National Institute of Standards and Technology (US)
Safety of Human-Robot Systems in Flexible Factory Environments
Industry is interested in leveraging the dexterity and versatility of people and the precision and repeatability of robots by enabling collaboration in dynamic and reconfigurable manufacturing environments. Such collaborations, however, are not possible today. Robots are still not capable of safely interacting cooperatively with their human coworkers in highly variable task scenarios. This project will focus on developing the measurement science for characterizing and modeling interactions between humans and robots in flexible factory environments. Project results will improve quality control, productivity, and safety of both robots and humans.