Page 1 of 23 Aalto University
ELEC-E8004 Project work course Year 2019
Project plan
Project #13
The off-line robot programming exercise
Date: 04.02.2019
Harri Aaltonen
Arttu Heikura
Joonas Turpeinen
Shazam Kasher
Page 2 of 23
Information page
Students Harri Aaltonen Arttu Heikura Joonas Turpeinen Shazam Kasher
Project manager Harri Aaltonen Official Instructor Pekka Forsman Other advisors
Starting date 10.1.2019 Approval
The Instructor has accepted the final version of this document
Date: 04.02.2019
Page 3 of 23
1) Background
Aalto University consists of six schools and one of those is the School of Electrical Engineering.
The School of Electrical Engineering offers a bachelor and master’s degree course ELEC-C1320 - Robotics. As a part of the course, there is an assignment where students need to create an offline simulation for 7-joint KUKA-robot. The previous version of the assignment is at the moment four years old and is in need of updating. The School of Electrical Engineering is updating the software to a newer one and it is beneficial and natural to update the assignment to correspond to the
requirements of the industry.
The ELEC-C1320 Robotics course consists of both Bachelor and Master’s students focusing on automation and robotics. The learning outcomes of the course is to model and control robotic arm with up to seven (7) degrees of freedom as in human arm. The final degree of freedom comes from rotating tool at the end of robotic arm. Similar robots are used in industrial applications with varying number of joints and joint parameters.
The course topics are:
• Rotation matrices and Quaternions and how they are used in to describe relative link frame orientations
• Manipulator kinematics and robot kinematic chain with Denavit–Hartenberg parameters
• Manipulator velocity and forces described with Jacobian matrix
• Online and Offline industrial robot programming
The idea of the assignment is provide students with practical knowledge of how to program industrial robot with state of the art 3D simulator: VisualComponents 4.1 Premium. Visual Components simulator is typically used for designing robotic production systems on the factory floor and for programming manufacturing tasks for the robots. Moreover, the software can also be used for teaching robotics.
In relation to previous Robotics course assignment, which was also done with VisualComponents software, but with older simulator, is that the newest version comes with additional features such as physics engine. Thus, the assignment has additional requirements the project team must define.
Even though the actual end-product is done for the Aalto university, the group will search
international demands and markets for offline robot simulation and related training and education.
Potential markets could consist of industries with shortage of trained staff in both industrialized and
developing countries. During the project, the team will create a business plan for training, education
or robot simulation service.
Page 4 of 23
2) Expected output
The expected output of this project is to produce assignment, instructions and possibly other
material related to assignment. The end-users are not only the students who take the course but also the teachers who must be able to help students in need. The material can be used by the software providers and other companies with certain terms and conditions. The actual assignment and instructions are created based on
•
the course material and subjects
•
current robot tasks in industry (for example welding)
•
previous assignment and analysis of pros and cons of it
•
the workload and gained credits
•
the workload of teachers
•
pedagogical points of view
•
vast difference in the background and knowledge of different students
•
maximal possibility to re-use the same assignment year after year without possibility that correct answer would be leaked
•
minimal possibility to copy the solution from other students We assume and wait that the end-user will
•
get a meaningful learning experience
•
get a basic understanding of how to use an offline robot simulator
•
find links between the theories provided on lecture and actual simulator
•
be able to execute the assignment with zero or near-zero help
In the end demonstration, we are about to show the summary and analysis of the assignment and we
will provide video of the expected output.
Page 5 of 23
3) Phases of project
Phases of the project are presented on the figure 1. The content of each phase is opened after the figure 1.
Figure 1: Phases of the project
M0: Objective set by instructor and/or quality check by instructor
▪
The instructor is also a client and hence is good that the project is presented for him frequently.
▪
The first two weeks include the objective set
▪
On week 5 the project plan is checked
▪
On weeks 7, 9 and 12 the validity of found information is checked
▪
On weeks 9 and 12, the concept plan is checked
▪
On week 15 the first version of assignment is checked and first quality check is done
▪
On week 17, the changes on previous checks are checked
▪
On week 19,
▪
the first version of documentation is checked
▪
second quality check is done.
