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.

The aim of this thesis was to describe how a manual assembly process of polycarbonate sheets for heat exchangers can be automated with an industrial robot. The objectives were to design suitable robot cell concepts and simulate them to describe how the automated process could be done and to present which machines and equipment that could be used. Additionally, productivity rates and investment costs was to be calculated.The project started with a situation assessment and a literature review. Experts and suppliers of robotic equipment were consulted, and the results served as a basis for the concept generation process. Several concept ideas were evaluated, and three ideas using adhesive for the assembly were chosen for further studies and simulation. Existing products and machines were used in the designs when possible. By modeling and simulating the cells in simulation software, feasible cell designs was created, and cycle times were measured.The three proposed solutions all utilize an industrial robot, a vacuum gripper and adhesive as the assembly method. Two of the concepts has the robot attending different adhesive dispensing machines; one gantry and one conveyor. In the third concept, the robot applies the adhesive. The cell design that achieved the lowest cycle time in the simulations was the conveyor concept, with a cycle time of 21 seconds per sheet. The conclusion of the study is that investing in a robot cell would increase productivity. / Syftet med detta arbete var att designa en robotcell anpassad för tillverkning av värmeväxlarpaket i moduler. Målet var att besvara hur tillverkningen av värmeväxlare kan automatiseras samt vilken robot och övriga verktyg och maskiner som kan användas. Vidare skulle den möjliga produktionstakten och investeringskostnaden för designförslagen beräknas. Arbetet inleddes med en nulägesanalys och en litteraturstudie. Ett flertal experter och leverantörer inom automationsområdet konsulterades. Resultaten från detta låg till grund för en konceptgenereringsprocess i vilken ett flertal designidéer togs fram. Tre av dessa designförslag valdes ut för vidare studier och simulering. Genom att modellera och simulera robotcellerna kunde de utformas realistiskt och möjliga cykeltider beräknas. De tre designförslagen använder alla en robotarm, ett vakuumgripdon samt lim som metod för monteringen. Två av koncepten består av en medelstor robotarm som betjänar en limappliceringsmaskin. I ena konceptet är det en kartesisk robot med limbord som används för limappliceringen, i det andra är det ett transportband som för plastskivan under ett antal limpistoler. Det tredje designförslaget låter en större robot, utrustad med verktygsväxlare, utföra alla moment i processen genom att den byter verktyg mellan vakuumgripdon och limpistol. Det koncept som uppnådde den lägsta cykeltiden i simuleringarna var lösningen med rullbandet, med en cykeltid på 21 sekunder per skiva. Studiens slutsats är att en investering i en robotcell skulle leda till ökad produktivitet jämfört med manuell produktion.

Communicating devices are on the rise. Fueled by the introduction of Internet-of-Thing (IoT) and Industry 4.0, more and more devices are capable of information sharing. There is a long history of communicating devices in industrial and building management contexts that previously relied on fieldbuses. One of these legacy fieldbuses is the Modbus protocol, originating in serial communication and now adapted for use with Ethernet. It has significant adoption in the fields of industrial automation systems (IAS) and building management systems (BMS) but carries many limitations. Industrial systems often have a long lifespan and fundamental changes are not introduced quickly. This leads to a need for legacy communication protocols to be able to function alongside the new paradigms for the foreseeable future. In order to facilitate this phase, an attempt to improve system integration in the Modbus context is performed in this thesis. By utilizing standardization and automation principles, additional functionality and definitions are proposed to the Modbus protocol to help improve system integration. By using interviews with system integrators and document reviews of available Modbus description documents three iterative development processes are performed to answer the research questions.  A proposed data model is presented, allowing for a standardized way to represent the contents of a Modbus register. Its attributes are clearly defined with descriptions and constraints. A new function code specification (0x47) is defined and presented in the same form as other function codes are described in the current Modbus specification. It allows for Modbus descriptors to be retrieved directly from the slave device. As a proof-of-concept the function code is developed in an existing Modbus implementation (Modbus4J). A client application is created to allow for fully functional demonstrations for a broader audience. The resulting communication is captured in Wireshark and presented as proof-of-concept.

