Human-machine Collaboration System for Fine Assembly Process

The assembly process of some fine parts such as semiconductor and MEMS (micro electro mechanical systems), is very difficult to conduct based on the operation of an automated system or a human, since the size of the fine parts are very small and fragile. This paper proposes the concept of conducting advanced assembly process and highly precise positioning operation based on a collaboration of human and machine, such that a high productivity can be achieved. An experimental system to realize and to confirm the effectiveness of the concept is constructed using tele-manipulation and augmented reality (AR) technologies. The experimental system is composed of a haptic device, an augmented reality monitor, a robot manipulator with hand in the end-effector for handling the fine part, a force sensor, some cameras, and a work jig. The effectiveness of the assembly process of fine parts using tele-manipulation and augmented reality is confirmed by some experiments. In the experiments, by adjusting the workspace in the operator side and the assembly area side using scaling factor in the motion command from haptic device to robot manipulator, and also reaction force occurred in the assembly area to haptic device, the assembly process can be conducted effectively. In addition, it is also confirmed that by putting some vector representations of motion command and force in the augmented reality monitor, it can assist human to conduct the assembly process. This paper describes the concept and the experimental system to realize the concept in more detail