Collaborative behavior design of industrial robots for multiple human-robot collaboration

Industrial robots are being introduced to assist human workers in performing assembly tasks such as small-parts assembly. A mixed environment is the best choice for certain assembly operations, of which some are better executed by robots and others are better handled by human workers. However, it is a challenge to design the collaborative behavior of robots to maximize productivity respecting to safety constraints while interacting with human workers. This becomes more complex for multiple human-robot collaboration. An approach has been proposed for structuring the collaborative behavior using finite state automata (FSA). In this paper, the approach is extended to deal with multiple human-robot collaboration, by applying the composition rules of FSA. The approach is finally demonstrated in an ABB Dual-Arm Concept Robot working with multiple human workers in an industrial assembly scenario.