Collision detection and reaction: A contribution to safe physical Human-Robot Interaction

Abstract— In the framework of physical Human-Robot Interaction (pHRI), methodologies and experimental tests are presented for the problem of detecting and reacting to collisions between a robot manipulator and a human being. Using a lightweight robot that was especially designed for interactive and cooperative tasks, we show how reactive control strategies can significantly contribute to ensuring safety to the human during physical interaction. Several collision tests were carried out, illustrating the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed approach. While a subjective “safety” feeling is experienced by users when being able to naturally stop the robot in autonomous motion, a quantitative analysis of different reaction strategies was lacking. In order to compare these strategies on an objective basis, a mechanical verification platform has been built. The proposed collision detection and reactions methods prove to work very reliably and are effective in reducing contact ...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2008
• Where: IROS
• Authors: Sami Haddadin, Alin Albu-Schäffer, Alessandro De Luca, Gerd Hirzinger
• Keywords: IROS 2008, Physical Human-robot Interaction, Robot, Robot Manipulator, Robotics