Safe obstacle avoidance for industrial robot working without fences

Abstract-Until now, the presence of fences is a technological barrier for the adoption of robots in Small Medium Enterprises (SME). The work deals with the definition of an intrinsically safe algorithm to avoid collisions between an industrial manipulator and obstacles in its workspace (Standard ISO 10218-1). The suggested strategy aims to offer an industrial solution to the problem: an off-line analysis of the workspace is performed to have an exhaustive and intrinsically description of the static obstacles and a safe spatial grid of "pass-through points" is calculated; an on-line algorithm, based on an enhanced Artificial Potential Field evaluates the most suitable points to avoid collisions against obstacles and perform a realtime replanning the path of the robot. A Matlab toolbox that elaborates STL CAD files has been developed to obtain a full description of the workcell, and the avoidance algorithm has been designed and implemented in a standard industrial controller. Various experimental results are reported by using a COMAU NS16 arm manipulator

Instrumental evaluation of the upper limb: Control data and aging effects

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Abstract

Nowadays, high costs of automation technologies, sustainable only in manufacturing markets with large volume production and intensive capitals, do not allow a widespread application of Robotics to Small Medium Enterprises (SME). To face such a problem the need of low-cost and not-proprietary solutions at all level of the robot work cell is mandatory. Focusing on the robot control system, two aspects can be addressed to reduce its life cycle costs. Firstly, during the Research & Development activities, more openness allows to design, develop and integrate functionalities quickly, reacting to market changes with few engineering efforts both in term of cost and time; secondly, during the common use of the control system, providing intuitive interfaces for robot programming let the robot end user not to rely on high skilled operators who require specific knowledge for each specific system with expensive efforts in personnel training. In this paper, the above mentioned aspects are addressed proposing a PC and open source software based control architecture for robot controllers. Such an architecture has been used to test compliance strategies; specifically, this work shows the implementation of teaching by demonstration based on manual guidance using a force/torque (F/T) sensor and a wireless joy-pad. The same algorithms used on the PC-based controller have been applied to an industrial robot controller in order to accomplish a manual guidance based on the motor currents feedback. 1

Teleoperator Response in a Touch Task with Different Display Conditions

This paper deals with the evaluation of human biofeedback response in virtual reality and in direct view. The experiments have been performed with a new paradigm for the evaluation of human biofeedback during the telemanipulation performance of a touch task. The controlled motion of one finger is monitored with the surface EMG, while mechanical robotized hand finger follows the motion imposed by the human finger. The biofeedback is detected in a direct way, by the vision of the robotized finger action, and in an indirect way, with the support of three different types of interfaces. The neuromuscular activity presents different features and delays in the four cases: A measurement of the attention and participation in the man/machine interface is obtained, in a first series of experiments. The paradigm adopted in this research is the result of the integration of robotics and neurology

Evaluation of Human Control in Telerobotics by means of E.M.G.

This paper analyses human control performance by means of a telemanipulation system and measurements of muscular activity during teleoperations. The task is performed with the aid of different types of interfaces. The control loop of a telerobotic manipulation system includes the human motion program. The control strategy for human motion is closely dependent on the type of interface available, that is, on the way the performance knowledge is presented to the operator. The analysis here proposed concerns the sensory and logical evaluation of this dependence in a telerobotic application, by means of EMG signal acquisition during teleoperations both in real and virtual environments. The experiments have been performed with a new paradigm for the evaluation of human feedback during the telemanipulation performance of a touch task

An innovative pattern to design new business models in the machine tool industry

Since some years, European machine tool companies are facing a turbulent market, where Asiatic competitors are becoming more and more aggressive. In such context, technology improvement is not anymore sufficient to preserve their market position: the evolution of their business model towards the offer of value added services will be a fundamental key for future success. This paper, realised within “Next Generation Production Systems” FP6 European Project, proposes an innovative operative pattern guiding machine tool companies in the business model innovation decisions

Study of Human Reaction Times Using an E.M.G. Signal and Virtual Interfaces

Study of Human Reaction Times Using an E.M.G. Signal and Virtual Interface