Lukáš Rustler presents Adaptive Collision Sensitivity for Efficient and Safe Human-Robot Collaboration
On 2026-09-01 - 2026-09-01 11:00:00 at G205, Karlovo náměstí 13, Praha 2
What is considered safe for a robot operator during physical human–robot
collaboration (HRC) is specified in corresponding HRC standards (e.g., ISO
10218-2:2025). The regime that allows collisions between the moving robot and
the operator, called Power and Force Limiting (PFL), restricts the permissible
contact forces. Using the same fixed contact thresholds on the entire robot
surface results unnecessary productivity losses, as the robot needs to stop even
when impact forces are within limits. Here we present a framework that decides
whether the robot should interrupt motion based on estimated collision force
computed individually for different parts of the robot body and dynamically on
the fly, based on the Effective Mass (EM) of each robot link. We performed
experiments on a simulated and real collaborative robot arm (UR10e) with
sensitive skin (AIRSKIN) for collision detection and isolation. To demonstrate
the generality of our method, we added experiments on simulated KUKA LBR iiwa
robot, where collision sensing draws on joint torque sensing. On a mock
pick-and-place scenario with both transient and quasi-static collisions, we show
an increase in productivity over 45% from using the standard approach. The
method is applicable to any robot for which the EF can be calculated.
Link to article:
https://advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/aisy.70494
Video: https://youtu.be/UyOa--6Jpj4?si=AcmM4q1IhxJjOZbS
collaboration (HRC) is specified in corresponding HRC standards (e.g., ISO
10218-2:2025). The regime that allows collisions between the moving robot and
the operator, called Power and Force Limiting (PFL), restricts the permissible
contact forces. Using the same fixed contact thresholds on the entire robot
surface results unnecessary productivity losses, as the robot needs to stop even
when impact forces are within limits. Here we present a framework that decides
whether the robot should interrupt motion based on estimated collision force
computed individually for different parts of the robot body and dynamically on
the fly, based on the Effective Mass (EM) of each robot link. We performed
experiments on a simulated and real collaborative robot arm (UR10e) with
sensitive skin (AIRSKIN) for collision detection and isolation. To demonstrate
the generality of our method, we added experiments on simulated KUKA LBR iiwa
robot, where collision sensing draws on joint torque sensing. On a mock
pick-and-place scenario with both transient and quasi-static collisions, we show
an increase in productivity over 45% from using the standard approach. The
method is applicable to any robot for which the EF can be calculated.
Link to article:
https://advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/aisy.70494
Video: https://youtu.be/UyOa--6Jpj4?si=AcmM4q1IhxJjOZbS