Collaborative robots: novel architectures and interaction paradigms

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The long-term objective of this research is to develop novel concepts of robotic mechanical systems that will lead to lightweight, agile, effective and responsive robots having mechanical capabilities that are similar to those of human beings, including abilities to physically interact with humans and with their environment. Such capabilities are required in order to integrate robots in human-centred environments such as factories, hospitals, households and others. Physical human-robot interaction (pHRI) aims at taking advantage of the complementary capabilities of robots and humans by letting them work together through direct interaction. One of the key challenges in pHRI is to provide an interaction that is intuitive for a human user. In this research, it is proposed to develop user compliant robots in order to produce a very intuitive interaction. In other words, this research aims to develop robots that behave similarly to humans when contact forces are applied to them. First, the mechanical modelling of the interaction between a robot, a human user and the environment will be revisited. Based on the analysis of the mathematical models thus obtained, a variety of potential interaction modalities will be identified based on the characteristics of the robot and of the environment. In this work, backdrivability - i.e., the ability for a human user to directly move a robot by applying forces on its links - will be favoured as a means of obtaining an intuitive interaction. One of the challenges associated with backdrivability is the size and weight of the motors that are required. In order to address this challenge, different mechanical architectures will be investigated such as, for instance, parallel mechanisms or redundant actuators. A prototype of a highly reactive collaborative robot will be designed and built based on the results. Experiments will be conducted in order to validate the capabilities of the system to provide an intuitive interaction with a human user and with the environment. Another research objective is the development of collaborative robot arms in which the proprioceptive measurement of the position and orientation of the end-effector is dissociated from the actuation, which opens the avenue to ultra-lightweight designs. A prototype will also be built to demonstrate this concept. Ultra-lightweight robots constitute a very promising avenue for pHRI because they considerably reduce the risk of injury to users. The research proposed here has the potential to greatly contribute to the understanding of the mechanics of pHRI, especially when robots and users need to interact with the environment. Also, highly effective robotic mechanisms using novel approaches will be designed and tested experimentally. The novel technologies developed in this work will be of great interest to industry and will have the potential to contribute significantly to the development of human-friendly robots.