Shop4cf

The new era on human centered robotics in Europe with user friendly, plug and play solutions

Apply now until August 3rd at 17:00 (Brussels Time)

Project Summary

SHOP4CF, Smart Human Oriented Platform for Connected Factories, aims to find the right balance between cost-effective automation, repetitive tasks and involve the human workers in areas such as adaptability, creativity and agility where they create the biggest added value. Also to pursue the highly-connected factory model to reap the benefits of all the data generated within the factory.

VISION

SHOP4CF (Smart Human Oriented Platform for Connected Factories) is an EU-funded project within the eighth framework program Horizon 2020 that aims to create a unique infrastructure for the convenient deployment of human-centric industrial applications. In the project, 20 partners develop a comprehensive software platform containing a wide range of components that cover a broad spectrum of industrial requirements, especially in the context of modern, flexible, and data-rich manufacturing. Apart from the core consortium who submitted the original SHOP4CF proposal, the project is looking for additional contributors during the project’s runtime via several open calls.

The overall vision of SHOP4CF is that tomorrow’s production requires both machine skills (e.g., high accuracy, precision, or persistence) and human resources (e.g., creativity, adaptability, or tactile sense). Therefore, all components considered in the SHOP4CF software platform aim at the mutual complementation of human labor and machines in order to improve the working conditions by:

AUTOMATING MONOTONOUS / LABORIOUS WORK

INCREASING HUMAN PRODUCTIVITY THROUGH SMART ASSISTANCE

We believe that SHOP4CF can have a strong positive impact on the labor market, as people in production are not simply replaced by automated processes, but rather gain in importance as their individual abilities find new relevance.

SHOP4CF Offerings

Facilitated by a pan-European network of Digital Innovation Hubs (DIH), RAMP, the Robotics and Automation MarketPlace, makes the automation value chain effective and connects manufacturing companies with providers of the optimal robotics solutions and vice versa.

30 components, offered under a common architecture based on RAMI 4.0 and FIWARE Technologies, support humans in production activities and provide basic implementation blocks of human-centered manufacturing solutions.

Up to 100k equity free funding, technical and business support to SMEs, selected through 5 open calls.

Testing of SHOP4CF technologies in line with the real industry needs, facilitated by pilots at BOSCH, VW, Arcelik and Siemens.

A vibrant and growing community around the platform necessary to create the adoption critical mass and provide support.

Standardisation in the areas of collaborative robotics, AGVs and use of IoT devices on the shopfloor.

Architecture Summary

Architecture development should include both:

BOTTOM-UP APPROACH

Components are already defined/existing and they should be taken under consideration while developing an architecture.

TOP-DOWN APPROACH

There should be a unified vision of how architecture should look like, and which technologies it will include for system development. This approach may be (to some extent) similar to architecture development performed in HORSE project. HORSE project is a complete example of an architecture development process with top-down approach, therefore can serve as an inspiration for SHOP4CF. Details on HORSE are available here:

Marketplace

Facilitated by a pan-European network of Digital Innovation Hubs (DIH), RAMP makes the automation value chain effective and connects manufacturing companies with providers of the optimal robotics solutions and vice versa.

Manufacturers gain access to robotics and digitization technologies to improve efficiency and productivity. Automation suppliers can reach their customers faster and access a larger market.

Available online apps for better manufacturing, such as:

Production Data Visualisation
Digitisation Audit
Logistics Improvement
Gain access to innovative digitization platforms regarding agile production, logistics automation and human-centered applications.

Corporate pilots

Pilots acting as testing facilities and seeds for adoption of the components. 4 large scale pilots lead by industrial leaders in Europe and 30 external pilots selected through 5 open calls

Arcelik

Product-specific static equilibrium point correction and Technical Support through AR/VR, Big Data and Digital Twins technologies.

Volkswagen

Upfront challenges faced by the assembly workers and engineers

Siemens

Improve automatic data acquisition, storage, traceability with user-friendly interfaces and human safety

BOSCH

Support its workers and to reduce the error rate

Open Call

Five open calls are foreseen in SHOP4CF. Three calls for pilot establishment; First pilot extension call – answering the additional needs of the original pilots and the new ones deployed in the first pilot establishment call and Second pilot extension call – answering the additional needs of the original pilots and the new ones deployed in the first and the second pilot establishment call.

Pilot Establishment Call

Consortium: two partners: (1) a system integrator who would like to integrate SHOP4CF solutions and (2) a manufacturing environment (at least one of them being an SME).
Duration of participation: 8 months
Maximum budget granted to one experiment: € 100,000
Funding rate – 100% (non-profit), 70% (for-profit) of direct costs
Established in an EU Member State or Associated Country.

Pilot Extension Call

Consortium: 1-2 partners, developer or integrator + developer
Duration of participation: 8 months
Maximum budget granted to one experiment: € 100,000
Funding rate – 100% (non-profit), 70% (for-profit)
Established in an EU Member State or Associated Country.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q: Are robots for agriculture and the associated applications eligible for the open call ?

A: The scope of the call is limited to applications in manufacturing/on the shopfloor. If the idea is to use the components for a robot that is not on the shopfloor but in the field, the application is not eligible

Q: Can an SME be the integrator which will test the components in the lab of an university ?

A: No, since production lines are needed where the TRL will be increased from existing 3-6 to higher. The lab conditions at the University will not allow this

Q: Can organizations that are already partcipating in other cascade projects apply to the open call ?

A: Yes, as long as they do not apply for a grant with the exact same pilot

Q: How can I get an access to RAMP ?

A: Access to RAMP is not yet fully open to the public. However, you can use the following credentials to test the platform:

Access as a manufacturer: email: man@test.com, password: man
Access as a technology provider: email provider@test.com, password: provider

Q: Is the Pre-proposal mandatory ?

A: No, it is not. It is and additional service the SHOP4CF consortium offers to the applicants for checking if the proposed work is in line with the call scope. Pre-proposal submission and evaluation do not have any influence on the evaluation of the full proposal

Q: Is it mandatory to have an industrial partner in the consortium ?

A: Yes, since the scope of the call is to implement the proposed pilot at the production side of the manufacturing company, one of the partners

Q: Is it mandatory that the consortium has partners from at least two different countries or can both partners be from the same country ?

A: No, it is not mandatory to be from two different countries, the partners can be from the same country. However, the partners of the applying teams must be established in the EU Member States or Horizon 2020 Associated Countries (details can be found here)

Q: Are big companies eligible for funding ?

A: Yes. However, one of the partners must be an SME. You can see the SME definition provided by European commission here: http://ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/business-friendly-environment/sme-definition_en

Q: What is the exact role of the marketplace? Are the new components expected to be openly available on the marketplace ?

A: The marketplace is intended to include every single component that has been developed within SHOP4CF. Hence, every newly developed component in the open call must be part of the marketplace and must implement the reference architecture. Note that the components do not necessarily have to be freeware but can also use a licensing model for commercial purposes

Q: Is a company developing mobile robots and mobile manipulators for healthcare applications eligible to apply for the first Open Call ?

A: As long as the use case is applied in a manufacturing environment, the company is able to get granted in the open calls