STW highlights Future Tech competencies

STW from Kaufbeuren will showcase its competencies in the field of future technologies for mobile robotics and mobile machines at bauma in Munich. At booth 225 in hall A2, a demonstrator will illustrate how STW can already support its customers in terms of artificial intelligence, future communication standards and robotics frameworks.

With the Future Tech setup at bauma 2022, STW is demonstrating two things: firstly, the system expertise it has built up in system architectures and process chains of highly automated vehicles , and secondly, how STW components meet the requirements of high automation architectures and are used in such applications. Of central importance here: certain functionalities and components are essential for all high-automation tasks in the vehicle's automation system, regardless of the final application,i.e. in agricultural machines, construction, forestry or municipal machines. 

This is precisely where the generic components from the STW modular system, which are presented as part of the trade fair demonstrator, provide solutions:  

• The SMX.igs-e serves as an inertial measurement unit and offers full IMU (inertial measurement unit) functionality and measurement stability via configurable filter algorithms (e.g.: Kalman filter).
• The TCG-4 is the connectivity module and offers wireless communication via WiFi, 4G and Bluetooth, high-precision satellite-based positioning (GNSS) and an open Linux operating system with STW Telematics Application Framework (TAF).
• The mobile controller ESX.4cm-a of the new 4th generation of ESX controllers ensures safe switching of I/O's and actuators. It supports safety-related applications up to PLd or SIL2 andis programmable in C and logi.CAD.
• A prototype from the upcoming HPX product family serves as the central automation computer. It has an MPSoC chip with CPU, FPGA and GPU processor technologies and is robust, compatible with the requirements of mobile machines, and particularly energy efficient. It has broadband communication interfaces and a flexible toolchain for AI algorithms and robotics frameworks.

Functionally, the setup demonstrates typical processes in mobile automation applications: from optical sensing to safe actuator control. In this specific use case, the optical sensor is an interface to the operator (HMI). The demonstrator shows a glimpse of the future, in which an operator communicates missions to his mobile working robot via hand signals. Five hand signals are defined for the exhibition demonstrator, which visitors can test at the booth. The hand signal recognition, which is calculated in real time on the HPX control unit, is visualized in parallel on a monitor for better traceability. The reaction of the machine to the hand signal is realised with three actuators: a wheel that can be set in motion, a lifting cylinder that can be retracted and extended, and an LED that visualizes the status of the vehicle using different colors. 

In order to complete automation applications, STW uses hardware and software components from ECO-System partners, that can be integrated into STW's portfolio. For the trade fair demonstrator, two partners from this ECO system provided valuable support: Ark Vision Systems GmbH, specialists for robust and intelligent camera sensor systems and EDAG Engineering GmbH, who supported the implementation of machine learning and computer vision algorithms on our HPX prototype.  

Visit STW in hall A2 at booth 225 and test the demonstrator.