This thesis was conducted to provide an automated method for characterization of printed electronics. The work was built on a multi-axis milling machine. Further, the machine was modified by replacing the milling-tool with an installment utilizing electrical probing. Different measurement techniques, machine vision applications, and software solutions were evaluated and utilized. All the revolving functionalities of this project was then merged into a complete system, controlled by a graphical user interface. The resulting system was capable of autonomously characterize a given number of components on a printed sheet. The final version of the system is capable of finding the origin of the sheet by using machine vision and fiducial markers.

Current manufacturing automation systems (specifically the powertrain sector) have been facing challenges with constant pressures of globalisation, environmental concerns and ICT (Information and Communication Technology) innovations. These challenges instigate new demands for shorter product lifecycles and require customised products to be manufactured as efficiently as possible. Manufacturing systems must therefore be agile to remain competitive by supporting frequent reconfigurations involving distributed engineering activities.

Vid rökdykning i stora byggnader har rökdykare problem med desorientering, stora avstånd och lokalisering av branden. Detta arbete utforskar användbarheten och rollen av en brandrobot, FUMO, vid rökdykning i industrilokaler och underjordiska parkeringshus. Genom att intervjua brandmän med erfarenhet av rökdykning har en hierarkisk uppgiftsanalys (HTA) genomförts och HTA-diagram har tagits fram för hur rökdykning i underjordiska parkeringshus och industrilokaler ser ut idag. Baserat på dessa HTA-diagram har nya analyser genomförts som har resulterat i kompletterade HTA-diagram som beskriver hur en rökdykningsprocess som inkluderar FUMO kan se ut. Resultatet visar att FUMO kan genom utforskning och lokalisering av branden innan rökdykarpar går in, bidra med en säkrare arbetsmiljö för rökdykarna. / When smoke diving in large buildings, firefighters struggle with disorientation, vast distances and locating the fire itself. This thesis explores the usability and role of a surveillance robot, FUMO, when smoke diving in industries and underground parking lots. By interviewing firefighters and conducting a hierarchical task analysis (HTA) on smoke diving in both underground parking lots and industries, it has been found that FUMO in its basic module can aid firefighters in planning and locating a fire. Based on the HTA describing the current work process of smoke diving, two iterations were conducted to create an HTA with part-goals allocated to FUMO for each environment. These HTA shows how FUMO can be integrated in the current work process of the firefighters. By exploring the environment and locating the fire before the smoke divers are sent in, FUMO can contribute to a safer work environment for the smoke divers.

In this Master's thesis the option of using deep reinforcement learning for cavity filter tuning has been explored. Several reinforcement learning algorithms have been explained and discussed, and then the deep deterministic policy gradient algorithm has been used to solve a simulated filter tuning problem. Both the filter environment and the reinforcement learning agent were implemented, with the filter environment making use of existing circuit models. The reinforcement learning agent learned how to tune filters with four poles and one transmission zero, or eight tune-able screws in total. A comparison was also made between constant exploration noise and exploration noise decaying over time, together with different maximum lengths of the episodes. For the particular noise used here, decaying exploration noise was shown to be better than constant, and a maximum length of 100 steps was shown to be better than 200 for the 8 screw filter.

This paper summarizes a panel discussion at the 15th International Conference on Business Process Management. The panel discussed to what extent the emergence of recent technologies including machine learning, robotic process automation, and blockchain will reduce the human factor in business process management. The panel discussion took place on 14 September, 2017, at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain. Jan Mendling served as a chair; Gero Decker, Richard Hull, Hajo Reijers, and Ingo Weber participated as panelists. The discussions emphasized the impact of emerging technologies at the task level and the coordination level. The major challenges that the panel identified relate to employment, technology acceptance, ethics, customer experience, job design, social integration, and regulation.

O trabalho enfoca a automação predial, procurando analisar, comparativamente, a utilização de tecnologias convencionais e equipamentos empregados na automação de processos industriais. Através de um estudo de caso, efetuou-se uma descrição dos principais sistemas prediais possíveis de serem automatizados em um edifício, efetuando-se uma avaliação comparativa entre os sistemas convencionais e os baseados na automação de processos, permitindo o uso mais eficiente dos insumos prediais, além de aumentar o conforto e a segurança de seus ocupantes. Verificou-se um grande potencial de aplicação dos sistemas de automação de processos industriais, para implementação alternativa nos sistemas de automação predial. / This research focuses building automation, analyzing comparatively the use of conventional technologies and other equipments commonly applied in industrial processes. Through a case study, a description of mainly building systems that are feasible to be automated in high technology buildings has been made, including a comparative evaluation of mainly building systems based on conventional systems and automation process, allowing the most efficient use of building resources, beyond to increase the users’ comfort and security. It was verified a great potential for applications of industrial processes automation systems, as an alternative implementation in building automation systems.

