RESEARCH CENTER FOR ADVANCED ROBOTICS & INTELLIGENT AUTOMATION

ศูนย์วิจัยวิทยาการหุ่นยนต์ขั้นสูงและระบบอัตโนมัติอัจฉริยะ

Research center for Advanced Robotics and Intelligent Automation (established in 2020) focuses on “Seven Wonders of Robotics” including: i) Bio-inspired robotics, ii) Soft robotics, iii) Medical robotics, iv) Inspection robotics, v) Service robotics, vi) Industrial robotics, and vii) Cognitive robotics.

ARIA has also the following aspects:

“Developing Advanced Robotics and Intelligent Automation Solutions for Societal, Scientific and Industrial Challenges”

“Providing in-depth Knowledge and Services in the Field of Robotics and AI”

“Designing and Offering Robotics and AI Programs with Practice and Hands-on Experience”

The center has four zones (VISTEC-Makerspace, VISTEC-Drone, VISTEC-Automation, and VISTEC-Gait) equipped with world-class facilities and tools for the seven-wonders robotics research and development from basic science to technology exploitation, and real-world implementation.

The center serves as a robotics and AI research platform for VISTEC students and staffs to enhance their practical skills and competencies for industry 5.0 towards human-human, human-machine, and machine-machine collaborative intelligence.

VISTEC-Makerspace

This area is for robot hardware development including laser cut machines, soft-robot moulds, 3D printers and more. It also has an area to setup robotics workshops as well as competitions.

VISTEC-Drone

This area is to study drones in an indoor environment. There is a motion capture system (OptiTrack) with twelve highly sensitive IR cameras (Prime 17W) as a localization system for drones.

VISTEC-Automation

This area set up a factory environment for the study of advanced collaborative robots in a specific area, a drone, a mobile manipulator robot, and a dual-arm robot. An autonomous mobile manipulator robot is an integration of a mobile robot(MiR100) and robot arm (UR3e). We mounted an RGB-D camera (Intel® RealSense D435i) on the wrist of the robot arm. The dual-arm is an integration of two robot arms (UR5e). We also integrated automatic modular conveyors as well as an RGB-D camera (Intel® RealSense D435i). VISTEC-Automation area in the same place as VISTEC-Drone in the further we will integrate motion capture technology into this.

VISTEC-Gait

This area is to study biomechanics of a subject, especially gait. A motion capture system (OptiTrack) is integrated with instrumented stairs with force plates (Bertec) and an instrumental split-belt treadmill with force plates (Bertec). A balance system is installed to support the subject in order to move along the pathway. The treadmill is controlled separately with its control panel. All signals from five force sensors, infrared markers captured by ten highly sensitive IR cameras (8 x Prime 17W, 2 x PrimeX 22) and two high resolution color cameras (Prime Color) are synced into the processing software (Motive:Body) which displays information real-time on both the computer monitor and on the screen.