About this role
Koninklijk Nederlands Lucht en Ruimtevaartcentrum logo Koninklijk Nederlands Lucht- en Ruimtevaartcentrum Homepage Koninklijk Nederlands Lucht en Ruimtevaartcentrum logo Koninklijk Nederlands Lucht- en Ruimtevaartcentrum Homepage Internship: Designing a flexible robotics research platform - Hybrid - - Amsterdam , Noord-Holland , Netherlands - Aerospace Systems Background The NLR carries out research on automated inspection, which may require robotic solutions. Such robotics research depends on experimental setups that change often. Robots, sensors and controllers are added, replaced or reconfigured from one project to the next, and new technologies need to be tried out quickly and efficiently.
In practice, research setups are often built around one specific combination of hardware and software, which makes every change time-consuming. NLR therefore wants a robotics research platform in which components can be switched easily and new components can be introduced with little effort. The challenge lies in the overall design of such a platform. Flexibility has to be built into both the hardware and the software. On the hardware side, modular control systems such as the Beckhoff MX-System make it easier to add or exchange components. On the software side, open frameworks such as the Robot Operating System (ROS) offer standard interfaces and reusable building blocks.
How such elements can be combined into one platform, with an operating environment that supports changing research needs, is an open question. This project aims to develop a high-level design of the overall system and its control, and shows the concept in a small demonstration. Assignment The assignment will include the following tasks:
- A study of approaches to modular and reconfigurable robotic systems, covering both control hardware and software frameworks (e.g., the Beckhoff MX-System and ROS).
- Drawing up the requirements for a flexible robotics research pl...