B-PaDY: Robot co-worker in a bumper assembly line: System integration of the prototype

Abstract

We have been developing a robot, which works in cooperation with workers in an automobile bumper assembly line, named B-PaDY. This robot is not directly involved in the assembly task but performs non-essential tasks for workers. To implement B-PaDY in an actual assembly line, robustness to hand-over bumper are required. However, when an Automatic Guided Vehicle (AGV) brings a bumper to B-PaDY, the AGV is not always in the same position, and B-PaDY cannot grasp the bumper correctly by teaching/playback. Moreover, after grasping the bumper, the robot needs to hand-over the bumper safely and correctly to the workers. In this paper, we propose a method for grasping a bumper robustly by using image processing from the camera input and to hand-over to the worker safely and stably by using a bumper vibration suppression trajectory. Finally, the experiments show the validity of proposed method.