Other explorations

The whole thing is much more than the sum of the parts

Our solution is thought as a system in which every single device taken by itself is not as effective as the combination of all the devices together.

We realised the proof of concept of some components of the whole system (detection system and projector), but we also prototyped the other components.

These latter are a training course, and an information display:

KICK-OFF: an event in which operators become familiar with the cobot. This event is ideally thought to be organised before the installation of the cobot in the plant. Having interactive activities before starting working on real production tasks, could help operators appreciate the best features of the cobot and not feel worried about it.

In this occasion operators:

become aware of cobot’s functionalities, capabilities and limits
learn cobot’s safety applications
participate in a workshop to interact with the cobot in a playful way
engage in a group activity of decision making to get involved in the cobot’s installation phase

We believe this event can help operators feel more comfortable around the robot, which may be new and strange for them. Understanding is one the key components of the human-robot collaboration process.

We could not test this option, but we received positive feedback from our coaches and liaisons.

DISPLAY: a read-only device which can be seen by multiple people and from distance. This screen is thought to be placed in the plant near the teabag machines in order to inform operators about the machine, the cobot and the mobile storages' status. It gives an overview of the general workflow situation, allowing the operators to organise their activities smartly. Being still, this display does not require batteries, which are a notable issue of portable devices in industrial environments. This display can help operators understand robot's actions with transparency. Transparency is fundamental to build a proper interaction between human and robot.

Visualization of the machines line

(in this case there are 5 machines)

Current operation of the robot (orange) and the next ones (gray)

Status of the mobile storages and shows which reels are running out

We created an advanced prototype of it, but we did not test it in the industrial plant.