Mobile Manipulation: from the Prototype Development to the Industrial Applications

Mobile manipulators will play a crucial role in the transition to Industry 4.0, as they offer an easy way to reconfigure the assembly line by self-reorganization, providing more options for cooperation with humans. Shortly, mobile manipulators may become an integral component of smart factories, workshops and highly modular assembly lines. Compared with traditional industrial robots, mobile manipulators can transfer their position, providing highly flexible services and dexterity in any environment. Therefore, they can be widely used in different scenarios, including industries, living apartments, orchards, precision agriculture. They can be designed and manufactured for various industrial purposes, including polishing, sanding, painting, assembly, packaging, logistics and other challenges of modern processes. Furthermore, they are involved in military and rescue operations, since they could enter more hazardous environments to fulfill dangerous tasks, such as defusing bombs and the remote inspections. The future of MoMa will be made by fully autonomous systems, allowing the system to carry out entire tasks on its own. This may increase the maturity of systems in terms of the fourth industrial revolution, with on board intelligence to be independently able to spot mistakes, evaluate risks and handle different situations. AI has the potential to advance this topic. Intelligent feedback, adaptive tasks, and multimodal integration foster more natural and harmonious cooperation between humans and robots. This collaborative approach is a key success factor in the new era of robotics, where personalizing production processes and focusing on human needs are increasingly important. However, the challenge of balancing automation with human involvement in industry persists. Future advancements in AI may provide insights and solutions to address this issue.