The Manufacturing Assistant The use of mobile robot assistants in manufacturing environments (manufacturing assistants) will lead to significant improvements of industrial production processes, particularly in terms of increased productivity and humanization of the work place. Robot assistants in manufacturing will accomplish tasks through close interaction with people, thus supporting human workers, not replacing them. The human worker is responsible for the command, supervisory, and instructional functions, while the robot assistant will carry out boring, repetitive and strenuous operations. In cases where the robot does not know how to proceed, the human worker will intervene to provide guidance and additional instruction. Robot and human worker are, therefore, partners in joint manufacturing processes. Manufacturing Assistant (design study) Typical tasks in manufacturing applications are taking out parts from containers, the transportation of parts to machining stations or assembly work cells, and the assistance with the assembly. A task sequence to be jointly carried out by a robot assistant and a human worker might look as follows: taking out complex parts from containers transporting the parts to a work cell preparing the machining tools executing a set of processing steps assembling (i.e. adding and attaching) the individual parts transporting away the assembled part Scenario: Manufacturing Assistant (DaimlerChrysler AG) Real, complex factory environments are characterized by frequent changes, by varying positions of transport containers, by parts of differing forms and weights in the containers, and by the use of various machining tools. Accomplishing a task sequence such as the one outlined above in real factory environments requires a maximum of flexibility. This flexibility can only be achieved by instructing the robot assistant in an interactive teaching and learning process where the human worker is responsible for:   Familiarizing the robot assistant with the manufacturing environment by showing it around and naming selected places, thereby having the robot learn a model of the surroundings; this model will be later used by the robot for navigation through the environment while carrying out such things as transportation tasks.   Showing the robot objects like transport containers, parts, or machine tools, so that the robot is able to generate internal representations of those objects. Demonstrating specific motion behaviors and maneuvers to the robot assistant, teaching it sensor-based locomotion and manipulation capabilities (skills). A typical example is docking to a transport container and grasping some parts.   Demonstrating complex sequences of operations from which the robot can extract and generalize appropriate task plans.   Teaching the robot assistant how to cooperate with the user in an appropriate manner. This includes the robot's taking into account the behavior of the human worker and his or her intentions (if they can be identified) in its own behavior and plans. Interactive and intuitive teaching and programming of a robot assistant by the demonstration of motion and manipulation skills is fundamental for competent behavior of a manufacturing assistant. This instruction has to take place not only during an initial training and learning phase but also during regular operation (incremental learning). The successful use of robot assistants in a manufacturing environment will depend on the critical question as to whether the share of the work done by the robot assistant is as high as possible, and whether it is capable of flexibly dealing with varying sequences of tasks under variable boundary conditions.