Task Location for High Performance Human-Robot Collaboration

In this paper, an approach for the evaluation of human-robot collaboration towards high performance is introduced and implemented. The human arm and the manipulator are modelled as a closed kinematic chain and the proposed task performance criterion is used based on the manipulability index of this chain. The selected task is a straight motion in which the robot end-effector is guided by the human operator via an admittance controller. The best location of the selected task is determined by the maximization of the minimal manipulability along the path. Evaluation criteria for the performance are adopted considering the ergonomics literature. In the experimental set-up with a KUKA LWR manipulator, multiple subjects repeat the specified motion to evaluate the introduced approach experimentally.