C4Retail aims to develop innovative robotic systems that can support staff in retail stores. A typical task in retail is to correctly arrange misplaced products on a store's shelves or replenish empty shelves. Self-driving robots assist with these tasks by:
(1) autonomously patrolling the store and scanning items on the shelves using machine vision and RFID technology,
(2) identifying misplaced items and
(3) attempting to pick up misplaced items autonomously or with human assistance and place them on the correct shelf.
If the robots encounter situations that they cannot handle independently, a human can be notified and provide assistance either on-site or remotely (human-in-the-loop).
For remote assistance, virtual or augmented reality approaches are used, which offer the robot assistants the most vivid possible representation of the robot's current situation and enable an intuitive user interface.
The assistants can take control of the robot system for a certain period (Transfer of Control, ToC) or teach the robot how to grasp objects that are difficult to grasp, such as textiles. This learned technique is stored in the shared data model (digital twin) and used for future improvements. This enables robot manufacturers or retailers to offer their customers extended support.
C4Retail is an internationally oriented project that includes a regular exchange with the Korean Institute of Machinery & Materials (KIMM) from South Korea, which is involved in design and development. The European partners thus receive valuable impulses from the Korean market and research field. They can adapt the new developments beyond the borders of Germany to the highly innovative cooperation country.
C4Retail is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection as part of the 9th German-Korean call for joint research and development projects of medium-sized companies over three years (1.5.2024 - 30.04.2027). It is part of the Central Innovation Program for SMEs (ZIM).
Further information
https://www.dfki.de/en/web/research/research-departments/cognitive-assistants
