High-level robot programming based on CAD: dealing with unpredictable environments

Abstract

The global market demands for cheaper, diversified and better quality products are forcing manufacturing companies to change their production facilities. Increasingly, traditional manufacturing is being replaced by flexible manufacturing systems where industrial robots are seen as a fundamental element. Nevertheless, robot programming is still a time consuming task that requires technical expertise. The pu rpose of this paper is to present a human-robot interface that allows non-expert users to teach a robot in a manner similar to that used by humans to teach each other. Another important issue addressed here has to do with how robots deal with uncertainty and the role of sensory feedback as a way to make robots more autonomous and thus face uncertainty.