Partners from the Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems and Automation (LMS); Dionisis Andronas, George Apostolopoulos, Nikos Fourtakas and Sotiris Makris have presented the paper “Multi-modal interfaces for natural human-robot interaction” describing the work done in module 9 during the 10th International Conference on Digital Enterprise Technology, which has taken place in Budapest, Hungary from the 11th to 13th of October.
The paper, presented during October 11th under the Robotics session, describes the design and implementation of a multi-modal Human-System and System-Human interaction framework that enables seamless interaction between operators and their “robot colleagues”. The overall architecture of the proposed system makes it scalable, flexible, and applicable in different collaborative scenarios by enabling the connectivity of multiple interfaces with customizable environments according to operator’s needs.
The paper also presents the results of the system evaluation on a scenario originating from the automotive industry proving that an intuitive interaction framework can increase acceptance and performance of both robots and operators.
The DET 2021 conference focuses on the employment of modern Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for the modelling, simulation, optimization, control, monitoring, and visualisation of products, factories and manufacturing processes, covering all lifecycle issues across the entire supply chain, starting with product design and development, engineering of factories, machines, equipment and technical processes, commissioning and ramp-up, followed by manufacturing operations, maintenance, factory overhaul and facility management, up to products recycling/re-use, and environmentally friendly dismantling.