Motion Guidance Experiments with Scooter Cobot

Cobots assist humans by mechanically guiding motion along software-defined paths or surfaces. Cobot design has been extensively studied previously. This paper reports the first systematic experimental study of motion guidance with a cobot. We investigated the movements of seven operators with the Scooter cobot in representative environments. Analysis of the force exerted by the operators and the trajectories reveals significant differences between guided movements (GM) and free movements (FM). While FM requires learning for each novel task, GM is optimal from the first trial: Less effort is required to move in GM than in FM; Movements in GM are faster, smoother, and require less back and forth correction than in FM. These advantages demonstrate the strength of the Cobot concept. The results further suggest that operators guided by the Scooter can handle objects in a more “open-loop” way than with a dumb trolley, and so perform faster and concentrate on other aspects of the manipulation task, potentially resulting in increased productivity and fewer injuries.