Is it a good time to contact the office manager or do you risk disturbing him? Is it the case, right now, to change an object from hand? That talent that men often do not have, that is timing, will be the machines. Thanks to a study coordinated by the Biorobotics Institute of the Sant’Anna High School, in collaboration with the University of Ferrara, and published in the international journal Science Robotics, which has identified the most appropriate moment in which a robot can communicate the request for passage of an object without disturbing human action. It is a discovery that can be transferred from the factory to any other place.
“The recent spread of collaborative robots in the industrial sector – explains Marco Controzzi, researcher at the Institute of biorobotics and coordinator of the study – has led us to address, in addition to safety aspects, the ergonomics of the behavior of robots. These aspects, in addition to the adoption of new perception technologies and artificial intelligence algorithms, will allow these robots to really be of help during the execution of demanding and repetitive tasks “, adds Gastone Ciuti, professor of Bioengineering at the Institute of Biorobotics. .
The study – according to the researchers – shows that the most suitable moment for the robot to convey its intentions is the one immediately following when the operator grabs an object. By communicating your request for collaboration in time, the robot will facilitate the handover, avoiding the operator making mistakes and reducing stress.
But how does communication between the person and the robot actually take place? “Through a bracelet – continues Controzzi – which will be worn by the operator and which will vibrate when the robot requests the passage of an object”. The robot is equipped with a vision system that monitors the movement of the man: when the man is in the right phase to receive the object, the robot sends a signal to the bracelet that releases a short vibration. “The results underline the importance of being able to establish a simple and intuitive communication between people and robots – commented Francesca Cini and Tommaso Banfi, of the Institute of Biorobotics and first authors of the research – the study in fact foresees that the robot communicates its intentions taking into account both the state of the action in progress and the condition of the operator in order to facilitate the latter and not confuse him. This approach has proved effective in making collaboration more fluid during a shared manual task. For this reason, with our contribution, we hope to ensure that people can understand and interpret the behavior and intentions of a robot, to be able to coordinate with it in an intuitive way, avoiding that they are distracted or hindered “.
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