RFID based-human localization in robot-cells for a better shared workspace interaction

Abstract

Industrial robots have become a vital part of automation in industries performing operations like stacking, casting, painting, sorting, welding etc. The basic sensory abilities in most cases needs operating these robots inside robot fences which separate the operator from the robot. But now this line of separation is becoming thin and work environments are being designed for collaborative tasks involving both human and robot participation. This transformation demands for systems that ensure the safety of the operator inside the work environment. We have designed and implemented a new localization method for the industrial robot environments using RFID technology. The entire system is implemented as a ROS based package to facilitate integration and experimentation in broad range of robot architectures. We have also developed a real time 3D visualization of the monitored work environment in RViz for displaying sensor data and state information from ROS. The system provides good real time response and proves to be a cost efficient and scalable method for human localization in robot-cells.