Synthesis, control and experimental validation of a robotic helping hand for manufacturing applications

这项研究计划旨在开发一种安全可靠的先进机器人助手(帮助手)，能够在执行操作和组装任务时与人类操作员互动。机器人帮助手的身体能力(力量、运动范围)将与人类手臂的身体能力相当。此外，帮手的适应性和可重复性将至少与先进的最先进的机器人相当。将根据人体工程学数据以及力传递特性的几何、静态和动态分析来确定对机器人帮手的要求。还将使用现有的机器人进行实验，以调查与工作空间、安全、灵巧性和力传递有关的实际问题。然后，基于这些研究的结果，并基于先前研究项目中开发的安全机制，将合成并构建机器人帮手。机器人帮手是一种关节机器人，可以由人类操作员操作，并将其用作交互工具。预计援助之手将至少有7个自由度。它将被设计为安装在头顶轨道支撑上，以便可以在较大的工作空间内移动。帮助手可以像一个自主机器人一样发挥作用，但它也可以由人类操作员手动和直观地控制。为此，将开发控制算法，以产生相关的行为，即：用于自主运动的简单位置控制，用于交互任务的阻抗控制，以及用于将帮助手用作操作员自己手臂的延伸的任务的力放大。为了提供有效和直观的人机界面，还将开发新型传感器并将其集成在援助手中。将实施直观的教学模式，以充分开发传感器的能力，并为人类提供丰富而简单的使用界面。最后，将使用行业合作者确定的示例任务来展示援助之手的能力，以便清楚地突出项目的结果并将技术转移到行业。

This research initiative aims at developing a safe and reliable advanced robotic assistant (helping hand) capable of interacting with human operators in the performance of manipulation and assembly tasks. The robotic helping hand's physical capabilities (forces, range of motion) will be comparable to those of a human arm. Additionally, the adaptability and repeatability of the helping hand will be at least equal to that of an advanced state-of-the-art robot. The requirements for the robotic helping hand will be determined based on ergonomic data as well as on geometric, static and dynamic analyses of the force transmission properties. Experiments will also be conducted using an existing robot in order to investigate practical issues related to workspace, safety, dexterity and force transmission. Then, based on the results of these investigations and based on safety mechanisms developed in a previous research project, a robotic helping hand will be synthesized and built. The robotic helping hand is an articulated robot that can be manipulated by a human operator that can use it as an interactive tool. It is anticipated that the helping hand will have at least 7 degrees of freedom. It will be designed to be mounted on an overhead rail support so that it can be moved over a large workspace. The helping hand can function as an autonomous robot but it can also be controlled manually and intuitively by a human operator. To this end, control algorithms will be developed in order to produce the associated behaviours, namely: simple position control for autonomous motion, impedance control for interactive tasks and force amplification for tasks in which the helping hand is used as an extension of the operator's own arm. In order to provide an effective and intuitive human-machine interface, novel sensors will also be developed and integrated in the helping hand. Intuitive teaching modes will be implemented in order to fully exploit the capabilities of the sensors and to provide the human with a rich yet simple to use interface. Finally, the capabilities of the helping hand will be demonstrated using example tasks identified by the industrial collaborators in order to clearly highlight the results of the project and transfer the technology to industry.