Design of Flexible Modular Manipulators for Applications involving Human Machine Interaction

第四次工业革命预计将极大地改变制造业的未来，并导致智能工厂将受益于工业4.0的主要设计原则：互操作性，真实的实时能力和模块化。机器人技术将在这场革命中发挥关键作用，系统将缓慢发展为智能自动化工具，具有更高的灵活性和灵活性，以及学习和适应环境变化的能力。今天，大多数用于服务应用的机器人只在结构良好的环境中执行不涉及人类的专门预编程任务（拾取/放置，研磨等）。近年来，Kinova Robotics和Kuka等制造商开始开发专门用于以人为中心的环境中部署的机械手，以协助日常任务。这些机器人具有不同的运动速度和有效载荷能力，以便能够与人类互动，同时最大限度地减少碰撞和受伤的风险。然而，这些系统并没有被设计为被重新配置以处理可能需要不同水平的灵活性的不同任务或应用需求。此外，另一个非常重要的方面是潜在的人类安全，这样机器人就可以成功地无缝集成到以人为中心的环境中，并能够安全有效地执行协作任务。在这项研究计划中，申请人将利用他在模块化和可重构系统领域的广泛专业知识来设计下一代机器人系统，并为需要与人类密切互动和协作的应用提供智能控制，例如服务业。在拟议的研究计划中，用于人机交互（HMI）的模块化和可重构机器人（MRR）将被开发为多功能硬件，与具有固定配置的硬件相比，具有更高的灵活性。建议的研究的一个目标是开发智能算法，以优化HMI应用中常用的机器人手臂的运动学配置，根据任务要求和运动学和动力学约束。该研究计划还将专注于开发监督控制方法，这些方法可以调整机器人位置和力/扭矩控制回路的参数，以适应新任务引入时的系统重新配置，同时在与人类互动时保持安全性和精度。该计划还将开发动态算法来重新生成机器人运动命令（轨迹和关节速度），并更新路径规划过程，以适应任务的变化或与机器人手臂交互的人所要求的支持水平。申请人新研究实验室的独特实验设置; RoboHub将能够有效地实现拟议研究计划的所有目标，并提供一个强大而独特的培训环境。

The fourth industrial revolution is expected to greatly change the future of manufacturing and lead to Smart Factories that will benefit from the main design principles of Industry 4.0: interoperability, real--time capability, and modularity. Robotics will play a key role in this revolution, with systems slowly evolving as intelligent automation tools with higher levels of dexterity and flexibility, and the ability to learn and adapt to changes in the environment. Today, most robots in use for service applications only perform specialized pre-programmed tasks not involving humans (pick/place, grind, etc) in well-structured settings. In recent years, manufacturers, such as Kinova Robotics and Kuka started developing manipulators designed specifically for deployment in human-centric environments to assist with daily tasks. These robots have different motion speeds and payload capacities in order to enable interaction with humans while minimizing the risk of collision and injury. However, these systems are not designed to be reconfigured to handle different tasks or application needs that may require a different level of dexterity. Also, another very important aspect is the underlying human safety, so that robots can be successfully and seamlessly integrated in human--centric settings and be able to conduct collaborative tasks safely and efficiently. In this research program, the applicant will build on his extensive expertise in the area of modular and reconfigurable systems to design the next generation robotic systems, with intelligent controls for applications that require close interaction and collaboration with humans, such as those in the service industry. In the proposed research program, modular and reconfigurable robots (MRR) for human machine interaction (HMI) will be developed as versatile hardware with improved dexterity compared to hardware with a fixed configuration. One objective of the proposed research is to develop intelligent algorithms to optimize the kinematic configuration of robotic arms commonly used in HMI applications, based on task requirements and subject to kinematic and dynamics constraints. The research program will also focus on developing supervisory control methods which enable adjustment of the parameters of the robot position and force/torque control loops to adapt to system reconfiguration when new tasks are introduced, while maintaining safety and precision while interacting with human(s). The proposed program will also develop dynamic algorithms to regenerate robot motion commands (trajectory and joints speeds) and update the path planning process in order to adapt to the changes in the task or the required level of support requested by the human interacting with the robot arm. Unique experimental setups in the applicant's new research lab; the RoboHub will enable effective pursuit of all the objectives of the proposed research program as well as provide a robust and unique training environment.