Gesture Control of Cyber Physical Systems

Abstract

The next generation of robots should be able to work well in the presence of human operators safely without posing potential life hazard. To realize the collaborative and symbiotic work of humans and robots, it is essential to use a convenient interface that is natural for humans. The design of the interface must consider ergonomic aspects and must not hinder the work of the operator. The interface have to be unambiguous for both the robot and human operator. In this article, we present a control for cyber physical systems. In order to properly interpret and execute commands in a human-robot shared workspace, it is essential to have a virtual model, where commanded actions can be justified from feasibility and safety point of view. This is established by implementing the digital twin of the robot cell. This virtual model contains both the model of the robot and the human operator. The controller allows simultaneous control of robots, both the actual machines and the models in cyber-space, as well as updating the posture and gestures of the human operator. The implemented gesture control language is modular. Modularization creates the opportunity to reconfigure the cell with minimal energy expenditure and still use the same gestures, in order to realize different production use-cases.