J. Rossmann

• Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil
• Managing Director at RWTH Aachen University

Detailed tracking of all relevant– natural and man-made– activities in the forest enables real-time monitoring of carbon dynamics, providing immediate feedback on the carbon impact of specific forestry operations. Carbon is sequestered and emitted at many points along the wood supply chain as well as its upstream and downstream processes. The spati...

Experimentable Digital Twins are capable of combining different simulation domains on a system level. This has been shown for a multitude of simulation domains, e.g., rigid body dynamics, control, sensors, kinematics, etc., and application scenarios, e.g., automotive, space, and industrial engineering. In our work, we investigate how to include str...

Modern modelling approaches fail when it comes to understanding rather than pure supervision of human behavior. As humans become more and more integrated into human-to-anything interactions, the understanding of the human as a whole becomes critical. In this paper, we conduct a structured review of the human digital twin to indicate where modern pa...

Advancing digitalization is reaching the realm of lightweight construction and structural–mechanical components. Through the synergistic combination of distributed sensors and intelligent evaluation algorithms, traditional structures evolve into smart sensing systems. In this context, Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) plays a key role in managing...

In addition to their economic value, multifunctional forests fulfill both ecological and social tasks. Thus, sustainable forestry impacts different areas. Although basic digitalization already exists in the forest-based sector and is being developed further, the integration of heterogeneous systems and the sharing of data between the stakeholders c...

The term Internet of Things (IoT) denotes a communication network, where various Things are interconnected using novel scenario-specific Internet technologies and predefined customizable semantics. Industry 4.0 aims at enabling a globally networked production, with the use of IoT as a crucial concept. Since production systems tend to be technically...

The architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry appears hesitant to embrace new digital innovations. One of the few recent successful examples is the introduction of the building information modeling (BIM) paradigm. However, the focus here lies mainly on the building itself and does not support the construction environment. This paper...

Synthetic data is an indispensable supplement to the difficult-to-acquire real data in order to meet the substantial demand by machine learning based systems. Data playing the key role in machine learning models, its objective and maintainable quality metrics are vital for quality assurance of the whole system. This paper introduces a systematic an...

The growing relevance of artificial intelligence (AI) for technical systems offers significant potential for the realization and operation of autonomous systems in complex and potentially unknown environments. However, unlike classical solution approaches, the functionality of an AI system cannot be verified analytically, which is why data-driven a...

The increase in complexity of autonomous systems is accompanied by a need of data-driven development and validation strategies. Advances in computer graphics and cloud clusters have opened the way to massive parallel high fidelity simulations to qualitatively address the large number of operational scenarios. However, exploration of all possible sc...

A crucial challenge of transferring existing AI-based approaches to aerospace applications is the very limited availability of reference data. This paper presents a novel infrastructure for the effective and efficient development, validation, and use of modern AI functionalities in space applications. By means of comprehensive Digital Twins, which...

Our society is surrounded by technical systems that increasingly influence and take over aspects of everyone’s everyday life. As we build on the correct functioning, the need for appropriate methodologies that support the development of reliable products persists. However, the development and in particular the qualification become challenging due to...

About ten years ago, what is now commonly referred to as the fourth industrial revolution started. Since it is often assumed that major technological transformations take about 20 years to complete, we are at most halfway through the process. And although a lot is happening in this area, there is still a lack of practical examples for implementatio...

Optical systems are a key technology for highly automated production processes including inline inspection systems and driverless transport systems. All of them require comprehensive verification and validation to ensure their functionality, safety and reliability. Often this can only be fully determined too late–i.e. after implementation in the pr...

In the context of digitalization, which has been developing rapidly since the early 2010s, and the related development of the Internet of Things, which enables the production of virtually controlled and networked products of all kinds with integrated services, one term is gaining strongly in importance - the digital twin. It is increasingly becomin...

Digitale Zwillinge als virtuelle Abbilder physischer Systeme finden zunehmend Anwendung im Entwicklungsprozess sensorbasierter Fahrerassistenzsysteme und autonomer Fahrzeuge. Sie ermöglichen nicht nur eine frühzeitige Verifikation anhand virtueller Prototypen, sondern erlauben gleichzeitig die funktionale Absicherung des entstehenden Gesamtsystems...

