Towards Progressive Automation of Repetitive Tasks Through Physical Human-Robot Interaction.

In this paper, a novel method is developed that enables quick and easy programming in repetitive industrial tasks, through kinesthetic demonstration from the operator. The robot learns the task cycle with the assistance of haptic cues and progressively transitions from manual into autonomous operation using a novel variable stiffness control strategy and assistive virtual fixtures. The training process, requires a small amount of iterations, decreasing dramatically the typical robotic programming time. In the experimental evaluation, an operator is able to program a pick and place task in less than a minute, without requiring any interaction with a user interface or pre-programming of the task sequence.