Human–Robot Collaboration: Safe Hand-Off and Co-Manipulation with a Cobot

Description:

The team prototypes a shared-workspace workflow in which a collaborative robot and a human jointly stage and hand off small battery-pack parts on a benchtop fixture. They implement a perception pipeline (depth camera + fiducials/pose estimation) to localize parts and track the human hand, then fuse this with a ROS2-based finite-state machine that governs approach, present, confirm, release, and retreat phases. Safety behaviors include speed-and-separation monitoring with dynamic slow/stop zones, intent cues via LEDs/sound and on-wrist gesture confirmation, and compliant motion during co-manipulation. Motion planning uses MoveIt (or a vendor SDK) with guarded moves and force/torque thresholds to prevent pinch or slip during hand-over. The system logs trajectories, proximity events, and stop triggers, and synchronizes them with usability measures (task time, successful transfers, near-miss counts) and human factors instruments (e.g., workload and trust questionnaires). The team conducts A/B evaluations of UI cues and approach strategies (front vs. side approach, static vs. adaptive speed profiles), identifies failure modes (vision dropout, false positives, grasp misalignment), and hardens the stack with watchdogs and recovery behaviors. They conclude with a reproducible demo script, parameter presets for different reach envelopes, and concise SOPs and risk-assessment checklists so future teams can extend the hand-off library to new parts and fixtures.  

Duration: Fall/Spring​ 

Team: 2 graduate students and 1 undergraduate student 

Compensation: Unpaid​ 

Preferred Skill and Knowledge:

  • ROS2 (Python/C++), robot kinematics, and MoveIt or a vendor SDK
  • Depth camera integration and basic computer vision (OpenCV), with TF frame transforms
  • Introductory cobot safety (speed/force limits, protective zones) and risk-assessment checklists
  • Basic experiment design and metric logging/analysis 

Application Procedure​:

Please send your resume and a short explanation of the project areas you’re interested in and why to Chang S. “CS” Nam (csnam@ncat.edu).​