CARV2021: Aline Kluge-Wilkes represented Cluster at First Physical Conference of the Year
Aline Kluge-Wilkes from the Chair of Manufacturing Metrology and Quality Management at WZL was one of the first scientists at the Cluster of Excellence since the beginning of the pandemic to have the opportunity to participate in a physical conference again. CARV2021, the CIRP-sponsored conference on Changeable, Agile, Reconfigurable, and Virtual Production was hosted this year as a hybrid event in the environment of Aalborg University Denmark after thorough considerations. Due to the hybrid orientation as well as adapted protection concepts, Kluge-Wilkes was able to give her presentation entitled "Dynamic Task Allocation for Cooperating, Heterogeneous Assembly Resources in LMAS" in front of an attending audience. The conference took place from 01.11.2021 to 02.11.2021 and provided a forum for the researchers in Aalborg who had travelled to the conference, as well as for the virtually connected colleagues* from all over the world, to discuss the topic of Sustainable Personalization in Manufacturing and to share ideas and research results. As part of MCPC2021, which was merged with CARV and held simultaneously, Professor Frank Piller (Institute of Technology and Innovation Management) was also a keynote speaker.
What impressions did you personally take away from the conference, especially in terms of physical attendance?
CARV was hosted this year by Aalborg University in Aalborg, Denmark, after a one-year postponement due to the pandemic, and this year it was combined with MCPC (World Conference Mass Customization, Personalization & Co-Creation) for the first time, which I felt was a very good fit. Through a hybrid concept consisting of presence and online participation, the regulations and personal needs of the participants could be taken into account on the one hand, and on the other hand, the personal exchange of the physical participants could be made possible. I myself had the opportunity to physically participate in a conference for the first time in my work as a research assistant, which made me very happy. Participation enabled immediate exchange and discussion between conference participants directly after the technical presentations and also keynotes, which greatly enriched the experience for me - especially in comparison with online conferences. In discussion rounds, during industry tours and coffee breaks, it was possible to discuss content-related topics on the one hand, but also to establish contacts for international collaborations and exchanges, for example. It was very exciting to have direct contact with researchers from other universities to discuss the respective status of similar research areas and also to compare the methodological approach in projects or even the dissertation.
How can you briefly break down your presentation topic and what is its relevance for the scientific community?
My presentation included a concept development for the control of mobile assembly resources on station level in the lineless Future Assembly. It is important here that all resources are mobilized and thus can be flexibly arranged to jointly solve varying assembly tasks. Through my contribution it was shown for the first time that the control of these mobile resources can be divided into the three main parts task allocation, formation planning and trajectory planning. Furthermore, I could present an agent-based communication concept for the coordination between mobile assembly resources in such assembly stations. Due to the time lag between the preparation of the paper and the presentation at the conference, the talk was enriched by the direct comparison of the designed communication concept with one implemented in a demonstrator of lineless assembly at our tool shop at WZL.
How is your research topic embedded in the IoP complex?
In terms of content, I am located in CRD-B2: Team F - Future Assembly. There, we are jointly developing a holarchy for line-free, mobile assembly, incorporating the concept of the Internet of Production. My research focus is on evaluating formation planning of mobile assembly resources at the station level in this line-less assembly. Thus, I am concerned with evaluating the feasibility of given assembly tasks depending on the capabilities of the resources and their spatial orientation with respect to each other. The goal is to perform the assembly tasks as efficiently as possible.