Novel technique for control of industrial robots with wearable and contactless technologies

Abstract

Wearable and non-contact sensor technologies have spread to many diverse areas with their ease of use and application, and the variety of applications has been increasing rapidly thanks to technological developments in the recent years. This work ensures the usability of wearable and non-contact sensor technologies in various industrial fields. In this study, it is aimed that operators can easily control industrial robots in real-time without the need for a specialized programming environment. For this purpose, a new human–robot interface, in which industrial robots can be controlled by hand movements, has been created. In this interface, Leap Motion Controller (LMC), which uses an IR Camera for the control of robot arm positioning and motion trajectories, and Myo armband, which detects wrist and hand movements with EMG sensors, is used to control of robot end effector (tool) actions. By means of both devices, robot movements are controlled by industrial communication after hand movements, classification and data processing stages. The data processing, control and positioning results of the platform developed in the article are presented in comparison with similar studies in the literature. As a result, it has been observed that the developed platform works with high accuracy. EMG classification success was determined as 96.9% and hand tracking error between 2.45–2.85 mm. Thanks to this new platform, various robotic processes such as pick-place, object movement, painting applications, etc. will be carried out easily and flexibly without the need for programming.