▪
first report version is checked
▪
pre-presentation
▪
on week 21
▪
second version of assignment documentation is checked
▪
test results are analyzed
▪
the third quality check is done
▪
second report version is checked
▪
presentation
▪
On week 22
▪
everything is ready
Page 6 of 23 M1: Project plan
▪
the tool to find out what to do and when and by whom
▪
compulsory part of course M2: Information search
▪
software learning
▪
robotics
▪
course objectives
▪
pedagogical views
▪
industry applications M3: Concept plan
▪
what is the big picture of the assignment
▪
framework
▪
mandatory business Part M4: Assignment development
▪
coding and designing what students are about to do based on concept plan M5: Assignment documentation
▪
documentation of previous
▪
what to do
▪
how to do it
▪
why to do it
▪
what to report M6: Assignment testing
▪
test cases design
▪
by group members
▪
by not- group members M7: Quality check
▪
links on course
▪
links to industry
▪
test analysis
▪
instructions are understandable
▪
the assignment uses pedagogical points of view
M8: Report, presentation
▪
report of what we did, how and why
▪
the actual assignment as appendix
▪
other related material as appendix
▪
presentation
▪
poster
▪
summary of what did and why
▪
video
▪
assumed end result
▪
maybe some student(s) doing the actual
assignment
▪
maybe the software
Page 7 of 23
4) Work breakdown structure (WBS)
The WBS is done, based on the phases of the project and analysis on, what the project contains. The total project is braked to two big structures: Information retrieval and analysis and assignment plan, testing and implementation. The breakdown is shown at figure 2
Figure 2: WBS
Page 8 of 23
5) Work packages and Tasks of the project and Schedule
Work packages (WP) of the project are introduced below. Every WP is sliced into subparts, which are called tasks. Additionally, every WP has a responsible person(s) and these responsibilities are mentioned in detail in chapter 9.
5.1) Work packages
WP 1: Project management
Project management WP is continuous during the whole project work. This WP takes care that the project will be finished in time.
•
Task 1.1 Coordinating
o
Coordinate meetings, tasks, and deadlines to ensure a successful project.
•
Task 1.2 Communication
o
Communicate with the group members and the instructor. Ensures that the projects result is preferable for the instructor and everyone in the group knows what is done and what is the next task to do.
WP 2: Project plan
In the project plan WP, the implementation of the project is planned in detail and additionally written into a project plan.
•
Task 2.1 Planning
o
Plan what is needed to do in order that project goal is achieved. This task includes brainstorming, meetings and individual work.
•
Task 2.2 Writing
o
Write the ideas from planning task into a complete project plan. Detailed project plan helps group and instructor to see the whole process of the project.
WP 3: Information retrieval
In information retrieval WP, all possible learning material that could be useful for the project is gathered.
•
Task 3.1 Robotic course
o
Search all Robotics course material from MyCourses. Gather possible course feedback from previous years.
•
Task 3.2 Industry
o
Investigate, which companies in Finland use Visual Components program and ask practical examples of how the program is used in the company.
•
Task 3.3 Pedagogics
o
Gather material about pedagogics, for example, articles and books. This material helps to understand how human learns and helps to develop a better assignment.
•
Task 3.4 Robotics
o
Search material about robotics that is not included in Robotics course.
•
Task 3.5 Software
o
Gather videos and material about Visual Components program. The developer of
Visual Components has some videos and articles on their website.
Page 9 of 23
•
Task 3.6 Business aspect
o
Investigate that is there commercial courses for learning Visual Components on the internet. Gather information that is needed for understanding the business aspect of the project.
WP 4: Information analysis
Information analysis WP contains the analysis of gathered material in information retrieval WP.
Only necessary material is used for the later phases of the project.
•
Task 4.1 What is relevant information
o
Going through the material and thinking that what information retrieved is relevant to develop the assignment and business aspect.
•
Task 4.2 How information is applied
o
Speculating how the necessary information is applied for the project.
WP 5: Assignment Planning
Assignment planning WP contains the creation of a full assignment plan.
•
Task 5.1 What is the goal?
o
Set the actual goal for the assignment. What the student should learn from the assignment.
•
Task 5.2 Brainstorming
o
Brainstorm multiple ideas of the assignment content. The responsible person of this WP will organize brainstorm session(s) for the group.
•
Task 5.3 Conceptualization
o
Conceptualization of the assignment.
•
Task 5.4 Business modeling
o
What kind of assignment would be useful in a business vice?
WP 6: Implementation
In implementation WP, the assignment will be implemented with Visual Components robot simulation software and related add-on modules from Delfoi. The teaching material for the assignment is created
•
Task 6.1 Subparts of concept
o
Slice implementation to subparts.
•
Task 6.2 Creation of the instructions
o
Understandable instructions are created.
WP 7: Test and quality assurance
This WP makes sure that the implementation of the assignment is proper.
•
Task 7.1 Testing
o
Test the assignment with group members and non-group members.
•
Task 7.2 Quality checks
o
Make the quality checks for the assignment.
Page 10 of 23 WP 8: Final report and gala
Final report and gala WP contains the last tasks to complete the project and the course.
