Capacitive Touch Sensing-Based Automated Collaborative Robotic Arm

Abstract

The exponential rise in the industrial usage of automated pick and place robots can be attributed to their versatile nature and numerous applications in many technical disciplines. From industrial assembly manufacturing, including automobile assembly, IC manufacturing and spot-welding procedures, to the remote controlling of robots performing surgical procedures, automated machines that can operate under the express command of humans with a high degree of accuracy are employed across a wide range of fields. The modern industrial scene involves robots and humans working together to achieve a common objective which requires specializations unique to both. An inevitable consequence of this is the fact that very often, humans and robots must operate together systematically to accomplish certain tasks that require their mutual cooperation—a prerequisite that necessitated the development of “co-bots”—collaborative robots that work alongside their human counterparts. Pick and place robots, which are a cornerstone of industrial automation as they can perform a variety of repetitive tasks efficiently and with remarkable precision, also operate alongside human workers. User-friendliness is a major requirement for such robots to ensure maximum efficiency and to prevent potential accidents that may endanger humans. Therefore, this work aims to combine the efficiency, viability and repeatability of an automated pick and place robotic arm, and the characteristic user-convenient collaboration system that co-bots use, using a capacitive touch sensing system.