Robot Task Simulation With Operator Tracking for Proximity Safety
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing simulation devices fail to effectively detect and prevent risks of contact or excessive proximity between cooperative robots and operators during simulated tasks, lacking appropriate safety measures to ensure safe interaction.
Innovation Solution
A simulation device equipped with a head-mounted display, a detecting section to track the operator's position, and a simulation execution section to operate a cooperative robot model in a virtual space, providing safety operations such as speed adjustment or stopping the robot when proximity limits are reached, and displaying warning messages when necessary.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a simulation device displays robot and person models in a virtual space without real-time position tracking, then the simulation can be performed with simpler equipment, but the ability to detect and prevent contact risks between the cooperative robot and operator is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The simulation device implements real-time feedback by continuously tracking the operator's position through detection means (camera, sensors) and updating the virtual person model position accordingly. The system monitors the distance between the virtual robot model and virtual person model, and provides feedback warnings when the distance falls within a predetermined unsafe range, enabling dynamic safety assessment during simulation execution.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces physical safety testing with virtual simulation. Instead of conducting actual robot operations that pose physical risks, the invention creates a virtual copy of the robot and operator in a simulated environment, allowing safety risks to be identified and resolved before real-world deployment without requiring complex physical safety barriers or restriction systems.
2Ease of operation
If the simulation device uses traditional display methods without head-mounted displays, then the system is simpler to implement, but the operator cannot experience the cooperative task from the operator's perspective
Solution Approach 1:
The system creates a virtual copy of the operator's perspective by tracking the operator's head position and orientation, and rendering the virtual environment from that specific viewpoint. The head-mounted display presents a first-person view of the virtual space, allowing the operator to experience the simulation as if they were physically present in the virtual environment, enhancing immersion and spatial awareness.
Solution Approach 2:
The system transitions from traditional 2D screen displays to 3D immersive visualization through head-mounted displays. By tracking head position and orientation in three-dimensional space, the system provides depth perception and spatial awareness that flat screens cannot achieve, allowing operators to intuitively understand the spatial relationship between themselves and the robot in the virtual environment.
3Measurement precision
If the simulation does not track operator position in real space, then the system requires fewer detection components, but it cannot accurately determine proximity risks between operator and robot
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces a virtual person model as an intermediary that bridges the physical operator and the virtual robot environment. Detection means (camera, sensors) track the operator's position in real space, and this information is transferred to update the virtual person model position in the virtual space. This intermediary approach allows accurate proximity measurement without requiring direct complex interaction detection between the physical operator and virtual robot.
Solution Approach 2:
The detection system serves multiple functions: it tracks operator position for safety monitoring, updates the virtual person model for immersive display, and provides data for collision risk assessment. By using a unified detection system that performs multiple functions simultaneously, the patent reduces overall system complexity compared to having separate systems for each function.
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is a simulation device for a simulation of a cooperative task carried out cooperatively by a cooperative robot and a person, and the simulation device includes a head mounting-type display device to be mounted on an operator to simulatively carry out the cooperative task, a detecting section configured to detect a position of the operator in a real space, a three-dimensional model display section configured to cause an image in which a robot system model including a cooperative robot model is arranged in a three-dimensional virtual space to be displayed on the head mounting-type display device, and a simulation execution section configured to simulatively operate the cooperative robot model in the three-dimensional virtual space based on an operation program of the cooperative robot to carry out the cooperative task and the detected position of the operator.