•
Task 8.1 Writing the report
o
Writing of the final report.
•
Task 8.2 Gala material creation
o
Gathering and planning the material for the gala.
•
Task 8.3 Gala
o
Participate in the gala.
5.2) Tasks
Estimated working hours as person-hours for each task is represented below.
Task Task 1.1
Task 1.2
Task 2.1
Task 2.2
Task 3.1
Task 3.2
Task 3.3
Task 3.4
Task 3.5
Task 3.6
Task 4.1
Task 4.2 Working
hours 20 20 60 35 30 30 30 20 50 37 34 34
Task Task 5.1
Task 5.2
Task 5.3
Task 5.4
Task 6.1
Task 6.2
Task 7.1
Task 7.2
Task 8.1
Task 8.2
Task 8.3
Sum of working
hours Working
hours 20 65 25 80 80 75 90 80 65 60 40 1080
Table 1: Estimated working hours
Page 11 of 23
5.3) Detailed schedule
The detailed schedule is deployed from phases and work packages of the project. Detailed schedule is presented on figure 3.
Figure 3: Detailed schedule
Page 12 of 23
6) Work resources
6.1) Personal availability during the project
Week Harri Aaltonen Arttu Heikura Joonas Turpeinen Shazam Kasher SUM
W2 8 6 6 10 30
W3 8 6 5 9 28
W4 7 5 5 9 26
W5 7 5 5 9 26
W6 11 11 9 11 42
W7 11 11 9 11 42
W8 10 14 10 10 44
W9 10 14 10 10 44
W10 10 14 10 10 44
W11 22 22 17 19 80
W12 32 34 27 29 122
W13 16 16 14 14 60
W14 8 6 6 6 26
W15 7 5 5 6 23
W16 7 5 5 6 23
W17 14 13 20 13 60
W18 14 13 20 13 60
W19 20 21 28 23 92
W20 17 18 25 21 81
W21 23 23 26 21 93
W22 8 8 8 10 34
SUM 270 270 270 270 1080
Table 2: Working hours
Page 13 of 23
6.2) Personal goals
Harri Arttu Joonas Shazam
•
Develop teaching skills
•
Develop leadership skills
•
Develop project work skills
•
Understand my possible work next fall
•
Learn how to develop part of the course
•
Learn Robotics- course material
•
Improve skills for creating exercises for other students
•
Improve to write instructions for an exercise
•
Understand more about teaching environment from tech point of view
•
Improve project work skills
•
Improve
communications skills
•
Pass the course
•
Learn the Visual Components software
•
Learn robotics theory in detail
•
Improve team work skills
Table 3: Personal goals
7) Cost plan and materials
The budget for the project is in practice zero if we don’t count the working hours. The project is software-driven, and the actual software is paid by the course ELEC-C1320. The instructor will take care of the buying the software. If it is possible, we might need to visit some industrial company to understand what they do with robots and that might cost something (travel costs).
8) Other resources
•
The project is software driven and needs only place where we can use Visual Components’
Premium 4.1 with Delfoi add-on modules. Such place is provided by Aalto university at Maarintie 8, classroom AS5
•
The parts that need writing (assignment and other material) can be done either at
groupmembers' own home or Aalto university's spaces where a student can use computer.
Such spaces are librarys, Maarintalo and classrooms.
•
At least one group member can enter to Maarintie 8 after the official opening hours
•
Aalto university's library provides lots of scientific material and publications to its students
that we can use for our research purposes.
