction recovery
• Robot changeover procedures

Project Approach

Our solution architecture focuses on:

1. Regular production management
2. Dynamic challenge handling
3. Fault-tolerant system design

Detailed documentation: Project Approach

Workspace Setup

# Create workspace
mkdir -p ariac_ws/src

# Clone dependencies
git clone -b ariac2021 https://github.com/usnistgov/ARIAC.git ariac_ws/src/ARIAC

# Clone team package
git clone https://github.com/roboticistjoseph/industrial_robotics_ariac.git

# Build workspace
cd ariac_ws
catkin clean -y && catkin build
source devel/setup.bash

Usage

roslaunch group2_rwa4 ariac.launch

Performance Notes

• Real-Time Factor (RTF): Maintain RTF > 0.8 for optimal performance
• Troubleshooting: If RTF drops below 0.8, adjust step size in:
  nist_gear/worlds/ariac.template