A Unified Architecture for Physical and Ergonomic Human–Robot Collaboration

Ferraguti, Federica; Villa, Renzo; Landi, Chiara Talignani; Zanchettin, Andrea Maria; Rocco, Paolo; Secchi, Cristian

doi:10.1017/s026357471900095x

Cited by 14 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Finally, also ergonomics is barely considered in HRC control targets. Indeed, one of the few works considering safety and ergonomics but not time for industrial co-manipulators is the article [20] by Ferraguti et al, as the control architecture incorporates two working modes, an ergonomic planner and an admittance controller that can be initialized in a mutually exclusive manner.…”

Section: State Of the Art And Contributionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Safety Compliant, Ergonomic and Time-Optimal Trajectory Planning for Collaborative Robotics

Proia,

Cavone,

Scarabaggio

et al. 2024

IEEE Trans. Automat. Sci. Eng.

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The demand for safe and ergonomic workplaces is rapidly growing in modern industrial scenarios, especially for companies that intensely rely on Human-Robot Collaboration (HRC). This work focuses on optimizing the trajectory of the end-effector of a cobot arm in a collaborative industrial environment, ensuring the maximization of the operator's safety and ergonomics without sacrificing production efficiency requirements. Hence, a multi-objective optimization strategy for trajectory planning in a safe and ergonomic HRC is defined. This approach aims at finding the best trade-off between the total traversal time of the cobot's end-effector trajectory and ergonomics for the human worker, while respecting in the kinematic constraint of the optimization problem the ISO safety requirements through the well-known Speed and Separation Monitoring (SSM) methodology. Guaranteeing an ergonomic HRC means reducing musculoskeletal disorders linked to risky and highly repetitive activities. The three main phases of the proposed technique are described as follows. First, a manikin designed using a dedicated software is employed to evaluate the Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) ergonomic index in the working area. Next, a second-order cone programming problem is defined to represent a time-optimal safety compliant trajectory planning problem. Finally, the trajectory that ensures the best compromise between these two opposing goals -minimizing the task's traversal time and maintaining a high level of ergonomics for the human worker-is computed by defining and solving a multi-objective control problem. The method is tested on an experimental case study in reference to an assembly task and the obtained results are discussed, showing the effectiveness of the proposed approach.Note to Practitioners-Health and safety in workplaces are business imperatives, since they ensure not only a safe collaboration between industrial machinery and human operators, but also Manuscript

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Section: State Of the Art And Contributionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Safety Compliant, Ergonomic and Time-Optimal Trajectory Planning for Collaborative Robotics

Proia,

Cavone,

Scarabaggio

et al. 2024

IEEE Trans. Automat. Sci. Eng.

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“…Right after the REBA, the most commonly used standard ergonomics tool within HRC is the RULA method, likewise posture-based. Ferraguti et al (2020) employed RULA within the proposed architecture for human-robot co-manipulation. Different objects were considered during the experiments and positioned in the most comfortable way for the user to operate them, estimated based on the postures with the lower RULA score.…”

Section: Ergonomics In Human-robot Collaborationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ergonomic human-robot collaboration in industry: A review

et al. 2023

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In the current industrial context, the importance of assessing and improving workers’ health conditions is widely recognised. Both physical and psycho-social factors contribute to jeopardising the underlying comfort and well-being, boosting the occurrence of diseases and injuries, and affecting their quality of life. Human-robot interaction and collaboration frameworks stand out among the possible solutions to prevent and mitigate workplace risk factors. The increasingly advanced control strategies and planning schemes featured by collaborative robots have the potential to foster fruitful and efficient coordination during the execution of hybrid tasks, by meeting their human counterparts’ needs and limits. To this end, a thorough and comprehensive evaluation of an individual’s ergonomics, i.e. direct effect of workload on the human psycho-physical state, must be taken into account. In this review article, we provide an overview of the existing ergonomics assessment tools as well as the available monitoring technologies to drive and adapt a collaborative robot’s behaviour. Preliminary attempts of ergonomic human-robot collaboration frameworks are presented next, discussing state-of-the-art limitations and challenges. Future trends and promising themes are finally highlighted, aiming to promote safety, health, and equality in worldwide workplaces.

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“…Future human-machine teams will need to place human needs and well-being at the center of manufacturing planning and control, instead of continuing the current practices of system-oriented optimization in manufacturing control. The transition from dedicated manufacturing systems to flexible unstructured human-machine collaboration creates huge challenges and opportunities in ensuring manufacturing productivity and human worker wellness [43,44]. Highly adaptive and reconfigurable systems with real-time dataprocessing capabilities are required to address ergonomics issues while ensuring productivity in human-machine collaboration.…”

Section: Human-centered Collaboration Mechanismsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Humans are not Machines - Anthropocentric Human-Machine Symbiosis for Ultra-Flexible Smart Manufacturing

Lu¹,

Adrados²,

Chand³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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<p>Smart manufacturing is characterized by self-organizing manufacturing systems and processes that can respond to dynamic changes. We envision the rapid advancement of smart machines with empathy skills will enable anthropocentric human-machine teams that can maximize human flexibility and wellness at work while maintaining the required manufacturing productivity and stability. In this paper, we present a future-proofing human-machine symbiosis framework that features human centrality, social wellness, and adaptability. The essential technical challenges and methods are discussed in detail.</p>

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A Unified Architecture for Physical and Ergonomic Human–Robot Collaboration

Cited by 14 publications

References 26 publications

Safety Compliant, Ergonomic and Time-Optimal Trajectory Planning for Collaborative Robotics

Safety Compliant, Ergonomic and Time-Optimal Trajectory Planning for Collaborative Robotics

Ergonomic human-robot collaboration in industry: A review

Humans are not Machines - Anthropocentric Human-Machine Symbiosis for Ultra-Flexible Smart Manufacturing

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