VRP · Visual Robot Programming

This project aims to commercialize the novel technology called Visual Robot Programming (VRP): a no-code gesture-control robot programming solution. The goal is to exploit the results of the FET-Open project GOAL-Robots and raise the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) from TRL 4 to TRL 6 and register a spin-off within 24 months. Current industrial robots are designed to repeat the same task millions of times to enable high-volume manufacturing of a single product, but are not deployable for high-mix low-volume manufacturing as required by SMEs. To empower SMEs to adopt automation, VRP enables real-time gesture-based robot programming: the user demonstrates the desired motion using hand gestures, and the industrial robot tracks and imitates the identical motion in real-time. Using this intuitive technology, any user is empowered to teach industrial robots without prior knowledge in robotics and with minimal training. VRP unlocks new automation potential in the SME segment and allows the workforce to shift to higher-skilled and more rewarding tasks. The four objectives of this project are: (1) technology development and maturation of the GOAL-Robots research results to develop AI-assisted VRP (2) industrial pilot projects to demonstrate the solution in industry (3) business validation to demonstrate commercial viability and (4) spin-off and investor readiness.