Review and application of Edge AI solutions for mobile collaborative robotic platforms

Edge AI technologies have emerged as a powerful solution for gathering and processing data in real-time, supporting the development of advanced applications for process monitoring, planning and control. Edge AI devices coupled with different sensory systems can be used for facilitating the synergetic human-robot collaboration at the shop floor level. This paper reviews edge AI devices and solutions that may potentially support the operation of cells or workstations comprising human operators and mobile robotic platforms. The use of edge AI-capable devices for operator tracking in real-world applications and the potential of edge AI technologies towards developing and deploying process digital twins are discussed. The main goal is to investigate how edge AI solutions may improve the performance of processes where a collaborative mobile manipulator works alongside a human operator in a safe and reliable manner. Lastly, the use of advanced communication frameworks, such as the Robot Operating System (ROS), is discussed in the context of supporting the seamless interaction between a collaborative mobile platform and Edge AI devices.