The EURECA project framework is dedicated to innovate the assembly of aircraft interiors using advanced human-robot collaborative solutions. A pool of devices/frameworks will be deployed for teaming up with human operators in a human-centered assistive environment, always ensuring safety requirements. Solutions are peculiarly designed for addressing both the working conditions and the management of the cabin-cargo installation process. EURECA aims at providing the following technologies: 1. Lightweight Mobile Arm (LMA), an actuated moble platform equipped by a lightweight manipulator, will assist the assembly of light components. The LMA will perform autonomous tasks for assembly light and small components and it will cooperate with humans in handling and assemblying large, light and flexible compoents, navigating autonomously in the cabin and supplying the different parts by a passive trolley (transporter). 2. Wearable upper arms exoskeleton will be used to assist the human operator in handling and assembling of heavy parts. The exoskeleton will improve the human ergonomics in handling heavy objects, allowing the execution of tasks where two or more people are necessary having a fast attach/detach interface. 3. Continuous update and adaptation of a map of the aircraft’s cabin, including permanent/temporary obstacles (seats, exoskeleton structure, human operator moving, etc.) by RGB-D camera sensors mounted on the LMA. 4. A software platform, called Application Assistant, will enhance human-robot cooperation in all process phases, supporting the generation of programs and the issuing of commands/requests by the users. The Application Assistant will be a layered architecture that will provide the users with different services in creating, scheduling and executing applications. The Application Assistant will implement multi-modular interfaces to humans, as a projector beam to give feedback to the user about the operation status and the actions to be taken.

Inspection robots are more and more frequently used in industry for quality control of parts with complex shape. The main concept is to move a sensor over the surface of the part so that all relevant areas are inspected. The problem, known as coverage planning, requires generic solutions for key challenges like collision avoidance, motion planning and calibration and synchronization of robot motion and real-time measurement data acquisition. The deployment of such inspection robots is currently done manually or with semi-automatic motion-planning/calibration technologies. These inspection processes have been proved to be difficult, time-consuming and – consequently – expensive. IT+Robotics objective is to develop a generic framework that solves the coverage and path planning problem for inspection tasks with constraints like: inspecting sensor needs to move continuously over the part, the part is handled by limited multi-axis handling system (e.g. 6 axes or Cartesian robot). Robotic inspection systems are needed (1) wherever parts of complex shape need to be inspected, mainly in aerospace and automotive industry; (2) wherever a flexible and easy to use solution needs to deal with small batches of products with different shapes (particularly for SMEs). Moreover, the product can reach all the markets related to those industrial processes that need the full coverage of the product. The results will be also applied to other industrial processes requiring full coverage of the product, such as paint or shot peening robots. Since there is a huge potential in both robotics inspection and application, IT+Robotics would like to recruit an Innovation Associate with two objectives. The former is support the development of a generic framework for ITR products related to full coverage applications. The latter is to improve the continuous innovation process inside the company.