The learning cobot

Abstract

Cobots (COllaborative roBOTS) are passive devices that assist humans by guiding motion along software-defined paths. This paper introduces intuitive and efficient tools to design such paths. The operator creates a guiding path by walk-through path programming, tracing a path in free mode. A B-spline fit to this path becomes the guideway. The operator can locally define and modify the B-spline guiding path by moving the control points on a dedicated graphical user interface using a computer mouse. During movement, the operator avoids obstacles and handles sensing errors by using the elastic path planner to deviate from the guiding path. Collaborative learning lets the operator optimize a guiding path in a few tries to adapt it to the specific task and environment. These tools have been implemented and extensively tested on the Scooter cobot. Copyright © 2002 by ASME.