Design World

  • Home
  • Technologies
    • ELECTRONICS • ELECTRICAL
    • Fastening • joining
    • FLUID POWER
    • LINEAR MOTION
    • MOTION CONTROL
    • SENSORS
    • TEST & MEASUREMENT
    • Factory automation
    • Warehouse automation
    • DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
  • Learn
    • Tech Toolboxes
    • Learning center
    • eBooks • Tech Tips
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • Webinars • general engineering
    • Webinars • Automated warehousing
    • Voices
  • LEAP Awards
  • 2025 Leadership
    • 2024 Winners
    • 2023 Winners
    • 2022 Winners
    • 2021 Winners
  • Design Guides
  • Resources
    • Subscribe
    • 3D Cad Models
      • PARTsolutions
      • TraceParts
    • Digital Issues
      • Design World
      • EE World
    • Engineering diversity
    • Trends
  • Supplier Listings
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe

Continuous Adaptation Makes for More Natural Interactions Between Robots and Humans in Shared Tasks

By Agency for Science, Technology and Research | December 16, 2015

A robot’s role in a shared task could be continuously adjusted during the activity, thanks to a new adaptive robot control system developed by A*STAR researchers that can sense whether a human operator wants to lead or follow. The innovation takes human–robot interactions to a new level of sophistication and opens a range of applications for robots that were previously too difficult to achieve.

Humans are assisted by robots in everything from automotive manufacturing through to delicate surgical procedures and even search and rescue operations, but there remains much room for improvement and expansion of their roles. “Robots are still not as intelligent as we expect and this is particularly clear when it comes to human–robot interactions,” says Li Yanan from the A*STAR Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R).

Though extremely useful for performing repetitive or high-precision tasks and for bearing heavy loads, in many applications robots can only be engaged when guided by a human operator to the start location or object. Once engaged, the robot often takes autonomous control of the task. However, as the role of a robot for any task is usually preset and difficult to change during operations, robots are difficult to manage in tasks where its function might switch frequently, such as in high-mix, low-volume applications like welding, polishing and painting.

To extend the utility of robots to improve such nuanced human–robot collaborations, Li and colleagues from the I2R set out to develop a control code that sensed the intent of the human operator, based on the force they exerted on the robot, and adjusted the role of the robot automatically.

“In the code, to estimate the human operator’s motion intention so that the robot control strategy could be changed, we used game theory, which provides useful tools for analyzing the interactive behavior of players involved in a game,” says Li. “The main technical hurdle, however, was the next step—namely the design and development of an intuitive human-robot interface for experimental validation.”

The mathematically derived control algorithm determines the intention of the human operator based on the human–robot interaction force, and changes the proportion of control sharing between the human and the robot accordingly. In the team’s experiments (see image), the role adaptation control scheme gave better performance results than fixed roles schemes in a range of tasks. “Next, we plan to evaluate this control scheme in a real-world application,” says Li.

You Might Also Like


Filed Under: M2M (machine to machine)

 

LEARNING CENTER

Design World Learning Center
“dw
EXPAND YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND STAY CONNECTED
Get the latest info on technologies, tools and strategies for Design Engineering Professionals.
Motor University

Design World Digital Edition

cover

Browse the most current issue of Design World and back issues in an easy to use high quality format. Clip, share and download with the leading design engineering magazine today.

EDABoard the Forum for Electronics

Top global problem solving EE forum covering Microcontrollers, DSP, Networking, Analog and Digital Design, RF, Power Electronics, PCB Routing and much more

EDABoard: Forum for electronics

Sponsored Content

  • Sustainability, Innovation and Safety, Central to Our Approach
  • Why off-highway is the sweet spot for AC electrification technology
  • Looking to 2025: Past Success Guides Future Achievements
  • North American Companies Seek Stronger Ties with Italian OEMs
  • Adapt and Evolve
  • Sustainable Practices for a Sustainable World
View More >>
Engineering Exchange

The Engineering Exchange is a global educational networking community for engineers.

Connect, share, and learn today »

Design World
  • About us
  • Contact
  • Manage your Design World Subscription
  • Subscribe
  • Design World Digital Network
  • Control Engineering
  • Consulting-Specifying Engineer
  • Plant Engineering
  • Engineering White Papers
  • Leap Awards

Copyright © 2025 WTWH Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media
Privacy Policy | Advertising | About Us

Search Design World

  • Home
  • Technologies
    • ELECTRONICS • ELECTRICAL
    • Fastening • joining
    • FLUID POWER
    • LINEAR MOTION
    • MOTION CONTROL
    • SENSORS
    • TEST & MEASUREMENT
    • Factory automation
    • Warehouse automation
    • DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
  • Learn
    • Tech Toolboxes
    • Learning center
    • eBooks • Tech Tips
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • Webinars • general engineering
    • Webinars • Automated warehousing
    • Voices
  • LEAP Awards
  • 2025 Leadership
    • 2024 Winners
    • 2023 Winners
    • 2022 Winners
    • 2021 Winners
  • Design Guides
  • Resources
    • Subscribe
    • 3D Cad Models
      • PARTsolutions
      • TraceParts
    • Digital Issues
      • Design World
      • EE World
    • Engineering diversity
    • Trends
  • Supplier Listings
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
We use cookies to personalize content and ads, to provide social media features, and to analyze our traffic. We share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising, and analytics partners who may combine it with other information you’ve provided to them or that they’ve collected from your use of their services. You consent to our cookies if you continue to use this website.OkNoRead more