Page 14 of 23
9) Project management and responsibilities
Title Person Responsibilities
Project manager Harri Aaltonen
•
Communication and coordination to instruction and teachers of the course
Instructor Pekka Forsman
•
Offers the big picture of the project objective
•
Supervise the project and its quality
•
Buy and install the software needed
Secretary (Arttu Heikura)
•
Do the memo on every meeting
•
Collect the wiki material to reports (project plan and final report)
Documentation
Master Shazam Kasher
•
Project Plan
•
Assignment Documentation
•
Final Report
•
Presentation
Work package 1
leader Harri Aaltonen
•
Communication and coordination to instruction and teachers of the course
Work package 2
leader Shazam Kasher
•Project Plan
Work package 3 leader
Harri Aaltonen / Arttu Heikura
•
Information retrieval
Work package 4 leader
Harri Aaltonen / Arttu Heikura
•
Information analysis
Work package 5
leader Arttu Heikura
•Assignment planning
Work package 6
leader Joonas Turpeinen
•Implementation
Work package 7
leader Joonas Turpeinen
•Quality assurance Work package 8
leader Shazam Kasher
•
Final report
•
Gala
Table 4: Project management
Page 15 of 23
10) Project Meetings
Group and instructor have every Tuesday at 2pm a meeting where group gives the status of project to instructor and gets feedback from instructor. At the meeting quality and scheduling is checked and needed operations are done if there are problems. The meeting will be executed by the frame below:
Weekly meeting Date: Meeting number
Issue Content Responsible
Roll call Check who are attending the meeting Project
manager/secretary/other
Status check
•
What has been done
•
What has not been done '-||-
Schedule check Compare status check to project plan '-||- To-do check What we are about to do this week '-||-
Risk check Check if new risks been found and/or known
risks have been realized '-||-
Quality check Check the quality of the work done '-||-
Plan update If needed, based on checks Democratic vote The division of
tasks Next tasks shared to group members WP owner
Quality
determination Determination of quality requirements of tasks WP owner Other
Table 5:Weekly meeting
Page 16 of 23
11) Communication plan
For the project there are official and unofficial communication plans. For the official
communications, a weekly meeting is held every Tuesday where all the previous week's work and the problems faced are discussed by every member. The next steps for the project and work division for the upcoming week is also done during these meetings. All the group members and the
instructor is part of this meeting to make sure everyone stays updated with the project progress.
These meetings are a great way for the group members to stay updated with each other's work and builds a stronger communication between the team.
For the unofficial communication telegram messaging app and emails are used. Mainly telegram is used for communication regarding any project related task. For example, whenever some changes are being made to the project plan, they are informed on telegram, so all group members know what changes have been made. It is a good tool to keep strong and frequent communication. Sometimes emails are also exchanged between group members. The instructor is mainly contacted through email or is part of the weekly meeting where a face to face communication is done. Project manager is responsible for contacting any person outside the project group via email for any kind of
information gathering process.
12) Risks
Risks are sorted by the work packages
Danger
Possibility /Frequency
Consequences Risk Risk management
Expected result PROJECT MANAGEMENT
One or more project workers leave before the project is done
Possible
Loss of
workforce and knowledge
Medium
Active
commitment and communication
The leave can be pre-seen and reacted or the leave can be prevented The program
license or its install is late
Possible – Not probable
Must do parts of the project with old version
Medium Communication
with IT Avoid danger
Project worker leave one’s job undone
Possible – Monthly even weekly
Others must do more or undone tasks
High High
commitment
Free riders leave the project The background
work is done poorly or partially
Possible Quality suffers High Active working in early phases
Background work done properly
Poor attendance on conversations/
meetings
Possible – Monthly even weekly
Lost
understanding of project by group member
High
Active
commitment and communication
High attendance
Table 6:Risks of the project management
Page 17 of 23 Danger Possibility/
Frequency Consequences Risk
Risk managemen
t
Expected result PROJECT PLAN
Not ready on time Possible
Some of the key plannings will affect to actual work
High
Active commitment and
communicati on
At least the key parts of the plan are ready before the deadline
Quality of plan doesn't support the actual work
Possible Quality check on every
meeting High
Poorly done work will be done again
Poor quality will be noted before the deadline
Table 7:Risks of the project plan
Danger
Possibility /Frequency
Consequences Risk Risk management
Expected result INFORMATION RETRIEVAL
Information
is irrelevant Possible
Can slow down the information analysis if a lot of gathered information is irrelevant.
Medium
Seeing the bigger picture of the project
Irrelevant information is not applied in later phases
Not enough information
Possible - Probable for a small amount of information
Iteration back to information retrieval WP from later phase of the project. Can slow down the
implementation.
Medium
Active working with
information retrieval
Gather up more information
Too much
information Possible
Too much material to analyze, which causes spending too much time in information analysis
Medium
Seeing the bigger picture of the project
Try to reduce material, which is dublicated
Table 8:Risks of the Information retrieval
Page 18 of 23 Danger
Possibility /Frequency
Consequences Risk Risk management
Expected result INFORMATION ANALYSIS
Analysis quality is poor
Possible - not probable
Planning of assignment will be slowed.
