In fact, the process may vary from one individual to the next. One person may apply sealant in one hole, hammer in a bolt, and repeat the process for each hole. Another may apply sealant to all the holes before starting to hammer in the bolts. One robot that might be programmed to help with this process is ABB's two-armed FRIDA. Its arms have a wide range of motion, which Shah said can be manipulated for fastening the bolts or applying sealant to the holes.
The team developed a decision tree computational model. Each branch represents a choice a mechanic might make. For example, after applying sealant to one hole, does the worker apply sealant to the next hole or hammer a bolt into the first hole?
The team trained a laboratory robot to observe an individual's chain of preferences, learning that person's preferred order of tasks. The robot could adapt quickly and either apply sealant or fasten a bolt according to that individual's style of work.
Shah said that in real-life manufacturing settings, many workers wear radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags. Factory robots can be programmed to recognize people they have worked with before (through RFID tags or another method) and initialize the appropriate task plan for that person.
The group will present its findings in July in Sydney at the Robotics: Science and Systems Conference. The research was conducted in collaboration with ABB and supported in part by Boeing Research and Technology.
Ann, this is a very interesting use of robots. It is encouraging that this research is looking at ways for robots to cooperate with humans. Machines are meant to be an extension of ourselves, enabling us to do more in the same amount of time.
I imagine this kind of technology would be particularly useful and important in medical applications where the mindmeld, so to speak, between a robotic surgical tool and the actual human surgeon would ensure the best outcome from a patient standpoint.
Nice story, Ann. Yes, working with humans is tough for robots because humans are so unpredictable. Developers of autonomous cars refer to human-driven vehicles as "rogue vehicles." Some suggest that autonomous vehicles could take over the roads today if not for those unpredictable rogues.
Another fascinating story, Ann. There's seems to be a real escalation of robots research in just the last few years. It's interesting the different organizations that are supporting the research, from the military to universities and industry. It's good to see Boeing and ABB contributing to MIT's research.
Chuck, I agree. Like other biological, instead of mechanical, systems, we're a lot more unpredictable than we might think, at least from a robot's POV. I loved that: rogue vehicles, indeed!
In the picture, I see the potential for huge cost savings and increased efficiency. The supervisor holding the clipboard would be trivial to robotise. This would replace the most expensive and inefficient component. As the supervisor can be programmed not to speak, there will be even greater savings in efficiency from the workers, human or robot.
ricardo, you're joking, right? The person in the photo holding the clipboard may be posing as a supervisor for the photo, but she's actually the head researcher in the team. Eliminate her and you would eliminate the research.
During one of the DARPA races a few years ago, Ann, they mixed real drivers (i.e., rogue vehicles) with autonomous cars. They found that the robot cars were obeying the rules, while the human drivers were blowing stop signs and traffic signals.
Chuck, why am I not surprised? I thought some more about the safety issue, and looked at the photo again. The fact is, the small robot arm is holding a brush and the human's arm is holding a drill. I'm more afraid of what the human might do than of what the robot will do. Notice my different use of verbs.
I've also noticed the frequent connections between industry or the military for funding and/or equipment, and universities for R&D expertise, in a lot of the robot research I'm reporting. There do seem to be many more partnerships like this and a lot more activity in robot research in the last decade or so.
Interesting research. There is significant work being done pursuing robots working with humans, and we've featured robots being used as "robotic assistants" in surgery. For use in the factory, I'm sure there are major challenges with safety and other concerns. Thanks.
Robot "surgeons" are actually sophisticated, precision instruments working as an extension of the human surgeon's hands, guided by optics/machine vision. The robots in this article are standalone, separate industrial one- or two-armed robots "observing" a disconnected human. I can see this research being useful for other types of medical robots, such as assistants of various kinds. The main purpose, at present, is for assisting humans in relatively routine tasks that can yet be done in a non-routine, individualized way.
The isolation described in the article is for safety. The weakness in the the technology described is safety.
The image shows a worker wearing a glove with what one can assume is transmitters which the robot can use to track the worker. Let's stipulate that Human Safety will be designed into the system from the start, and that such safety technology is accepted by the governing bodies (EN 13849). That takes into account the operator, wearing the transmitter (or RFID chip, or whatever). The operator is protected, but what about people not wearing the device?
This seems not so much taking the robot out of the cell, but putting a human inside with it. The cell would still need protective barriers (physical or light curtain) for the non-operators in the area.
The term "cell" has more than one definition in this conversation...
TJ, that's an interesting question about safety. I'd think that will get addressed at a later stage, perhaps by ABB, after the research team works out the kinks in this R&D effort.
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