Arm-Hand-Control by Tactile Sensing for Human Robot Co-operation

Human robot co-operation is a challenging topic, especially more complex co-operation patterns which do not just involve reactive force control. Our research comprises human robot co-operation between a humanoid household robot and a human partner working together in a kitchen. It is embedded in the collaborative research centre SFB 588, “Humanoid Robots – Learning and Cooperating Multimodal Robots“ at the University of Karlsruhe. In this paper we have selected a scenario of our robot wanting to grip a glass standing on a table with its hand while the human partner corrects the robot’s trajectory by guiding the robot at its forearm. Using this scenario we illustrate our distributed planning architecture, our control mechanisms and the tactile sensor system involved.