Natural Gesture Control of a Delta Robot Using Leap Motion

Abstract

Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) is a research hotspot in recent years, most robots used for HRI are serial robots. This paper deals with the natural gesture control of a Delta parallel robot, using the touchless optical sensor Leap motion controller. The kinematics of the Delta robot is firstly described, its inverse kinematic solutions are obtained, and its workspace is plotted. The Leap motion controller is introduced and the key functions used in this research are described, eight gestures are defined. The experimental rigs are established, experiments are successfully carried out and results are discussed. Results show that it is a natural way for users to control the Delta robot with an acceptable accuracy and efficiency, by using the Leap motion controller, even though they have never operated a robot before. This research extends the interaction way between human and robots.