Context. GUI-based automation testing is a costly and tedious activity in practice. As GUIs are well-known for being modified and redesigned throughout the development process, the corresponding test scripts are not valid anymore thereby being a hindrance to automation. Hence, substantial effort is invested in maintaining GUI test scripts which often leads to rework or waste due to improper decisions. As a result, practitioners have identified the need for decision support regarding when should GUI automation testing begin and how to make it easier and also identify what are the factors leading to waste in GUI-based automation testing. The current literature provides solutions relating to automation in general and few answers for GUI based-automation testing. Such generic answers might not be applicable to GUI test automation and also industries new to GUI development and testing. Thus, it is necessary to validate if the general solutions are applicable to GUI test automation and find additional answers that are not identified previously from practitioners opinions in an industrial context. Objectives. Capture relevant information regarding the current approach for GUI test automation within the subsystems from a case company. Next, identify the criteria for when to begin automation, testability requirements and factors associated with waste from literature and practice. Methods. We conducted a multiple-case study to explore opinions of practitioners in two subsystems at a Swedish telecommunication industry implementing GUI-automation testing. We conducted a literature review to identify answers from scientific literature prior to performing a case study.A two-phased interview was performed with different employees to collect their subjective opinions and also gather their opinions on the evidence collected from the literature. Later, Bayesian synthesis method was used to combine subjective opinions of practitioners with research-based evidence to produce context-specific results. Results. We identified 12 criteria for when to begin automation, 16 testability requirements and 15 factors associated with waste in GUI test automation.Each of them is classified into categories namely SUT-related,test-process related, test-tool related, human and organizational, environment and cross-cutting. New answers which were not present in the existing literature in the domain of the research are found. Conclusions. On validating the answers found in literature, it was revealed that the answers applicable for software test automation, in general, are valid for GUI automation testing as well. Since we incorporated subjective opinions to produce context specific results, we gained an understanding that every practitioner has their own way of working. Hence, this study aids in developing a common understanding to support informed subjective decisions based on evidence.

A production industry with many robots working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week consumes a lot of energy. Industries aim to reduce the energy consumed per machine so as to support their financial budgets and also to be a more sustainable, energy efficient entity. Energy models can be used to predict the energy consumed by robot(s) for optimising the input parameters which determine robot motion and task execution. This work presents an ener-gy model to predict the energy consumption of 2D belt robots used for press line tending. Based on the components' specifications and the trajectory, an estimation of the energy consumption is computed. As part of this work, the proposed energy model is formulated, implemented in MATLAB and experimentally validated. The energy model is further used to investigate the effect of tool weight on energy consumption which includes predicting potential energy reductions achieved by reducing the weight of the gripper tools. Further, investigation of potential energy savings which can be achieved when mechanical brakes are used when the robot is idle is also presented. This illustrates the purpose and usefulness of the proposed energy model.

The objective in this work is to build a rapid and automated numerical design method that makes optimal design of robots possible. In this work, two classes of optimal robot design problems were specifically addressed: (1) When the objective is to optimize a pre-designed robot, and (2) when the goal is to design an optimal robot from scratch. In the first case, to reach the optimum design some of the critical dimensions or specific measures to optimize (design parameters) are varied within an established range. Then the stress is calculated as a function of the design parameter(s), the design parameter(s) that optimizes a pre-determined performance index provides the optimum design. In the second case, this work focuses on the development of an automated procedure for the optimal design of robotic systems. For this purpose, Pro/Engineer© and MatLab© software packages are integrated to draw the robot parts, optimize them, and then re-draw the optimal system parts.

The purpose of this bachelor thesis was to evaluate and propose a solution for how the material handling of steel rods produced by a metal cutting machine could be automated. The intention of the automation was to meet an increasing demand and to ensure that the quality requirements set are met. These quality requirements are defined by a removal of the small steel edge which occurs on the rod after the cutting process, as well as making sure that the rods meet the specified length tolerances. Initially, a data collection and status analysis of the process was carried out, where problem areas were identified and a requirements specification was formulated. Based on these findings, several solution proposals were generated. The proposed solutions were evaluated and used as a basis on which further development of automation solutions were conducted. During this development, a software simulation environment was used to simulate and evaluate the resulting concepts. Included with these concepts were drawings of necessary constructed equipment, simulation models and cost estimates. The work resulted in two concepts based on the use of industrial robotics. The concept that was considered most suitable for the task is based on an implementation of an ABB IRB 1600 industrial robot with a magnetic gripping tool, a stand-alone station for removing remaining steel edges from the rod, and a measuring arrangement to make sure that the tolerance requirements are met. / Detta examensarbete utfördes med syftet att undersöka om och hur materialhanteringen vid en kallsåg för stålstänger kunde automatiseras. Detta för att hantera en ökad efterfråga och säkerställa att de kvalitetskrav som ställs blir uppfyllda. Kvalitetskrav avser här att kvarvarande grader som uppstår på stängerna vid kapning ska vara borttagna och att stängerna ska uppfylla specificerade längdtoleranser. I arbetet genomfördes inledningsvis en datainsamling och nulägesanalys av processen där problemområden identifierades och en kravspecifikation formulerades. Utifrån dessa genererades sedan flera lösningsförslag. De framställda lösningsförslagen utvärderades och utgjorde sedan en grund för vidareutveckling av automationslösningar. Under vidareutvecklingen användes en robot simuleringsmjukvara för att simulera och utvärdera koncept. Till dessa koncept framställdes tillhörande konstruktioner, simuleringsmodeller och kostnadsuppskattningar. Arbetet resulterade i två koncept för automation baserade på ett användande av industrirobotar. Det koncept som bedömdes som mest lämpat för uppgiften bygger på en implementering av en ABB IRB 1600 industrirobot med ett magnetiskt gripverktyg, en fristående station för avgradning av stänger samt en mätanordning för att kontrollera att toleranskrav uppfylls.