AIHURO: Intelligent human-robot collaboration

The overall goal of this project is to create a sustainable workplace where autonomous mobile collaborative robots and humans work together safely and efficiently by having the following research activities: (i) developing human-robot interaction strategies, (ii) developing the techniques for perception and forecasting of moving rigid-objects and humans, and (iii) developing on-line planning and control approaches for the mobile collaborative robots.

Robots can assist humans with tasks that are heavy or repetitive and might thus harm a human over time, but on the other hand some tasks that are easy for humans pose a real challenge for robots, for example picking and mounting cable harness is today beyond the capabilities of robots. The potential for human-robot collaboration is thus huge in manufacturing but also in many other areas like health, agriculture, and household robotics. However, the collaborative robots used in industry have limited sensing capabilities. This implies that true human-robot collaboration is not achievable today. However, the recent advancements using deep-learning for processing visual information opens new possibilities for enabling more capable and intelligent human-robot collaboration. In this project, based on two industrial use-cases, we will develop human-robot interaction strategies together with perception, motion forecasting, planning and control for enabling true intelligent human-robot collaboration. We will thus work towards creating a sustainable workplace where robots and humans work together and complement each other safely and efficiently in a flexible environment.

Chalmers Industriteknik contributes automation expertise to develop real-world demonstrators at AstraZeneca and Volvo AB.

Illustration: Chalmers University of Technology