An Augmented Reality Interface for Safer Human-Robot Interaction in Manufacturing

Abstract

With the adaptation of Industry 4.0 and emerging ideas of Industry 5.0, the manufacturing industry is shifting back towards human-centered production. In these scenarios, collaboration robots (Cobots) become an important part of this shift toward human-robot collaboration (HRC). However, with the introduction of robots meant to work in close proximity to and in collaboration with people, problems of safety and collaboration efficiency arise. On the other hand, there are developments in the field of Augmented Reality (AR), which allow overlaying digital information onto the physical environment and having people interact with it. This paper introduces an AR interface for HRC with cobots, which can tackle the issues of human safety and efficiency. The use of the interface is demonstrated on an HRC ski assembly use case. All the source code can be found on GitHub: https://github.com/ut-ims-robotics/rybalskii-incom-2024-replication-package.