Towards the Robotic Co-Worker

Abstract

Recently, robots have gained capabilities in both sensing and actuation, which enable operation in the proximity of humans. Even direct physical interaction has become possible without suffering the decrease in speed and payload. The DLR Lightweight Robot III (LWR-III), whose technology is currently being transferred to the robot manufacturer KUKA Roboter GmbH, is such a device capable of realizing various features crucial for direct interaction with humans. Impedance control and collision detection with adequate reaction are key components for enabling "soft and safe" robotics. The implementation of a sensor based robotic co-worker that brings robots closer to humans in industrial settings and achieve close cooperation is an important goal in robotics. Despite being a common vision in robotics it has not become reality yet, as there are various open questions still to be answered. In this paper a solid concept and a prototype realization of a co-worker scenario are developed in order to demonstrate that state-of-the-art technology is now mature enough to reach this aspiring aim. We support our ideas by addressing the industrially relevant bin-picking problem with the LWR-III, which is equipped with a Time-of-Flight camera for object recognition and the DLR 3D-Modeller for generating accurate environment models. The paper describes the sophisticated control schemes of the robot in combination with robust computer vision algorithms, which lead to a reliable solution for the chosen problem. Strategies are devised for safe interaction with the human during task execution, state depending robot behavior, and the appropriate mechanisms, to realize robustness in partially unstructured environments.

EMG-based teleoperation and manipulation with the DLR LWR-III

“…In addition to that, the integrated torque sensors allow detecting external forces that appear whenever the robot establishes a physical contact. Depending on the magnitude of the force, the robot can react with different strategies and thereby provide safety to the operator as well as to the robotic hardware (see [14], [15]). All these soft-robotic features are embedded in a humanfriendly state-based control architecture [16].…”

A human-centered approach to robot gesture based communication within collaborative working processes

“…Recently, some robotic systems gained sufficient control capabilities to perform complex human-robot interaction tasks that heavily involve the mutual exchange of physical forces [1]. Some of these novel light-weight devices were already introduced to the industrial market, i.e.…”

Tuning Permissiveness of Active Safety Monitors for Autonomous Systems

“…This principle has been used in robotics under different names such as safety manager [18], autonomous safety system [19], guardian agent [7], or emergency layer [9].…”