An integrated approach for robot training using Kinect and human arm kinematics

In this paper, a new approach based on amalgamation of Kinect based motion sensing system and human arm kinematics is proposed for motion control of an industrial robot. The proposed approach makes use of the human arm motion during task demonstration to attain positional control over robot motion. To achieve this, the human arm configurations from demonstration workspace are mapped to the robot workspace by integrating the incremental inverse kinematic models of the human arm and robot with the Kinect. The proposed method is implemented on an industrial robot showing hand path imitation in real time. The performance of the proposed approach is evaluated on the basis of reproduction of the geometrical path and repeatability in task imitation. The experimental results obtained indicate that the method provides a consistent way to control robot motion by utilizing natural motions of the human arm.