Application examples

As part of the SIH Obstroboter research project, the ELWOBOT, an autonomous fruit farming platform for orchard care, has been automated using helyOS^®. For the first time, a local 5G campus network is being used to enable high-speed communication between the control center and the vehicle. A mission planner, built as microservice and tailored to the specific use case, guides the vehicle from a predefined starting position, such as a charging station or a garage, to the orchard. It connects the rows of trees with special maneuvers and assigns location-based work tasks, such as mulching.

Mission monitoring can be carried out both remotely from the office as well as in the field with 5G-enabled end devices and includes live visualization of a wide range of sensor data via RabbitMQ, including lidar point clouds measured by the vehicle.

Fully automated operation of commercial vehicles in logistics centers and depots can make freight handling safer and more efficient. The AutoTruck project is adressing these challenges.

With helyOS^®, the user can control the gated area, provide missions for vehicles and request status information from the vehicles. The system is designed to be used both locally or via the internet. Therefore, the vehicles can also be monitored and controlled in remote logistics centers using a browser. In the connected gated areas, the vehicles communicate with each other and with external sensors.

The aim of the SAFE20 research project is to develop and implement a safety concept that for the first time allows regular operation of fully automated vehicles in depots with a minimum speed of 20 km/h in mixed operation.

In SAFE20, helyOS^® connects the automated vehicles. The user can monitor the automation zone, specify missions for vehicles and retrieve status information of the vehicles via the browser-based user interface.

At the interim demo in the research project MAGPIE – sMArt Green Ports as Integrated Efficient multimodal hubs – at the Automotive Week 2023, helyOS^® was set up with map, route and path planning microservices to take control of an automated DAF truck. Together with MAGPIE partners, the impressive demonstration succeeded – an important step on the European path towards CO₂-free transport to, from and to ports by 2050.

Automated agriculture is a well-suited application field for helyOS^®. By connecting communication sensors and (if necessary) stationary sensors, an automation zone is created for the respective area.

In the next step, farmers can have their machines carry out tasks listed in the farm management system. Using a web-based control system, they can assign, control and monitor tasks while detecting disturbances at the same time. helyOS^® is responsible for coordinating the available machinery (tractors, etc.), the secure performance of the planned tasks, and advanced cooperative path planning for multi-unit vehicles such as agricultural machinery and trucks.

With robot automation technologies being applied to heavy vehicles such as cars, mobile machinery and trucks, reliable dynamic obstacle detection and collision avoidance becomes crucial for safe operation. Obstacle recognition with vehicle-mounted sensors such as cameras, LiDARs or radar only can become challenging when operating at high speeds or in occluded environments.

With helyOS^®, infrastructure-side sensors can be easily integrated to safely monitor every corner of your robot workspace in live occupancy maps, making your robot fleet stop safely if conflicts with planned trajectories occur.