Online velocity constraint adaptation for safe and efficient human-robot workspace sharing

Despite the many advances in collaborative robotics, collaborative robot control laws remain similar to the ones used in more standard industrial robots, significantly reducing the capabilities of the robot when in proximity to a human. Improving the efficiency of collaborative robots requires revising the control approaches and modulating online and in real-time the low-level control of the robot to strictly ensure the safety of the human while guaranteeing efficient task realization. In this work, an openly simple and fast optimization based joint velocity controller is proposed which modulates the joint velocity constraints based on the robot's braking capabilities and the separation distance. The proposed controller is validated on the 7 degrees-of-freedom Franka Emika Panda collaborative robot

Evaluation of Human Robot Collaboration in Masonry Work Using Immersive Virtual Environments

With the advent of collaborative robots, there is a great potential to improve work performance by human-robot collaboration in engineering tasks. Construction is no exception. Many construction tasks are based on the movement of objects (e.g., material), which are viable candidates for human-robot collaboration. However, due to the physically imposing nature of robot operations and the unstructured environments typical in construction, it is crucial to provide a safe and reliable environment for human workers when performing collaborative work with robots. In this paper, we use Immersive Virtual Environments (IVEs) to evaluate a human response to robots (e.g. perceived safety, trust, and team identification) while performing collaborative construction tasks with robots. By adopting IVEs, various types of robots, interactions, and tasks can be easily tested and evaluated to determine the best HRC practice, without the need to build and evaluate a physical prototype. Several experimental scenarios simulating collaborative masonry tasks were implemented using the Unity3D Game Engine and an Oculus Rift 3D Head-Mounted Display (HMD). The results demonstrate that it is important to take into account work environment of human-robot collaboration in order to understand how humans perceive robots when working with them.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/116277/1/CONVR2015_Final.pd

Online velocity constraint adaptation for safe and efficient human-robot workspace sharing

International audienceDespite the many advances in collaborative robotics, collaborative robot control laws remain similar tothe ones used in more standard industrial robots, significantly reducing the capabilities of the robot when in proximity toa human. Improving the efficiency of collaborative robots requires revising the control approaches and modulating onlineand in real-time the low-level control of the robot to strictly ensure the safety of the human while guaranteeing efficienttask realization. In this work, an openly simple and fast optimization based joint velocity controller is proposed whichmodulates the joint velocity constraints based on the robot’s braking capabilities and the separation distance. The proposedcontroller is validated on the 7 degrees-of-freedom Franka Emika Panda collaborative robot

Enhancing Perceived Safety in Human–Robot Collaborative Construction Using Immersive Virtual Environments

Advances in robotics now permit humans to work collaboratively with robots. However, humans often feel unsafe working alongside robots. Our knowledge of how to help humans overcome this issue is limited by two challenges. One, it is difficult, expensive and time-consuming to prototype robots and set up various work situations needed to conduct studies in this area. Two, we lack strong theoretical models to predict and explain perceived safety and its influence on human–robot work collaboration (HRWC). To address these issues, we introduce the Robot Acceptance Safety Model (RASM) and employ immersive virtual environments (IVEs) to examine perceived safety of working on tasks alongside a robot. Results from a between-subjects experiment done in an IVE show that separation of work areas between robots and humans increases perceived safety by promoting team identification and trust in the robot. In addition, the more participants felt it was safe to work with the robot, the more willing they were to work alongside the robot in the future.University of Michigan Mcubed Grant: Virtual Prototyping of Human-Robot Collaboration in Unstructured Construction EnvironmentsPeer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145620/1/You et al. forthcoming in AutCon.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145620/4/You et al. 2018.pdfDescription of You et al. 2018.pdf : Published Versio

Estrategias y tecnologías para la colaboración segura entre personas y robots en entornos industriales

383 p.En este trabajo se presentan diferentes contribuciones encaminadas a facilitar el desarrollo de soluciones robóticas colaborativas fáciles de usar, flexibles y seguras.Fáciles de usar mediante la utilización de tecnologías semánticas que permiten combinar dos mecanismos de interacción, los gestos y la voz, La contribución incluye, además, el desarrollo de la tecnología necesaria para el reconocimiento de gestos.La contribución en el campo de la seguridad se ha centrado en la definición de arquitecturas y estrategias de seguridad, así como en el desarrollo de tecnologías que permiten implementar el modo SSM: el seguimiento de personas y la monitorización de proximidad. Además se ha experimentado con potenciales usuarios de la robótica colaborativa para conocer el grado de aceptación de las diferentes tecnologías desarrolladas, tanto para la seguridad como para la interacción Finalmente se presentan las contribuciones encaminadas a dotar a los robots de capacidades de percepción que les doten de la flexibilidad necesaria para adaptarse a las condiciones cambiantes del entorno

Safety analysis on human-robot collaboration in heavy assembly task

Manufacturing assembly industry has traditionally utilized human labor to perform assembly tasks manually. With the introduction of industrial robots, fully automated solutions have provided an opportunity to perform complex and repetitive tasks and assist in the assembly of heavy components. In recent years, improvement in robot technologies and changes in safety legislation have enabled new human-robot collaboration (HRC) concepts which have drawn attention of manufacturers. HRC uses characteristics of dexterity and flexibility of human and repeatability and precision of robots to increase the flexibility of the system, decrease the cost of labor in production and improve ergonomics in the design of shared workspace. The operator safety is one of the challenges inside the HRC environment. The safety concerns could be altered with different levels of physical interactions between robot and human. This thesis aimed to develop solution for analyzing the safety functions on different human-robot interaction (HRI) levels. The approach was started with the classification of tasks between human and robot. In this thesis, assembly sequences were designed to fulfill the requirements of each interaction levels of HRI. These experiments were providing evaluation tables for analyzing the safety functions in HRI levels. The primary objective of this thesis is to design the HRC system with suitable safety functions. The safety of the workstation was developed using a combination of hardware and software. Laser scanners employed to detect the presence of a human in hazard areas and ABB SafeMove add-on were configured to exploit safety signals to the robot controller for adopting safety functions such as safety-rated monitored stop, and speed and separation monitoring. In this thesis, time work study analysis was demonstrated that the implementation of HRC decreases the fatigue and the injury risks of the operator and enhances the ergonomics for the operators. The study of safety functions through different HRI levels proved that with an increase of physical interactions it was necessary to employ multiple safety functions to prohibit collisions between robot and human

Estrategias y tecnologías para la colaboración segura entre personas y robots en entornos industriales

383 p.En este trabajo se presentan diferentes contribuciones encaminadas a facilitar el desarrollo de soluciones robóticas colaborativas fáciles de usar, flexibles y seguras.Fáciles de usar mediante la utilización de tecnologías semánticas que permiten combinar dos mecanismos de interacción, los gestos y la voz, La contribución incluye, además, el desarrollo de la tecnología necesaria para el reconocimiento de gestos.La contribución en el campo de la seguridad se ha centrado en la definición de arquitecturas y estrategias de seguridad, así como en el desarrollo de tecnologías que permiten implementar el modo SSM: el seguimiento de personas y la monitorización de proximidad. Además se ha experimentado con potenciales usuarios de la robótica colaborativa para conocer el grado de aceptación de las diferentes tecnologías desarrolladas, tanto para la seguridad como para la interacción Finalmente se presentan las contribuciones encaminadas a dotar a los robots de capacidades de percepción que les doten de la flexibilidad necesaria para adaptarse a las condiciones cambiantes del entorno