Wearable Force Control for Human-Robot Collaborative Manipulation

This research addresses critical challenges in human-robot collaborative manipulation by developing a novel wearable force control system that enables seamless, safe, and efficient physical interaction through intuitive force feedback and control interfaces. The technical approach integrates lightweight force sensors into wearable devices, haptic actuators for bidirectional force feedback, wireless communication for real-time data transmission, and ergonomic design for extended use comfort with advanced control algorithms including admittance control for compliant interaction, force estimation and prediction algorithms, safety monitoring with emergency intervention, and adaptive control based on user behavior and preferences. Key innovations include bilateral force control for transparent interaction, variable impedance control for task-adaptive compliance, force limiting and safety constraint enforcement, predictive control for improved responsiveness, machine learning for user intention prediction, multi-modal sensor fusion for robust intent estimation, and context-aware behavior modification that meets strict timing requirements while ensuring accurate force transmission and natural human-robot communication.

The developed wearable force control system demonstrates significant practical impact across industrial manufacturing and healthcare applications, with comprehensive validation showing improved force tracking accuracy, enhanced task completion efficiency, reduced safety incident rates, and high user satisfaction through benchmark manipulation tasks, performance comparisons with traditional interfaces, and real-world deployment scenarios. Industrial applications include precision assembly operations, heavy lifting and positioning tasks, quality inspection, flexible production line integration, rehabilitation therapy assistance, surgical procedure support, patient mobility and transfer, and assistive technology for disabilities with documented improvements compared to traditional joystick interfaces, voice and gesture-based control systems, and commercial collaborative robot systems. The research provides comprehensive safety frameworks with force limiting, collision detection, emergency protocols, and ethical guidelines including privacy protection, informed consent procedures, and accessibility principles. The team’s expertise in wearable robotics, force control, human-robot collaboration, and safety systems positions them to advance next-generation capabilities and seek collaboration opportunities for safe, intuitive, and efficient physical interaction between humans and robots across diverse application domains.

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge support from industry partners and human subjects research participants. This work was conducted with appropriate IRB approval and safety oversight.

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For complete technical details and experimental results, please refer to the original publication: 25-icra-wfc-hanyu-jin.pdf