Advanced Musical Saw Manipulation by an Industrial Cooperative Humanoid Robot with Passive Sound Feedback

Abstract

In recent years, collaborative robots able to work together with humans have become widespread in production sites and factory automation fields. In this context, the goal is to provide a production site where cooperative robots can share various types of tools with humans. However, we have not yet reached the point where collaborative robots and humans can share tools for advanced skills. Therefore, it is very important to investigate how a collaborative robot can control advanced tools requiring human skills and the processes for realizing such control. Musical instruments are some of the most difficult tools to handle. It is important to focus on musical instruments because they allow us to evaluate the robot’s manipulation not only by evaluating its movements, but also by evaluating the resultant sound. In this study, we consider a flexible and large deformable musical saw as an unknown and advanced tool difficult for humans to manipulate. In a previous report, a support method for imitating a human was adopted and provided manipulation control based on striking sound feedback using a cooperative humanoid robot. In the present paper, the support method is improved at the tip of the musical saw to realize an advanced wrist motion. In addition, we discuss skillful manipulations based on striking sound feedback control while considering the positions and postures between the collaborative humanoid robot and musical saw.