The manufacturing industry is seeing an increase in demand for more custom-made, low-volume production. This type of production is rarely automated and is to a large extent still performed manually. To keep up with the competition and market demands, manufacturers will have to undertake the effort to automate such manufacturing processes. However,...

Solving mobile manipulation tasks in inaccessible and dangerous environments is an important application of robots to support humans. Example domains are construction and maintenance of manned and unmanned stations on the moon and other planets. Suitable platforms require flexible and robust hardware, a locomotion approach that allows for navigatin...

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network between physical and virtual things, software services and people. The specific services these things offer to set up value-added chains are provided by the computer resources they use – like cloud computing for computationally intensive tasks or edge computing for real-time processing. Concepts such as the...

Digitale Zwillinge (DZ) revolutionieren unsere Sicht auf Systeme – und dies aus ganz unterschiedlichen Perspektiven wie Entwicklung, Vernetzung, Bedienung, Umweltmodellierung, modellbasierte Steuerung, vorausschauende Wartung, Training oder virtuelle Inbetriebnahme. Offensichtlich ist der DZ gleichzeitig sowohl Ergebnis der Digitalisierung als auch...

The current progress in computer technologies causes an increasing use and importance of modeling and simulation for science and engineering. The complexity of the systems under development and the complexity of appropriate models increase simultaneously. In many cases, it is no longer sufficient to consider individual aspects in detail independent...

Mobile manipulation robots have great potential for roles in support of rescuers on disaster-response missions. Robots can operate in places too dangerous for humans and therefore can assist in accomplishing hazardous tasks while their human operators work at a safe distance. We developed a disaster-response system that consists of the highly flexi...

Interfaces (IF) and their Management (IFM) are a particular challenge in the successful development of complex products and products operating in a complex environment. In Closed-Loop Systems Engineering (CLOSE) IFM is fully integrated into its Model-Driven Engineering Process (MDEP). CLOSE provides fully automated IF modelling, traceable IF histor...

Mobile manipulation robots have high potential to support rescue forces in disaster-response missions. Despite the difficulties imposed by real-world scenarios, robots are promising to perform mission tasks from a safe distance. In the CENTAURO project, we developed a disaster-response system which consists of the highly flexible Centauro robot and...

Solving mobile manipulation tasks in inaccessible and dangerous environments is an important application of robots to support humans. Example domains are construction and maintenance of manned and unmanned stations on the moon and other planets. Suitable platforms require flexible and robust hardware, a locomotion approach that allows for navigatin...

In the context of digitization and industry 4.0, the production-related disciplines developed powerful simulation models with different scopes and varying levels of detail. As these simulation systems are usually not built in a compatible way, the models cannot be combined easily. Co-simulation techniques provide a promising basis for combining the...

Simulations are powerful tools for decision support during factory adaptation processes. In order to provide the most valuable form of decision support, a tool must take into account the decision problem and relevant decision alternatives. Today's simulation tools, however, only accept simple notions of variability, like numeric parameter ranges. T...

To meet the rising demand of performing complex tasks in a highly technologized world, the development of mechatronic systems faces two major challenges: First, the system is integrated in a fast changing environment and has to cope with dynamically modified tasks and circumstances. At the same time, the development of new methods has to be fast, c...

The tremendous progress in computer technologies within the last decades enabled an increasing use and importance of modeling and simulation for all engineering and decision-making processes. However, the inherent complexity of mechatronic systems increases significantly, causing a steep rise in complexity of the corresponding simulation models. Th...

To enable the systematic evaluation of complex technical systems by engineers from various disciplines advanced 3D simulation environments that model all relevant aspects are used. In these Virtual Testbeds real-time capabilities are very hard to achieve without applying multi-threading strategies, due to the high complexity of the simulation. We p...

Various types of 3D simulation applications benefit from realistic forest models. They range from flight simulators for entertainment to harvester simulators for training and tree growth simulations for research and planning. This paper's 4D forest simulation and information system integrates the necessary methods for data extraction, modelling and...

