Man-machine Cooperative System for Agricultural Robot (Part 2)

Human Sensing System in Working Environment of Manipulator

Abstract

In the part 1 of this series, a conception of safety robot system, an evaluating method of degree of danger, and computer simulation of manipulator control using function for degree of danger were discussed. In this paper, a sensing system for detecting of human worker was investigated. First, ultrasonic sensors and infrared sensors were selected for detecting distance between human and robot and for sensing of human existence, respectively. Secondly, basic experiments of the sensors were carried out. Furthermore, an algorithm to discriminate a human worker from background was developed. Experimental results showed that the sensing system could extract information of human location and could detect human motion.