Development of Educational Applications with ABB GoFa Collaborative Robot using Externally Guided Motion

Abstract

In academics and in the engineering field in particular, theoretical knowledge is best complemented by handson practice sessions from which students can largely benefit to retain the information learned in the classroom. Robotics is a multidisciplinary science that inevitably falls into this category: once the underlying mathematics are established, it is best to see the mechanism in action. A variety of complementary materials can be included in university courses on robotics to aid students in better understanding the task at hand. This work presents a practical approach in this regard, showcasing a collection of applications developed for the ABB GoFa collaborative robot: visual servoing, 3D surface reconstruction, path correction using force-torque sensor feedback, and teleoperation using low-cost devices and virtual reality headsets. The Externally Guided Motion feature is at the core of the proposed common architecture. The applications were tested either in the RobotStudio simulator or on the real robot.