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Human Robot-Team Interaction

Towards the Factory of the Future

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Artificial Life and Intelligent Agents (ALIA 2014)

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 519))

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Abstract

In this paper we present a human robot-team interaction solution for automated task handling in an industrial work environment. The main idea is that multiple heterogenous robots with different capabilities support human workers by autonomously performing tasks for them. When a human worker asks for a specific item the robots need to collaborate as a team to grasp the item and bring it to the user. The approach combines various techniques from vision, robotics and multi-agent systems to create a flexible, low-cost solution for different task allocation problems. A proof of concept is implemented on a mobile manipulation platform and a low-cost personal robot.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    As for example the “UBR-1” from Unbounded Robotics http://unboundedrobotics.com/. and “Baxter” from Rethink Robotics http://www.rethinkrobotics.com/baxter/.

  2. 2.

    Our team smARTLab@work successfully competed in the RoboCup@Work world championships in 2013 [1] and 2014, and the German Open competitions in 2013 and 2014.

  3. 3.

    For more information see: http://www.ros.org/.

  4. 4.

    http://kuka.com.

  5. 5.

    http://youbot-store.com/.

  6. 6.

    http://www.festo.com/rep/en_corp/assets/pdf/Tripod_en.pdf.

  7. 7.

    http://support.robotis.com/en/product/dynamixel/ax_series/dxl_ax_actuator.htm.

  8. 8.

    http://www.Turtlebot.com/.

  9. 9.

    http://opencv.org.

  10. 10.

    http://wiki.ros.org/ar_track_alvar.

  11. 11.

    Due to a damaged motor and wheel, the youBot is stationary at the moment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Liverpool, Ashton Building, Liverpool, L69 3BX, UK

    Daniel Claes & Karl Tuyls

Authors
  1. Daniel Claes
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  2. Karl Tuyls
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Correspondence to Daniel Claes .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Bangor University, Bangor, United Kingdom

    Christopher J. Headleand

  2. Bangor University, Bangor, United Kingdom

    William J. Teahan

  3. Bangor University, Bangor, United Kingdom

    Llyr Ap Cenydd

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Claes, D., Tuyls, K. (2015). Human Robot-Team Interaction. In: Headleand, C., Teahan, W., Ap Cenydd, L. (eds) Artificial Life and Intelligent Agents. ALIA 2014. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 519. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18084-7_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18084-7_5

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