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

该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），能够与人类操作员在执行操作和装配任务时进行互动。机器人辅助手的物理能力（力、运动范围）将与人类手臂相当。此外，辅助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。机器人辅助手的要求将根据人体工程学数据以及对力传递特性的几何、静态和动态分析来确定。还将使用现有的机器人进行实验，以调查与工作空间，安全性，灵活性和力传递有关的实际问题。然后，根据这些调查的结果，并根据在以前的研究项目中开发的安全机制，将合成和构建一个机器人帮助手。机器人助手是一种关节式机器人，可以由人类操作员操纵，可以将其用作交互工具。预计辅助手将具有至少7个自由度。它将被设计为安装在一个架空轨道支持，使它可以在一个大的工作空间移动。辅助手可以作为自主机器人，但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，用于交互式任务的阻抗控制和用于辅助手作为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辅助手中。 将实施直观的教学模式，以充分利用传感器的功能，并为人类提供丰富而简单的使用界面。最后，将使用工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工业中。

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.