Communications of the ACM
Carrying a Table Together With a Robot
European Union researchers are working on a project to teach robots how to interact and work with humans to accomplish tasks.
Credit: Bielefeld University
Seven European Union (EU)-based research teams are working on the cognitive compliant interaction in motion (CogIMon) project to teach robots how to interact with humans and work together to accomplish tasks.
The researchers, coordinated by Bielefeld University professor Jochen Steil, are developing humanoid and industrial robots. "The goal of CogIMon is to teach robots to understand the forces during the movement of objects and how to appropriately react to changes in weight or contact with the object while carrying it," Steil says.
He notes there currently is little theory to help explain how robots can move objects together with humans, therefore CogIMon project partners in Italy and Great Britain are conducting basic research using interaction experiments with humans.
Meanwhile, Steil is leading a team of researchers in developing new controlling and programming methods for the robots.
The researchers are relying on the COmpliant huMANoid platform (COMAN), which was developed at the Italian Institute of Technology. COMAN measures 95 centimeters (about 37 inches) tall and weighs 31 kilograms (about 68 pounds). The CogIMon researchers want to increase COMAN's size by 25 percent so it can interact with humans, and they also are planning to develop an additional application for industry using a KUKA lightweight robot.
From Bielefeld University
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