Interactive visualization for sensor-based robotic programming

Abstract

We have developed an interactive visualization tool for robot programming. Typically, the kinematic programming of a robot manipulator is similar to the development of procedural code in C or Pascal. However, in the explanation of this code, humans typically prefer to use hand-motions, gestures, and diagrammatic tools. Our interface was developed to bridge that gap. One of the features of our approach is that the interface allows the programmer to launch quasi-autonomous behaviours, in which the motions of the robot are specified both by the model of the environment as derived by the sensor, and by the human operator using interactive visualization.