Low-cost sensory glove for human-robot collaboration.

Abstract

Human Robot Collaboration (HRC) is a technique that enables humans and robots to co-exist in the same environment by preforming operations together. HRC has become a vital goal for industry to achieve progress towards the fourth industrial revolution (Lotz, Himmel, & Ziefle, 2019) as it focuses on creating advanced production/manufacturing plants that have high levels of productivity, efficiency, quality and automation. Sensory gloves can be used to enhance the Human Robot Collaboration environment in order to achieve progress towards Industry 4.0. It can provide a safe environment where humans and robots can interact and work in conjunction. However, challenges exist in terms of cost, accuracy, repeatability and dynamic range of such devices. The project researched and developed a low-cost sensory glove to enable a user to collaborate with an industrial robot in a production environment. The sensory glove was used to provide a process whereby humans could collaborate with the robot through physical interaction under safe conditions. The sensory glove used IMU sensors in order to track the orientation of the user’s hand accurately. An algorithm was developed and designed to extract the data from the glove and create a simulated three-dimensional render of the hand as it moved through free space. This involved the design and development of an electronic system architecture that powers the glove. A control system was developed to enable the extraction of data and create the simulated three-dimensional hand model. It produced the image that the robot would sense when interacting with the worker. Testing was conducted on the cost, accuracy, dynamic range, repeatability and potential application of the system. The results showed that it was an innovative and low-cost method for humans and robots to collaborate in a safe environment. The apparatus established a process whereby humans and robots could perform operations together.