ORIGINAL ARTICLEIdentifying and evaluating suitable tasks for autonomous industrial mobile manipulators (AIMM)Simon Bgh safety (e.g., manmachine interaction), general working conditions (e.g., OSH), physical properties (structuredness, space, cleanness, dangerousness), etc.Technology (Y1)Refers to the complexity level and scale of the required technology, in order to perform the specific manufacturing task. In terms of input/output, environment, and process aspects. A key question is: can the task be performed with a standardized version of the new automation/robotics technology or is a dedicated one needed?Factors related to aspects like; communication protocols, humanmachine interfaces, safety technologies, end effectors (e.g., manipulation and grasping tools), and technologies related to adaptation, learning, perception, sensing, control, etc.Process (Y2)Refers to the difficulty level of the actual processing part (e.g., the grasping element of a pick-and-place operation) of the manufacturing task, when being performed by the new automation/robotics technologyFactors related to aspects like; positioning, tolerances, tact time, autonomy/intelligence, quality, dependability, processing capabilities (e.g., welding), usage level, etc.1. Provide a short description of the application (tasks, parts, cycle time, tolerances, quality, etcetera), supported by various forms of documentation (pictures, videos, working procedures, BOMs,statistics, CADmodels, etcetera).1. Choose the weights between 1and 10 for the general variables, in proportion to the irrelative importance for the new automation and/or robotics technology.2. Choose some general application categories (typically between 3 and 7) for the specific domain under consideration.3. Give a score between 1 and 5 or X for each of the four variables (input/output, environment, technology and process).2. Based on the suitability scores it is possible to make different kinds of data analysis and interpretation (e.g. statistics).1. Based on the above the suitability score for each of the considered manufacturing tasks is calculated.Pre-definitions2. Select the appropriate category for the current application.Application inputsResultsFig. 4 A systematic procedure (left) and interactive spreadsheet (right) for the TPMT methodologyInt J Adv Manuf Technol (2012) 61:713726717procedure is shown, including the three main phases: pre- definitions, application inputs, and results. The first phase contains the aspects that need to be defined in advance (weights and application categories). The second phase contains the inputs that are related to the analysis and assessment of the manufacturing tasks (description, docu- mentation, category selection, and grading). The final phase contains the data interpretation, based on the categories and suitability scores for each manufacturing tasks. To make the methodology operational in practice, all aspects are embedded in an interactive Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.The userisabletoperformcustomizableanalysis by simple entries in pre-defined cells and by choosing values from drop-down-menus. The spreadsheet expands automati- cally and provides different graphical and statistical outputs, as shown in Fig. 4 (right). The current version of the TPMTspreadsheet template can be downloaded here: www.machi nevision.dk/interactive_spreadsheet.2.5 Application exampleTo demonstrate the practical use of the TPMT methodology, a general example ispresented.As a startingpoint,thevaluesof theweightsarechosen.Thisexampleisrelatedtoaproduction adaptiveautomationtechnology; therefore, strongemphasisis put upon the production-related variables (input/output and environment), which are controlled by and , respectively. This provides the following weighting: =6, =10, =1, and =2. As this example serves as a clarification of the TPMT methodology, it deals with general manual manufac- turing tasks that are typically automated by robotics. The chosen application categories are machine tending, assembly,Table 3 An application example of the TPMT methodologyDescription Documentation Category Input/ output Environ- ment Techno- logy Process SS An operator manually puts in part A to machine B in order to perform a punch- ing operation. The task has a cycle time of XXX seconds. Machine tending 1 2 2 1 1.6 An operator manually assembles part C and D by means of a screw operation. The task has a cycle time of YYY seconds.Assembly 3 2 2 2 2.3 An operator performs a welding operation in order to join part E and F. The process has a typical cycle time of ZZZ seconds. Process execution2 4 3 3 3.2 Part feeding X X X X N/A An operator picks part G from a bin (bin-picking) and puts it on a feeding conveyor. The process has a typical cycle time of QQQ seconds. 8%37%29%7%2%0%2%0%9%5%Part Feeding (single)Part Feeding (multi)TransportationMachine TendingInspectionAssembly / Pre-Process ExecutionMROCleaningOtherFig. 5 Overview of the