Human-robot cooperative task realization using high-speed robot hand system

Abstract

We demonstrated a high-speed human-robot co- operation task using a high-speed robot system consisting of a high-speed vision system and a high-speed robot hand. In particular, our goal was to achieve a concrete task in which a board grasped by both a human subject and a robot hand is always kept horizontal by controlling the robot hand based on high-speed visual feedback using the vision system. We propose a basic strategy for appropriately achieving the task and discuss an image processing procedure for detecting the state of the board (position and angle). Also, we describe the inverse kinematics of the robot hand so as to keep the board horizontal, and we set limitations for the robot hand joint angles for avoiding a singular posture and an error action due to human error. In addition, we explain robot hand control of reference joint angles. Finally, we show experimental results for the human-robot cooperation task achieved using the high- speed robot system and our proposed method. I. INTRODUCTION Recently, robots have been introduced in a large number of applications not only in factory automation (FA) and industrial fields, but also in amusement applications and in human society in general. Examples of human cooperative systems that have been developed include human-computer interaction systems, human-machine interaction systems, and human-robot cooperative systems. Research into human cooperative systems encompasses a number of fields, such as communication, motion synchronization, and support and assistance. In particular, in this study we focus on motion syn- chronization, for example, tele-existence, tele-manipulation, and master-slave systems. We discuss the effectiveness and feasibility of applying high-speed robot systems to human cooperative systems. Our laboratory has been developing, and has demonstrated, high-speed dynamic robotic manipu- lation tasks using a high-speed vision system and high-speed manipulators (a robotic arm and hand) (1).