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In the rising area of close human-robot collaboration in industrial scenarios, the human operator must be able to easily understand the intent of and data from the robot. Shipbuilding environments exhibit unique features, which make deployment of mobile robots both challenging, relevant, and interesting. One task that is still solely carried out manually today due to its complexity and high need for mobility is the fit-out operation stud welding. This paper presents the latest state-of-the-art developments in human-robot interaction (HRI) for robotic stud welding in large semi-structured manufacturing spaces. The welding itself is carried out autonomously by an autonomous industrial mobile manipulator (AIMM). A novel HRI is proposed, which employs projection mapping and an IMU device to enable intuitive and natural interaction with the robot. Task specific information is projected directly into task space as augmented reality using a projector mounted on the robot end-effector. The IMU device enables non-expert operators to program, verify, and reprogram the robot's task on-site in a ship superstructure. The usability of the system is tested in an extensive user test. It is concluded that non-experts after a short introduction are able to both modify a previous task and instruct and a new task using on average 1:01 and 1:16 minutes. Finally, the HRI has been implemented on a prototype robot and tested in an actual shipyard facility. The precision of the system, including operator inaccuracy, was evaluated to have a standard deviation of 3.6mm.
Andersen et al. (Mon,) studied this question.