Advanced 3D robot simulation for flexible interactive manual robot guidance—an eRobotics approach

Manual robot guidance is an intuitive approach to teach robots with human’s skills in the loop. It is particularly useful to manufacturers because of the high flexibility and low programming efforts. However, manual robot guidance requires compliance control that is generally not available in industrial robots. We address this issue with a simulation-based approach. The dynamics of the robot are replicated and its motion is controlled on the simulator, which is enriched with a joint admittance controller driven in real time with external joint torques sensed during interaction with the physical robot. We then virtually transfer the admittance capability by sending back the simulated compliant joint position to the real robot to enable manual guidance. Experimental case studies are provided to illustrate the practical performance and usefulness of the proposed smooth bidirectional transition between 3D simulation and reality, as pursued by eRobotics to address complex issues in industrial automation.