Welding Robotic Co-Worker Using Brain Computer Interface

Abstract

Robotic co-workers are an emerging generation of physical robots promises to transform manufacturing with its ability to communicate and collaborate, both robot-to-robot and robot-to-human, opening the way to greater innovation and productivity. We designed a welding robotic co-worker which observes industrial part, searches welding seams, plans welding trajectory, and simulates welding result automatically. It largely benefits small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises (SMEs) by allowing manufacturers handle low-volume orders without re-programming. As a co-worker, the robot communicates with its operator though brain computer interface (BCI) as well as guarantees the operator’s safety. We demonstrated the performance of this robot using a human subject study in welding simulation environment.