Zoégas är ett svenskt kafferosteri i Helsingborg som ingår i den globala Nestlékoncernen. Stora delar av Zoégas produktion är automatiserad förutom deras råvarulager, vilket har många moment och helt saknar automation. Ett av dessa moment är dessutom inte ergonomiskt för de tre operatörerna som arbetar på råkaffelagret och kan orsaka arbetsskador. Nestlékoncernen ställer höga krav på säkerhet och hållbarhet i alla steg från odlare av kaffebönor, via transporter, produktion och förpackning till att deras produkter når hyllorna i våra matvaruaffärer. Zoégas ledning vill därför effektivisera och öka lagerkapaciteten i råvarulagret samt göra det mer säkert att arbeta i. Examensarbetets uppgift har varit att ta fram förslag på åtgärder för att effektivisera processen i råkaffelagret samt öka lagringskapaciteten i densamma samt att minimera riskerna för arbetsskador, där investeringar i förbättringar återbetalar sig inom två år. För att kartlägga nuläget, identifiera och utvärdera förbättringsförslag användes framför allt flödesscheman, Ishikawadiagram för att identifiera orsakssamband, Lean 7+1 slöserier samt återbetalningstid för att se hur snabbt olika förbättringsinvesteringar betalar sig. Interna transporter på råkaffelagret är tidskrävande för operatörerna, vilket beror på de många olika stegen i processen, är ett slöseri som begränsar effektiviteten i lagerhållnings processen samt utgör också onödiga risker för operatörerna då truck används för flera transporter. Golvbärighet och takhöjd visade sig vara de viktigaste fysiska faktorerna som begränsade införandet av mer automatiserade lösningar och ökad Zoégas är ett svenskt kafferosteri i Helsingborg som ingår i den globala Nestlékoncernen. Stora delar av Zoégas produktion är automatiserad förutom deras råvarulager, vilket harmånga moment och helt saknar automation. Ett av dessa moment är dessutom inte ergonomiskt för de tre operatörerna som arbetar på råkaffelagret och kan orsaka arbetsskador. Nestlékoncernen ställer höga krav på säkerhet och hållbarhet i alla steg från odlare av kaffebönor, via transporter, produktion och förpackning till att deras produkter når hyllorna i våra matvaruaffärer. Zoégas ledning vill därför effektivisera och öka lagerkapaciteten i råvarulagret samt göra det mer säkert att arbeta i. Examensarbetets uppgift har varit att ta fram förslag på åtgärder för att effektivisera processen i råkaffelagret samt öka lagringskapaciteten i densamma samt att minimera riskerna för arbetsskador, där investeringar i förbättringar återbetalar sig inom två år. För att kartlägga nuläget, identifiera och utvärdera förbättringsförslag användes framför allt flödesscheman, Ishikawadiagram för att identifiera orsakssamband, Lean 7+1 slöserier samt återbetalningstid för att se hur snabbt olika förbättringsinvesteringar betalar sig. Interna transporter på råkaffelagret är tidskrävande för operatörerna, vilket beror på de många olika stegen i processen, är ett slöseri som begränsar effektiviteten i lagerhållnings processen samt utgör också onödiga risker för operatörerna då truck används för flera transporter. Golvbärighet och takhöjd visade sig vara de viktigaste fysiska faktorerna som begränsade införandet av mer automatiserade lösningar och ökad effektivitet, lagringskapacitet och förbättrad säkerhet för operatörerna. En förstärkning av lagergolvet med ett ramverk i kombination med silos och ett pneumatiskt transportsystem är det lösningsförslag som har möjlighet att skapa ökad effektivitet i lagerprocessen, ökad lagringskapacitet, hållbarhet och säkerhet samt klara av en återbetalningstid av investeringen på mindre än två år. Lösningen har rekommenderats till Zoégas ledning för fortsatt utvärdering. / Zoégas is a Swedish coffee roastery in Helsingborg, which is part of the global Nestlé Group. Large parts of Zoégas’s production is automated except for their inventory of raw material, which has a process that includes many steps and is completely lacking automation. Furthermore, one of these steps in the process is not sufficiently ergonomically designed for the three operators who work in the raw coffee inventory facilities and may cause injuries.  The use of forklifts is also representing a non-neglectable risk. The Nestlé Group policy is to maintain high standards with regard to safety and sustainability in all steps from the coffee bean growers, via transportation, production and packaging until their products reach the shelves of our grocery stores. The objective for the management of Zoégas is to make the process in the raw material inventory more efficient and increase its storing capacity as well as make it safer to work in. The aim of this final exam project was to propose solutions which will make the raw coffee inventory process more efficient, increase the storing capacity and minimize the risk for work related injuries, where the investments related to improvements must have a payback period shorter than two years. In order to map out the current situation, identify and evaluate alternative solutions, flow charts, Ishikawa diagrams for identifying causal links, the Lean 7+1 wastes as well as payback period to see how quickly savings pay off investments through improvements, have been used. Internal transportations are time consuming for the operators, which depends on that there are many steps in the process and therefor represents a waste which limits the efficiency in the inventory process as well represents unnecessary risks for the operators since forklifts are used in a number of the steps.  The floor load capacity and ceiling height were the most significant physical factors which limited the deployment of more automated solutions with increased stock keeping capacity in the current stock keeping facilities for the raw coffee.  Both an entirely automatic stock keeping system, including a silo system and a pneumatic transport system, as well as a completely new bulk container system were evaluated after that other solutions had been disqualified either due to the physical limitations of the stock keeping facilities or due to the fact that such solutions did not solve the main problems such as the need for more efficiency, capacity and a more safe working environment for the operators. A reinforcement of the floor in the stock keeping facility in combination with silos and a pneumatic transport system is a solution that would be contributing to increased efficiency and storing capacity in the raw coffee inventory, sustainability and safety as well as offering a payback period for the investment shorter than two years.  The solution has been recommended to the management of Zoégas to be further studied.