Human Robot Collaboration: Experimental Layout For New Algorithms Development

The diffusion of collaborative robots is deeply changing the way in which human operators and robot interact in industrial environments: collaborative robots share their workspaces with men, making necessary to ensure safety and mental wellness of the operators. These goals can be obtained by implementing new algorithms to avoid any kind of collision between man and robot, designing the trajectories in order to make the interaction as friendly as possible, keeping in consideration the expectation of the man in terms of maximum relative speed and preferred deviation path when a collision could occur. At the same time the mental fatigue during collaborative tasks should be kept under control in order to send alerts when dangerous working conditions could occur and, if necessary, to reduce the robot speed or definitely stop it to prevent accidents. The proposed layout of the collaborative cell will undergo testing to assess its suitability for the disassembly of large and complex Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), as for example the battery of an electric vehicle. This evaluation aims to ensure the system effectiveness and safety under operational conditions.