New approach for industrial robot controller user interface

In this paper the main focus is on the user interfaces available for robot controllers and how they comply with the requirements of flexibility. An overview is given of the most important robot manufacturers teach pendant interfaces. The conclusion is that the process of creating customized user interfaces is still complicated and the how-to is unclear. We introduce the concept of flexible user interface based on service oriented robot cell operation. In order to offer more user friendly solutions industrial robot systems should use human-centred approach. Service oriented robot cell operation creates an abstract level for human robot interaction which is adapted to human cognition. A flexible graphical user interface is the final link between the robot cell and the operator, which offers a solution for issues faced in creation of customized user interfaces by its flexibility. One implementation called FlexGui is described in details and the most important features are demonstrated in a case study.