Der MHI e.V. ist ein Netzwerk leitender Universitätsprofessoren aus dem deutschsprachigen Raum, die sowohl grundlagenorientiert als auch anwendungsnah in der Montage, Handhabung und Industrierobotik erfolgreich forschend tätig sind. Die Gründung der Gesellschaft erfolgte im Frühjahr 2012. Der MHI e.V. hat derzeit 20 Mitglieder, die über ihre Instit...

Many automated processes in the forestry sector require a tree species classification to locate individual trees or to distribute data to several species. There is already a huge number of classification approaches, which can be found in the literature. But still there is no global tree species classification available. The difficulty of a global c...

An up to date forest inventory is the key precondition for a sustainable forest usage. Especially for owners of smaller forests, the inventory is a major cost factor, as they do not generate huge revenues from their forestry units but still have to pay the forest surveyor. One result of this situation is, that many owners do not use the timber in t...

Forestry is an important economic field in Germany as well as world wide. In Germany, specially trained forest managers are in charge of silviculture and preservation of forests. An important part of a forest manager's training is the ability to estimate the economical feasibility and ecological impact of timber harvesting operations. In this contr...

Technical systems become more and more complex, causing system design and realization, as well as the effective management of engineering processes from different domains to increasingly challenging tasks. For this reason a continuous need for sophisticated cross-domain methodologies in order to handle complexity and to create reliable systems pers...

A particular problem in the practical application of Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) for the development of complex products is the effective integration of other engineering models. The Model-Driven Engineering Process (MDEP) addresses this by providing clearly defined insert points for domain models and simulation engines. In Closed-Loop S...

Modular satellite systems require sophisticated thermal architectures, novel computation concepts, distributed operational software architectures and have high requirements towards structural dynamics. Additionally, standardized modular satellite systems offer robotic servicing capabilities, enabling reconfiguration, maintaining and upgrading opera...

Small and Medium Enterprises can utilize robotic assembly solutions to improve their productivity. This is especially true if the assembly cells can be reconfigured to accommodate smaller batch sizes and flexible tasks. The Horizon 2020 project ”ReconCell” aims to develop such a reconfigurable work cell. We created a Digital Twin of this reconfigur...

Die Unterstützung manueller Arbeitsvorgänge durch Assistenzroboter im Rahmen von Mensch-Maschine-Interaktionen kann zur Effizienzsteigerung beitragen. Die hierfür erforderliche Analyse und Bewertung des (Teil-)Automatisierungspotenzials manueller Arbeitsplätze ist derzeit allerdings noch mit einem vergleichsweise hohen Aufwand verbunden. Das Forsch...

Das Referenzarchitekturmodell Industrie 4.0 (RAMI 4.0) und die Industrial Internet Reference Architecture (IIRA) sind zwei aktuelle Standardisierungsansätze, deren thematischer Schwerpunkt auf der fortschreitenden Vernetzung betrieblicher Ressourcen liegt. RAMI 4.0 setzt auf vorhandenen Normen aus dem Bereich Produktionstechnik auf, während IIRA au...

Today, autonomous vehicles are mainly verified in real-world test drives. These tests are not only time-consuming but also insufficient for a trustworthy validation since critical situations rarely occur. In order to enable efficient system tests, we propose the use of Virtual Testbeds as a software environment in which “Digital Twins” of real vehi...

Modular satellites provide a sustainable base for future space systems. Nevertheless, due to their modularity, these systems quickly become very complex and arise a challenge for system design and verification. Virtual Testbeds provide cross-domain simulation capabilities, allowing to design, analyze, verify and validate space systems in a flexible...

3D simulation applications benefit from realistic and exact forest models. They range from training simulators like flight or harvester simulators to economic and ecological simulations for tree growth or succession. The nD forest simulation and information system integrates the necessary methods for data extraction, modeling, and management of hig...

The design and usage of a robot requests knowledge from many different disciplines, like mechatronics, materials science, data management etc. Nowadays, computational simulations are an acknowledged method to assure an effective development process of a robotic system. Nevertheless, those simulations are limited to the analysis of single components...

