Collaborative robots: novel architectures and interaction paradigms

这项研究的长期目标是开发机器人机械系统的新概念，这将导致轻量、敏捷、有效和反应灵敏的机器人具有类似于人类的机械能力，包括与人类及其环境进行物理交互的能力。为了将机器人集成到工厂、医院、家庭等以人为中心的环境中，需要这种能力。物理人机交互（pHRI）旨在利用机器人和人类的互补能力，让他们通过直接交互一起工作。pHRI的主要挑战之一是为人类用户提供直观的交互。在本研究中，为了产生非常直观的交互，提出开发用户柔性机器人。换句话说，这项研究的目的是开发机器人，当接触力施加到它们身上时，它们的行为与人类相似。首先，机器人，人类用户和环境之间的相互作用的机械建模将被重新审视。在分析数学模型的基础上，根据机器人和环境的特点，确定各种潜在的相互作用模式。在这项工作中，反向可驾驶性——即人类用户通过在其链接上施加力直接移动机器人的能力——将作为获得直观交互的一种手段而受到青睐。与反驾驶性能相关的挑战之一是所需电机的尺寸和重量。为了应对这一挑战，我们将研究不同的机械结构，例如并联机构或冗余致动器。一个高度反应的协作机器人的原型将根据结果设计和建造。将进行实验，以验证该系统提供与人类用户和环境的直观交互的能力。另一个研究目标是开发协作机器人手臂，其中末端执行器的位置和方向的本体感受测量与驱动分离，这为超轻量设计开辟了道路。还将建造一个原型来演示这一概念。超轻型机器人为pHRI提供了一条非常有前途的道路，因为它们大大降低了用户受伤的风险。这里提出的研究有可能极大地促进对pHRI机制的理解，特别是当机器人和用户需要与环境交互时。此外，采用新方法的高效机器人机构将被设计和实验测试。在这项工作中开发的新技术将引起工业界的极大兴趣，并将有可能为人类友好型机器人的发展做出重大贡献。

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.