Can a robot navigate a cart and handle plasticware? That was the question that PhD students from several universities faced during the WARA Robotics Mobile Manipulation Challenge on December 16, 2024, at ABB Research in Västerås. The challenge, inspired by a use-case from AstraZeneca, focused on automating specific procedures in chemical laboratories.
The WARA Robotics Mobile Manipulation Challenge is an initiative designed to engage students in complex robotic tasks that enhance their problem-solving and engineering abilities. The initiative was premiered in December 2024, and organized by WARA Robotics, with support from ABB and AstraZeneca.
Matteo Iovino, Project Manager for WARA Robotics and organizer of the Mobile Challenge, explains the background:
Matteo Iovino, Project Manager WARA Robotics.
“The idea came up when AstraZeneca approached ABB’s research team to discuss how they could automate some of their processes using robots. We decided to reach out to the WASP community and other groups to see if the case was interesting for PhD students to explore, which it was.”
The challenge: Navigate a cart and handle plasticware
The participants were tasked with developing a mobile manipulator capable of two main functions:
- Navigating a cart: The robot must transport a cart containing dirty plasticware to a designated dishwasher station.
- Handling plasticware: Upon arrival, the robot needs to pick up individual pieces of plasticware from the cart and accurately place them onto the pins of a dishwasher rack.
“This challenge not only provides practical experience in robotics but also contributes to advancing automation in laboratory settings, potentially increasing efficiency and allowing scientists to focus on more critical tasks. We want to motivate students to develop something interesting and collaborate with each other. This is a great way to build community and exchange knowledge across universities”, says Matteo.
Four impressive finalists
The prize? Possibility to participate in Automatica 2025 – the leading exhibition for smart automation and robotics. The challenge attracted teams from seven different universities. The four finalists were Politecnico di Milano, KTH, Lund University, and Örebro University. They all presented their results and demonstrated their solutions impressively.
“All of the finalists had impressive technical solutions and did a great job solving the task! I’m very impressed with what they have achieved” says Matteo.
Congratulations to the winning team: Örebro University!
The contributions
KTH
Alberta Longhini, Haofei Lu, Jonathan Styrud, Rafael I. Cabral Muchacho, Yifei Dong
Lund University
Marko Guberina, Zheng Jia, Sebastiano Fregnan, Graziano Carriero
Politecnico of Milan
Christian Cella, Matteo Colombo, Martina Pelosi, Giuseppe Fabio Preziosa, Alessandra Tafuro, Isacco Zappa
Örebro University
Yuxuan Yang, David Baxter, Abhishek Kashyap, Marco Iannotta, David Cáceres Domínguez, Shuo Sun
WARA Robotics Challenge 2024
Pictures from WARA Robotics Challenge
Team Lund University: Zheng Jia and Marko Guberina
Team KTH, from left: Rafael I. Cabral Muchacho, Jonathan Styrud, Haofei Lu, Yifei Dong, Alberta Longhini.
Team Politecnico of Milan. From left: Christian Cella, Matteo Colombo, Isacco Zappa, Martina Pelosi.
The winning team from Örebro University! From left: Marco Iannotta, David Cáceres Domínguez, Yuxuan Yang, Shuo Sun, Abhishek Kashyap
Sofia Lindqvist and Silvio Di Castro from AstraZeneca.
Demo session, Örebro University.
Published: January 21st, 2025