Page - 129 - in Proceedings - OAGM & ARW Joint Workshop 2016 on "Computer Vision and Robotics“

AStepForward inHuman-RobotCollaboration–The ProjectCollRob ∗ RosemarieVelik1,BernhardDieber1, SaeedYahyanejad1,MathiasBrandsto¨tter1, David Kirschner1,LucasPaletta2, FerdinandFuhrmann2, PatrickLuley2,Herwig Zeiner2,GerhardPaar2, andMichaelHofbaur1 1 Institute forRobotics andMechatronics JOANNEUMRESEARCH,Austria first.last@joanneum.at 2 Institute for InformationandCommunication Technologies JOANNEUMRESEARCH,Austria first.last@joanneum.at Abstract Human-robotcollaborationisanovel,hot topicinthefieldof industrialandserviceroboticswithcon- siderable potential. It offers the possibility to combine human cognitive abilities with the strengths of robot technology in terms of precision and performance, thus opening up a wide range of possi- bilities beyond the traditional application of robots. The research project ”CollaborativeRobotics” (CollRob) is an initiative focusing on the conceptualization, research, development, and evaluation of novel methods and tools for collaborative and cooperative robots. This article aims at giving an overviewabout this project in termsof itsbackgrounds,objectives, and thecurrent statusof research covering topics such as machine perception, sensitive redundant kinematic manipulation, dynamic adaptiveplanning,human-robot interaction and informationexchange,human factors, andsafety. 1. Introduction Since the introduction of robots to factories, approximately 50 years ago, their strength has been to perform well specified and repetitive tasks in constrained environments. Due to the high configura- tion and programming efforts in addition to significant investment costs, such an approach can only be profitable at large scales. However, current developments in modern production show a trend to- wards individualized manufacturing and thus small series in robot exploitation. Accordingly, novel innovative strategies and methods are necessary to allow for more flexibility in the production envi- ronment. In thiscontext,onehighlypromisingapproachishuman-robotcollaboration[9]. According to this concept, humans and robots shall be enabled to jointly work together in the production pro- cess in order to combine human cognitive abilities with the strengths of robot technology in terms of precisionandperformance [2]. Tomakesuchacollaborationefficient andsafe, a large rangeofchal- lenges has to be addressed including topics like machine perception, sensitive redundant kinematic manipulation, dynamic adaptive task planning, human-robot interaction and information exchange, ∗Thisworkhasbeensupportedby theAustrianMinistry forTransport, InnovationandTechnology (bmvit)within the project frameworkCollaborative Robotics. 129