Force and visual control for safe human-robot interaction

Unlike the industrial robotics domain where the workspace of machines and humans can be segmented, applications of intelligent machines that work in contact with humans are increasing, which involve e.g. haptic interfaces and teleoperators, cooperative material-handling, power extenders and such high-volume markets as rehabilitation, physical training and entertainment. Force and vision play a fundamental role to increase the autonomy of a robotic system, especially in the presence of humans. Vision provides global information on the surrounding environment to be used for motion planning and obstacle avoidance, while force allows adjusting the robot motion so that the local constraints imposed by the environment are satisfied. In order to avoid dangerous collisions and ensure a safe interaction, suitable control strategies based on force and visual feedback can be used while tracking human motion. This paper surveys such strategies and presents some experimental results in a number of significant case studies. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.