Application of Wearable Devices for Supporting Operators in Human-Robot Cooperative Assembly Tasks

This paper presents a tool for supporting operators in shared industrial workplaces where humans and robots coexist. The tool has been developed in the form of software application for wearable devices, such as smartwatches, and provides functionalities for direct interaction with the robot. Interfaces to audio commands, manual guidance applications and AR visualization systems have been implemented. The paper focuses on the development of the smartwatch application and its integration with the network of resources under the ROS framework. The tool has been tested on two pilot cases, one in the automotive and one in the white goods production sectors. The results indicate that the approach can significantly enhance the operators’ integration in the hybrid assembly system.