Modeling and controller design of cooperative robots in workspace sharing human-robot assembly teams

Abstract

Human workers and robots are two major workforces in modern factories. For safety reasons, they are separated, which limits the productive potentials of both parties. It is promising if we can combine human's flexibility and robot's productivity in manufacturing. This paper investigates the modeling and controller design method of workspace sharing human-robot assembly teams and adopts a two-layer interaction model between the human and the robot. In theoretical analysis, enforcing invariance in a safe set guarantees safety. In implementation, an integrated method concerning online learning of closed loop human behavior and receding horizon control in the safe set is proposed. Simulation results in a 2D setup confirm the safety and efficiency of the algorithm.