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Surgical robotics can be divided into two groups: specialized and versatile systems. Versatile systems can be used in different surgical applications, control architectures and operating room set‐ups, but often still based on the adaptation of industrial robots. Space consumption, safety and adequacy of industrial robots in the unstructured and crowded environment of an operating room and in close human robot interaction are at least questionable. The purpose of this paper is to describe the DLR MIRO, a new versatile lightweight robot for surgical applications.

The design approach of the DLR MIRO robot focuses on compact, slim and lightweight design to assist the surgeon directly at the operating table without interference. Significantly reduced accelerated masses (total weight 10 kg) enhance the safety of the system during close interaction with patient and user. Additionally, MIRO integrates torque‐sensing capabilities to enable close interaction with human beings in unstructured environments.

A payload of 30 N, optimized kinematics and workspace for surgery enable a broad range of possible applications. Offering position, torque and impedance control on Cartesian and joint level, the robot can be integrated easily into telepresence (e.g. endoscopic surgery), autonomous or soft robotics applications, with one or multiple arms.

This paper considers lightweight and compact design as important design issues in robotic assistance systems for surgery.

The paper seeks to present a new generation of torque‐controlled light‐weight robots (LWR) developed at the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics of the German Aerospace Center.

An integrated mechatronic design approach for LWR is presented. Owing to the partially unknown properties of the environment, robustness of planning and control with respect to environmental variations is crucial. Robustness is achieved in this context through sensor redundancy and passivity‐based control. In the DLR root concept, joint torque sensing plays a central role.

In order to act in unstructured environments and interact with humans, the robots have design features and control/software functionalities which distinguish them from classical robots, such as: load‐to‐weight ratio of 1:1, torque sensing in the joints, active vibration damping, sensitive collision detection, compliant control on joint and Cartesian level.

The DLR robots are excellent research platforms for experimentation of advanced robotics algorithms. Space and medical robotics are further areas for which these robots were designed and hopefully will be applied within the next years. Potential industrial application fields are the fast automatic assembly as well as manufacturing activities done in cooperation with humans (industrial robot assistant). The described functionalities are of course highly relevant also for the potentially huge market of service robotics. The LWR technology was transferred to KUKA Roboter GmbH, which will bring the first arms on the market in the near future.

This paper introduces a new type of LWR with torque sensing in each joint and describes a consistent approach for using these sensors for manipulation in human environments. To the best of one's knowledge, the first systematic experimental evaluation of possible injuries during robot‐human crashes using standardized testing facilities is presented.

The purpose of this paper is to present and evaluate methods of control and gait generation for the DLR Crawler – a six‐legged walking robot prototype based on the fingers of the DLR Hand II.

Following the institutes philosophy, the DLR Crawler is a highly integrated mechatronic device. As in all DLR robots, joint torque sensing plays an important role to allow actively compliant interaction with the environment. To control the Crawler a joint compliance controller is implemented and two different methods of gait generation are in use. The first method, intended for moderately uneven terrain, employs scalable patterns of fixed coordination combined with a leg extension reflex. For the second method, used in rougher terrain, a set of rules found by biologists in stick insect studies is applied. Based on these rules gaits emerge according to a velocity command. These gaits are combined with several reflexes to a reactive walking algorithm.

The compliance controller together with the reactive gaits allows the robot to autonomously master uneven terrain and obstacles with height differences within the nominal walking height. Further, the controller reduces internal forces compared to pure joint position control. The sensitive joint torque sensors allow fast collision detection and reactions thereafter.

This paper introduces a six‐legged walking robot test bed with comprehensive force‐torque sensing capability. Joint compliance controllers are implemented and successfully combined with reactive gait algorithms. For the second gait algorithm inspired by Cruse's rules, which were identified for forward walking stick insects, an implementation has been found for the DLR Crawler that gives the robot full omnidirectional mobility.

Streamlining automated processes is currently undertaken by developing optimization methods and algorithms for robotic manipulators. This paper aims to present a new approach to improve streamlining of automatic processes. This new approach allows for multiple robotic manipulators commonly found in the industrial environment to handle different scenarios, thus providing a high-flexibility solution to automated processes.

The developed system is based on a spatial discretization methodology capable of describing the surrounding environment of the robot, followed by a novel path-planning algorithm. Gazebo was the simulation engine chosen, and the robotic manipulator used was the Universal Robot 5 (UR5). The proposed system was tested using the premises of two robotic challenges: EuRoC and Amazon Picking Challenge.

The developed system was able to identify and describe the influence of each joint in the Cartesian space, and it was possible to control multiple robotic manipulators safely regardless of any obstacles in a given scene.

This new system was tested in both real and simulated environments, and data collected showed that this new system performed well in real-life scenarios, such as EuRoC and Amazon Picking Challenge.

The new proposed approach can be valuable in the robotics field with applications in various industrial scenarios, as it provides a flexible solution for multiple robotic manipulator path and motion planning.

This paper aims to deal with the problem of programming robots in industrial contexts, where the need of easy programming is increasing, while robustness and safety remain fundamental aspects.

