Hand-shaped force interface for human-cooperative mobile robot

Abstract

Aiming at realization of direct and intuitive cooperation between human and robot, we develop an interface system for a mobile robot that can take physical communication with its user via hand-to-hand force interaction. The hand-shaped device equipped on the robot with a flexible rubber-made arm can sense the intentional force exerted by its user. The finger part can be actuated in 1 DOF to achieve haptic force feedback. The robot also has bumper sensors and ultrasonic sensors around the body. The balance of the intentional force and the environmental condition determines the robot’s motion. In this research, we design simple algorithms for both human-following and humanleading motions, and devise experiments with human users. Qualitative and quantitative evaluations of the experimental results are also presented.