Improving human-robot interactivity for tele-operated industrial and service robot applications

In industrial robotics applications, teach pendant has been widely used by human operators to pre-define action trajectories for robot manipulators to execute as primitives. This hard-coding approach is only good for low-mix-high-volume jobs with sparse trajectory way-points. In this paper, we present a novel industrial robotic system designed for applications where human-robot interaction is key for efficient execution of actions such as high-mix-low-volume jobs. The proposed system comprises a robot manipulator that controls a tool (such as a soldering iron) to interact with the required workpiece, a networking server for remote tele-operation, and an integrated user interface that allows the human operator to better perceive the remote operation and to execute actions with greater ease. A user study is conducted to understand the merits of the proposed system. Results indicate that human can operate the system with ease and complete tasks more quickly and that the system can improve application efficiency.