Multimedia communication pendant for sensor-based robotic task teaching by sharing information-modular structure and application to sensing systems

The previously proposed multimedia-communication (MC) robot-Teaching pendant interface has been given an improved interface function and has been implemented into a modular system structure. The modular structure enables it to be applied to various robot systems, and the improved interface enables the operator and robot to share internal and external sensor data via nonverbal media. The intentions of an operator with only common knowledge and abilities can then be transferred to the robot via nonverbal operation. Using the MC pendant interface, the operator sets the situation-dependent sensor-process parameters by sketching a profile over a graphical display of the shared sensor data. This requires only a simple pattern-recognition ability. Experiments showed that novice operators with no special task knowledge can set appropriate parameters for the given task conditions.