Toward Safe Human Robot Interaction: Integration of Compliance Control, an Anthropomorphic Hand and Verbal Communication

Abstract

In this paper an integrated system for human robot interaction is presented. It is demonstrated that safety features in human robot interaction can be engineered by combining a robotic arm, equipped with a compliant controller, an anthropomorphic robot hand and a spoken language communication system. A simplified human-robot interaction scenario, based on a typical care robot situation, is exploited to show that safety can be enhanced by the monitoring of torques and motor currents to establish contact with the environment. Furthermore, spoken language is utilised to resolve potentially dangerous contact situations.