Man-machine-interaction and co-operation for mobile and assisting robots

In this contribution we present three robot assistants built at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation (IPA): The production assistant rob@work assists workers doing fetch and carry tasks and participates in manual arc welding. The robotic home assistant Care-O-bot® II supports elderly and handicapped peaople in their living environment. The cooperation work station team@work enables a worker to co-operate with the robot in a common workspace. Beside the hardware architecture of the system, emphasis is placed on the manner of co-operation between man and robot. Furthermore the needed sensor system and motion control is described.