Workplaces
Robot assistance of tomorrow
The RobIn4LeMi project aims to support physically impaired people with the help of robots and thus enable them to participate in working life.
In recent years, the manufacturing industry in Germany has been influenced by two trends that will continue to have an impact on the world of work in the future. On the one hand, we are talking about demographic change and the increasing ageing of the workforce. As a result, the number of health-related absences is rising sharply, particularly due to physical limitations. As a result, affected employees either have to be retrained, take early retirement or even resign. This results in a major loss of expertise and new employees have to be found to fill the gaps. This is where the second social trend comes in: the increasing shortage of skilled workers. Companies are having great difficulty finding qualified staff to fill vacancies or increase their workforce.
The current research project RobIn4LeMi (robot-assisted interaction systems for employees with disabilities) aims to meet these challenges and use intuitive robotic systems to support people with physical limitations in their working lives. These include, in particular, impairments of the musculoskeletal system. The focus of the project is on adapting the robot to the different levels of power conversion and taking personal preferences into account when operating the robot. For example, the robot in the project can be controlled via simple haptic buttons, but also via speech and gestures. It also provides feedback on its actions and communicates with employees.
The project is funded by the Bavarian State Ministry of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy (StMWi) and comprises a consortium of five partners from research and industry who are working together to tackle the challenges presented. The Fraunhofer IGCV is responsible for the scientific part and is researching methods for the selection and intuitive operation of assistance robots. MaibornWolff is developing a software solution to select the right robot and interaction system based on different physical limitations. MaibornWolff is also responsible for evaluating the project results. In order to provide people with the best possible support during the activity to be assisted, the company analyzes Tawny emotion data to determine the degree of robot assistance. This relates, for example, to the robot's speed or positions during the system's reaching activities. In the project, Roboception ensures that the robot perceives its environment via camera technology and can dynamically grasp and hand over objects on request.
Verify results on the demonstrator
The results will be iteratively integrated into a joint demonstrator, which will be tested at regular intervals in the Ulrichswerkstätten Schwabmünchen. The Ulrichswerkstätten are facilities for people with various disabilities and can therefore test the demonstrator's support functions in an assembly context. With the help of the research project and the expertise of the individual partners, the aim is to realize the goal of seeing robots not just as pure production machines in the future. Instead, robotics should serve as flexible support systems for people with physical disabilities. The basis for this is the intuitive operability and output of the robot system in order to create acceptance and transparency towards the technology.
Thanks to the intuitive operability and adaptable support, an individual assistance system can be created that specifically compensates for a person's physical limitations. This means that an affected worker with a reversible restriction can receive adaptive support until they have regained their full capacity and an assistance robot is no longer necessary. In the case of an irreversible impairment, the assistance robot ensures that the person can continue to work at the workplace and that the employee's expertise is still available to the company. The RobIn4LeMi research project and its partners are thus making an important contribution to the working world of tomorrow.
M.Sc. Albrecht Lottermoser, Group Leader Intelligent Process Control and Robotics, and Sophia Parpoulas, both Fraunhofer IGCV
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