Technology
Nowadays with the Fourth Industrial Revolution (or Industry 4.0), the automation of traditional manufacturing and industrial practices require the deployment of mobile robots that are involved to accomplish several tasks to assist workers in a modular production line. The robots are equipped with several embedded sensors (radar, camera) to analyse the nearby environment, in order to move safely and avoid obstacles. Unfortunately, this technology does not provide a dynamic global view of the work floor. Thus, the cohabitation between humans and robots remains unoptimised and can lead to a partial exploitation of the production line or worst to dangerous situations. This software has the aim to detect dynamically security or empty zones throughout the infrastructure using a global situation assessment. For that, this component implements AI based algorithms to analyse the scene using the global point of view of the camera network already deployed in the factory. Video analytics allows to automatically exploit the video streams in real time to detect anomalies and immediately raise an alarm. To this end, the algorithms detect and track elements of interest (such as people, robots, and new objects occupying the scene) over time, and alert the robots of the presence of any obstacles in the surrounding area. Whenever a human is detected close to the robot, his movements will be monitored. Based on a human behaviour analysis, the system will decide whether a new robot’s path should be calculated to reach the docking station or to stop completely to avoid any collision.
Organisation
Thales employs 83,000 employees in 68 countries with €17 billion in revenues of which around 20% invested in R&D. Thales is a leading international electronics and systems group, addressing defense, transport & security markets. Thales provides high-grade security solutions for both the public and private sector. As a European global leader in data protection, Thales contributes to ensuring a secure digital transformation for its customers. Thales supports its customers (government and public services, banking & insurance, industry, public transportation …) to address their specific concerns and develop solutions that meet the needs of their stakeholders. The Thales’ entity involved in the STAR project is ThereSIS, one of Thales research and innovation laboratory. It aims at identifying disruptive technological challenges, and at derisking relevant technologies for Thales inner Product Lines, through advanced prototyping and demonstrations.