A novel approach of robot programming can be identified with the manual guidance that permits to the operator to freely move the robot through its task; the task can then be taught using Programming by Demonstration methods or simple reproduction.

In this work, the different ways to achieve manual guidance are discussed and an implementation using a force/torque sensor is provided. Experimental results and a use case are also presented.

The use case shows how this methodology can be used with an industrial robot. An implementation in industrial contexts should be adjusted accordingly to ISO safety standards as described in the paper.

This paper presents a complete state-of-the-art of the problem and shows a real practical use case where the approach presented could be used to speed up the teaching process.

The purpose of this paper is to present experience from a real‐world demonstration of autonomous industrial mobile manipulation (AIMM) based on the mobile manipulator “Little Helper” performing multiple part feeding at the pump manufacturer Grundfos A/S.

The necessary AIMM technologies exist at a mature level – the reason that no mobile manipulators have yet been implemented in industrial environments, is that research in the right applications have not been carried out. The paper proposes a pragmatic approach consisting of: a commercial‐off‐the‐shelf (COTS) mobile manipulator system design (“Little Helper”), a suitable and comprehensive industrial application (multiple part feeding), and a general implementation concept for industrial environments (the “Bartender Concept”).

Results from the three days of real‐world demonstration show that “Little Helper” is capable of successfully servicing four part feeders in three production cells using command signals from an Open Process Control (OPC) server. Furthermore, the paper presents future research and development suggestions for AIMM, which contributes to near‐term industrial maturation and implementation.

The paper presents a full‐scale demonstration of a state‐of‐the‐art COTS autonomous mobile manipulator system with particular focus on industrial utilization and application.

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the underlying hazards of human‐mimic human‐collaborative industrial robots.

Preliminary hazard analysis is applied to a new industrial upper‐body‐humanoid under development. The result of the analysis is summarized by Fishbone diagram analysis.

Six hazard categories involving a four‐class physical human robot interaction hazard classification are derived from the analysis.

The method of analyzing hazards presented here and the hazard theory derived from the analysis can be used in other developmental projects.

Collaborative robotics and autonomous driving are fairly new disciplines, still with a long way to go to achieve goals, set by the research community, manufacturers and users. For technologies like collaborative robotics and autonomous driving, which focus on closing the gap between humans and machines, the physical, psychological and emotional needs of human individuals becoming increasingly important in order to ensure effective and safe human–machine interaction. The authors' goal was to conceptualize ways to combine experience from both fields and transfer artificial intelligence knowledge from one to another. By identifying transferable meta-knowledge, the authors will increase quality of artificial intelligence applications and raise safety and contextual awareness for users and environment in both fields.

First, the authors presented autonomous driving and collaborative robotics and autonomous driving and collaborative robotics' connection to artificial intelligence. The authors continued with advantages and challenges of both fields and identified potential topics for transferrable practices. Topics were divided into three time slots according to expected research timeline.

The identified research opportunities seem manageable in the presented timeline. The authors' expectation was that autonomous driving and collaborative robotics will start moving closer in the following years and even merging in some areas like driverless and humanless transport and logistics.

The authors' findings confirm the latest trends in autonomous driving and collaborative robotics and expand them into new research and collaboration opportunities for the next few years. The authors' research proposal focuses on those that should have the most positive impact to safety, complement, optimize and evolve human capabilities and increase productivity in line with social expectations. Transferring meta-knowledge between fields will increase progress and, in some cases, cut some shortcuts in achieving the aforementioned goals.

The installation of industrial robots requires security barriers, a costly, time-consuming exercise. Collaborative robots may offer a solution; however, these systems only comply with safety standards if operating at reduced speeds. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development and implementation of a novel security system that allows human–robot coexistence while permitting the robot to execute much of its task at nominal speed.

The security system is defined by three modes: a nominal mode, a coexistence mode and a gravity compensation mode. Mode transition is triggered by three lasers, two of which are mechanically linked to the robot. These scanners create a dynamic envelope around the robot and allow the detection of operator presence or environmental changes. To avoid velocity discontinuities between transitions, the authors propose a novel time scaling method.

The paper describes the system’s mechanical, software and control architecture. The system is demonstrated experimentally on a collaborative robot and is compared with the performance of a state-of-art security system. Both a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the new system is carried out.

The mode transition method is easily implemented, requires little computing power and leaves the trajectories unchanged. As velocity discontinuities are avoided, motor wear is reduced. The execution time is substantially less than a commercial alternative. These advantages can lead to economic benefits in high-volume manufacturing environments.

This paper proposes a novel system that is based on industrial material but can generate dynamic safety zones for a collaborative robot.

This paper describes a series of kinematic and haptic analyses which lead to the design of a particularly simple, yet useful multi‐hand, multi‐finger haptic interface. The proposed device is desktop‐based and has been built with maximizing transparency in mind. By interacting with virtual environments, using two fingers per hand, users are able to grasp and manipulate virtual objects, something that current state‐of‐the‐art commercial desktop haptic devices do not allow. These additional capabilities lend themselves to more complex virtual reality and teleoperation applications such as surgical training, hand rehabilitation and nanomanipulation.