RaaS (Robot-as-a-Service) focusing on the human-robot collaboration in industrial sites

Abstract

In this paper, we present the concept of a robot service that interacts with a human operator through speech. Service-oriented architectures and cloud computing are now the dominant computer paradigms. Research on using robots as a service (Robot-as-a-Service. RaaS) is a new trend based on the integration of robots and embedded devices and web and cloud computing. However, while the demand for RaaS utilization within the industry is high, it has not successfully acquired many users. One of the reasons is that the accuracy of the robot's recognition-judgment-action process does not reach a level that users can trust, and the other reason is that it is challenging to learn how to control the robot. Therefore, this study focused on services that allow users to control robots easily within industrial sites. Speech recognition was implemented using RESTful API and Server-Client communication, and a mobile manipulator robot, what we call Little-Helper (LH), is used for implementation. According to the human operators, communicate with the robot by voice speech, increasing collaboration efficiency and productivity of the industry is expected.