Ausgehend von der hohen Bedeutung und den Grundlagen industrieller Servicerobotik wird der aktuell vergleichsweise geringe betriebliche Umsetzungsgrad derartiger Teilautomatisierungslösungen diskutiert. Um den Abbau möglicher Automatisierungshemmnisse zu unterstützen, wird im Folgenden ein konkreter Anwendungsfall aus dem Bereich der Kleinteilemont...

In this paper, we optimize the placement of a camera in simulation in order to achieve a high success rate for a pose estimation problem. This is achieved by simulating 2D images from a stereo camera in a virtual scene. The stereo images are then used to generate 3D point clouds based on two different methods, namely a single shot stereo matching a...

Virtual testbeds are used for the comprehensive development and testing of complex systems even before building the first hardware prototype. In this paper, we present a virtual testbed for optical sensors in robotic space systems. It comprises configurable simulation models for cameras and laser scanners, interfaces to real sensors, error models,...

Nowadays, various models of contact forces are widespread in physics-based simulators. However, these models are specific to particular applications. In order to broaden these contact models to a wide range of applications, and thus foster multi-purpose simulation capabilities, a more general treatment of contact forces is required. Based on the co...

The development of new technical systems is a cost- and time-intensive process. For this reason, Digital Prototyping and simulation technologies are widely used to enable efficient system tests in all stages of development. At MMI, we propose the use of Virtual Testbeds (VTBs), in order to allow for the verification, validation and optimization of...

We present a three-level cognitive system in a learning by demonstration context. The system allows for learning and transfer on the sensorimotor level as well as the planning level. The fundamentally different data structures associated with these two levels are connected by an efficient mid-level representation based on so-called "semantic event...

More and more of our indoor/outdoor environments are available as 3D digital models. In particular, digital models such as the CityGML (City Geography Markup Language) format for cities and the BIM (Building Information Modeling) methodology for buildings are becoming important standards for project management in the construction industry. In this...

The gap between technical capability and practical application of service robotics increased constantly within the last years, especially regarding small and medium-sized enterprises. In order to facilitate the transfer of knowledge to the shop floor, a methodology for the formal modelling of originally manual work processes was developed. Here, sp...

The recent trend of Virtual Reality (VR) already found its way into entertainment and scientific applications. While current entertainment domains fully exploit the technical possibilities of modern graphics hardware and state of the art rendering approaches, many VR simulation system in scientific contexts put the focus on numerical results with r...

In this contribution we present a formalism to combine the well-known process modeling technique based on Petri nets with the recent developments in Visual Programming for robot programming. The resulting modeling approach enables process developers and robot programmers to follow a hierarchical approach to process development and to profit from th...

Way beyond its industrial roots, robotics evolved to be a highly interdisciplinary field with a variety of applications in different application areas. The eRobotics methodology addresses this evolution by providing platforms where different users can exchange ideas and collaborate with experts from other disciplines for developing complex technica...

Beyond robot hardware and control, one major element for an efficient, constructive and safe mission of teleoperated robots in disaster scenarios such as Fukushima is the quality of the interface between operator and robot. In this contribution, we present the concept of utilizing 3D simulation as a central interface component for the operator to i...

In order to be able to develop simulation-based optimization solutions and to be able to test prototypical implementations of the ideas and concepts developed in this project, a virtual production environment was created by a collaboration between MMI and IPT. In order to expand the potential uses of the virtual production environment, the MMI deve...

Way beyond its industrial roots, robotics evolved to be a highly interdisciplinary field with a variety of applications in a smart world. The eRobotics methodology addresses this evolution by providing platforms where roboticist can exchange ideas and collaborate with experts from other disciplines for developing complex technical systems and autom...

Beyond robot hardware and control, one major element for an efficient, constructive and safe mission of teleoperated robots in disaster scenarios such as Fukushima is the quality of the connection between operator and robot. In this contribution, we present the concept of using an exoskeleton and utilizing 3D simulation as a central interface compo...