Preliminary Research on Intelligent Mobile Tool Cart for Industrial Manufacturing in a Factory Environment

Abstract

Intellectualization of manufacturing is a general trend due to the development of technology and science. This paper presents a preliminary research on intelligent mobile tool cart (IMTC) for working alongside workers in manufacturing process. Tool cart problem is considered as an exemplary intelligent mobile tool cart service system. A type of differential-driven mobile cart with a tool basket which is mounted on the top of the mobile cart compose the intelligent mobile tool cart. The IMTC is designed to provide workers with remote motion control and tools positioning services. Daily used instructions are exercised as commands to control the IMTC in the factory environment by using Leap Motion sensor for finger/hand position detection. The IMTC provides its real-time position information to the worker. To fulfill estimating the location of IMTC, QR localization method is proposed. We verified the features of the IMTC and feasibility of the proposed localization method through experimental trials.