Telepresence Technology for Production: From Manual to Automated Assembly

In this paper a telepresence system for microand macroscopic assembly is presented. The proposed system integrates haptic devices on the operator side for reflecting gripping and collision forces as well as artificial scene information. Scaling of the position and force information is implemented to overcome the physical constraints of microas well as macroassembly tasks. Furthermore, the paper introduces a flexible automation framework for teaching in action primitives, which the operator can then compose to incrementally complex assembly tasks. This combination of a haptic telepresence approach with a user-friendly automation framework allows the manufacturer to cope with the challenges of todays industrial requirements.