High Active commitment
Back to information retrieval phase One's own
expectations guide analysis too much
Possible
Too narrow aspect for the assignment
Medium Active
communication
Going through retrieved material again
Understanding material wrong
Possible - Not probable
Assignment contains faulty information
Medium Active
communication
Reading material again
Table 9:Risks of the Information analysis
Danger
Possibility /Frequency
Consequences Risk Risk management Expected result ASSIGNMENT PLANNING
The results of analysis do not affect planning
Possible Assignment loose
with the material Medium Brainstorming, active commitment
Restart planning
The plan is not
detailed enough Possible Slows down the
implementation Medium Comparing plan to the old assignment
Restart planning Lack of
knowledge with Visual
Components
Possible
Usage of Visual Components in the wrong way
Medium
The whole group uses enough time to learn to use Visual
Components
Reading more material
Table 10: Risks of the Assignment planning
Page 19 of 23 Danger
Possibility /Frequency
Consequences Risk Risk management Expected result
IMPLEMENTATION Resulted exercises does not work due to coding error or because the assignments were done with
older Visual
Components version
Possible
Assignments cannot be used in Robotics course
High
Testing phase must be done repeatedly with every change
Quality assurance
Exercise instructions are only understood by project team
Possible
Robotics course students’ needs additional support
High
Instructions needs to be analysed by another team member and by additional testing personnel
Quality assurance
Exercises are too easy or too hard for
Robotics course students
Possible
Assignments are not on par with workload
High
Compare compete assignments with old versions
Quality assurance
Exercises do not teach much about robotics or about course content
Possible - Not probable
Assignments are incoherent with Robotics course
Small
Plan well before assignments are made and check material after
Quality assurance
Table 11: Risks of the Implementation
Page 20 of 23 Danger
Possibility /Frequency
Consequences Risk Risk management Expected result TEST AND QUALITY ASSURANCE
Exercises do not work during final test phase
Possible
Final testing cannot be done (on time)
Medium
Testing phase must be done in loop:
design -> program -> test -> repeat
Quality assurance
Either written or oral feedback do not offer coherent student perspective during final testing round
Possible Lost of project
focus High
Design written and oral questions beforehand as well as the whole final testing
Good feedback
(Final) testing is
done too late Possible
Testing cannot be done at all or only partially
High
Plan final testing round and gather people early
Final test can be done while changes can be made
Table 12: Risks of the test and quality assurance
Page 21 of 23 Danger
Possibility /Frequency
Consequences Risk Risk management
Expected result FINAL REPORT AND GALA
Not ready on
time Possible
All tasks must be completed before final compilation of report
High Doing all tasks on time
The whole final report is done on time
Quality of
report Possible
Quality check before final submission
High Poorly done parts will be done again
Poor quality will be noted before the deadline
Presentation for Gala not complete or good
Possible
Nothing to present or not good enough material
High
Getting all important
components done on time and add to presentation
Good presentation showing all important features of the project
Some member
is absent Possible
Some other member has to understand the work for absent member and present it
Medium
Make sure all members have their schedule clear for that day
All members are present at gala
Table 13: Risks of the final report and gala
13) Quality plan
▪
Produced material (assignment, instructions) must be understandable and has minimal possibility to misunderstand what student is wanted to do
▪
sub-assignments must be together a whole entity - no conflicts
▪
Project manager has the main responsible of overall quality
▪
Team member responsible for sub-assignment should check his work before presenting it to team
▪
Instructor is responsible to check the quality frequently and tell to project group if finds problems
▪
The end-product and parts of it are iteratively read by group and non-group members
▪
First testing phase consists of team members checking their own work
▪
Second testing phase consists of team members testing sub-assignments made by different team member
▪
Final testing phase is done by non-group members
▪
The quality will be checked every week on meeting
▪
Quality of information, planning, design, implementation, testing etc.
▪
For assignment design, quality checks would include how team members would
implement it and what issues are expected or were found
Page 22 of 23
14) Changing this plan
The project plan is like a preliminary plan of how the project will be carried out. So, if any changes big or small are needed they can be made if necessary. Any group members who thinks that there is a change needed in some part of the project has the right to call for a change. The discussion and decision for the change is made during the weekly meeting and it needs at least 50% support of the group members to come into effect. If there is a situation where there is no consensus on the change being discussed, the project manager has the right and decisive voice to agree or disagree to that change. Once and if the change has been made, it is documented in the meetings notes first and then updated in project plan and it will also reflect in the final report of the project.
15) Measures for successful project
The project is measured in few points of view
▪
Is the assignment executable
▪
can it be done with instructions
▪
is it understandable why certain parts of assignment is asked to do
▪
how much effort it takes to complete the assignment
▪
The previous points of view must be tested also by non-group members
▪
the test persons are expected to understand what they did and why
▪
How well is the assignment linked to
▪
other course material
▪
theories
▪
robotics basic theories
▪
industry
▪
assignment frameworks are taken from real companies
▪
can industries use such simulation for example in R&D
▪
Is the project educative
▪
what pedagogical theories were used
▪
how well those worked
▪
how the learning environment was taken into consideration
▪
software
▪
report
▪
worked in pairs
▪
