MIMIK - Augmented Reality Assisted Multimodal Interaction System for a Robotic Arm

MIMIK (Multimodal Interaction Methods for Intuitive opreation of Kinematic chains) is the Masters Thesis of Roland Aigner, graduate of the Upper Austrian University of Applied Sciences in Hagenberg, Austria (Digital Media/Interactive Media focus). Feel free to download it from http://theses.fh-hagenberg.at/thesis/Aigner10


Abstract:

In mass production, robotic systems are programmed to perform repetitive tasks for a long period of time. In contrast, small lot size production requires high flexibility and frequent reprogramming. However, status-quo methods for programming industrial robots are complicated, hard to learn, and errorprone for novice users. Since incorrect programs can cause severe damage and huge costs, personnel has to be trained, or dedicated experts have to be hired. As a result, robots are not common in small and medium sized enterprises. This circumstance is mainly due to unintuitive human-robot interfaces.

Using the example of a robotic arm, this thesis introduces a novel multimodal interaction approach for operating and programming industrial robots, by combining six degree of freedom tracking with human speech input and touchscreen interaction. For additional operator support, augmented reality is proposed for visualization. The resulting system enables for natural and intuitive interaction with the robotic arm, while providing descriptive visual information, and can be rapidly adopted by novice users.

This thesis also presents the results of a user study, which was conducted to prove the viability of the proposed interaction technique. The data shows that all major design goals were achieved, since it performed superior in most aspects, compared to a rather common robot controlling system.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• multimodality
• multimodal interface
• MMI
• Human Robot Interaction
• HRI
• industrial robotics
• robot programming
• robot operation
• Augmented Reality
• AR
• user study
• 6 degree of freedom tracking
• multitouch
• FH Hagenberg
• IM
• Interactive Media
• DM
• Digital Media
• Digitale Medien