Hannover Messe 2019

••• 13••• Innovationen Interactive control to guide industrial robots Scientists developed new technology to make human-machine teamwork more efficient A n innovative technology ena- bling people and large indus- trial robots to work together in an intuitive way that feels a lot like human teamwork has been de- veloped by scientists at the Fraun- hofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology IWU. Us- ing the benefit of this technology, robots can recognize gestures, faces and postures to make this collaboration that much safer and more efficient. A cursory glance at shop floors is all it takes to see human-robot collaboration has gone main- stream in manufacturing. How- ever, a second glance reveals that this is more “to each his own” than “we’re in this togeth- er.” Heavy-duty robots operate alongside their human coworkers without safety fencing, but di- rect interaction is a no-go. Safety precautions dictate that the ro- bot freezes as soon as a human sets foot in a sizable surrounding safety zone. The Fraunhofer Insti- tute for Machine Tools and Form- ing Technology IWU has come up with an unprecedented technolo- gy to make human-machine team- work more efficient, benefiting the entire manufacturing work- flow. “We have added effective, secure and flexible interaction to legacy technology. This is the first time humans can communi- cate and collaborate directly with heavy-duty robots based on hand gesture in the industry,” says Dr.- Ing. Mohamad Bdiwi, head of de- partment for robotics at Fraun- hofer IWU. This collaboration goes something like this on the shop floor: The machine recog- nizes human gestures, faces and postures when a person enters the robot’s work zone. This data serves to make the teamwork safe and to control the robot. The human simply gestures, using hands and arms to instruct the mechanized coworker to perform a task. The robot is able to inter- pret even complex movements. “Our technology brings gesture control to industrial applications. To date, it has been used mainly in gaming applications, for example, for consoles,” adds Bdiwi. Fraun- hofer IWU is set to present this innovation in hall 17 at booth C24. The robot detects the component in the worker’s grasp. Photo: Fraunhofer IWU Gehäusetechnik in » Edelstahl » Stahl » Aluminium Jacob Schaltschränke GmbH · Albert-Schweitzer-Straße 18 · 32758 Detmold · Tel. 05232 988 10 · vertrieb@jacob-schaltschraenke.de www.jacob-schaltschraenke.de Wertarbeit aus Leidenschaft.