Compliant Robots in Automation: The Impact of Humanoid Robotics on Automation

Besides in fiction Humanoid Robotics has been assumed to have hardly any impact on future automated production. Even robot suppliers struggled to find industrial applications for their recently introduced torque controlled robots. But current developments show that the producing companies themselves discovered these robots having a large potential to accomplish assembly tasks that have, up to now, been exclusively performed by humans. Furthermore, the anthropomorphic properties of these robots enable them to be collaborators rather than a replacement of human beings. By this, these robots are believed to provide the potential to develop a more human friendly and yet efficient production in future factories. Based on the development of the DLR/KUKA LBR technology, this presentation gives an overview of the technology of torque controlled lightweight robots and its evolution toward human centered robotics as well as an outlook on future developments