Man-Machine Interface for Human-Robot Collaborative Cellular Manufacturing System

In a human-centered cellular manufacturing system, various machines, including robots, are implemented to support the human operator with the goal of improving overall productivity. In order to ensure the effectiveness of such a system, an effective man-machine interface (MMI) plays an important role in ensuring collaboration and safety, and providing assembly information support. Using a task analysis approach, the assembly operation is broken down into a hierarchical task structure and remodeled for collaboration. In the modeling, appropriate operation properties are extracted as assembly information and, together with reference media in various formats, multimedia support information is produced. The assembly information support is presented on a workbench incorpo-rating a horizontal LCD TV display, and the human operator interacts with the operation control system through a GUI on a touch screen monitor. To ensure collaboration safety, the control system monitors in-put from safety sensors, an operator safety monitoring system, and robot control. A system performance eval-uation study has proven the effectiveness of the system in improving collaborative operation. © Fuji Technology Press Ltd.