Doctoral Thesis

End-User Cobot Programming in Augmented Reality

Final Thesis 16.13 MB Summary of Thesis 16.13 MB

Author of thesis: Ing. Michal Kapinus, Ph.D.

Acad. year: 2022/2023

Supervisor: doc. Ing. Vítězslav Beran, Ph.D.

Reviewers: doc. Ing. Petr Hořejší, Ph.D., prof. Ing. Peter Hubinský, Ph.D.

Abstract:

Due to the recent expansion of affordable, collaborative robots, a rapid increase comes in the automation share in small and medium enterprises, and it is expected to be even higher in upcoming years. Together with the increasing number of robots, the number of robot programmers must inevitably rise as well. To boost the spread of automation, the price for robot programming needs to be decreased; otherwise, small enterprises would not be able to afford it. One way to decrease the programming cost is to simplify the process and allow less-skilled and less-educated operators to perform it.  

The presented thesis deals with the problem of contemporary user interfaces for end-user robot programming, which are still too demanding for ordinary shop-floor workers. As for now, most of the interaction between humans and robots, both during the programming and the execution phases, takes place, not in the space occupied by the robot but somewhere else -- in a computer, on the display of the attached device, etc. This forces the human to think of spatial relations of the created program constantly and to map the program to the real environment mentally. To overcome this problem, the thesis proposes several methods based on Augmented Reality, which presents the spatial information in the actual environment in an understandable way. Moreover, in-situ user interfaces for such interaction methods are presented and evaluated in several user studies with more than 70 participants. A fully functional prototype of a universal robot programming tool intended for the end-users is presented.

Keywords:

Augmented Reality; End-User Robot Programming; Human-Robot Interaction, Natural Interfaces.

Date of defence

24.05.2023

Result of the defence

Defended (thesis was successfully defended)

znamkaPznamka

Process of defence

Student přednesl cíle a výsledky, kterých v rámci řešení disertační práce dosáhl. V rozpravě student odpověděl na otázky komise a oponentů a hostů. Diskuze je zaznamenána na diskuzních lístcích, které jsou přílohou protokolu. Počet diskuzních lístků: 5. Komise se v závěru jednomyslně usnesla, že student splnil podmínky pro udělení akademického titulu doktor. Komise jednomyslně doporučuje, aby studentovi byla udělena cena za výjimečně kvalitní disertační práci.

Language of thesis

English

Faculty

Department

Study programme

Computer Science and Engineering (CSE-PHD-4)

Field of study

Computer Science and Engineering (DVI4)

Composition of Committee

prof. Ing. Lukáš Sekanina, Ph.D. (předseda)
doc. Ing. Petr Hořejší, Ph.D. (člen)
prof. Dr. Ing. Jiří Marek, Ph.D., DBA, FEng. (člen)
doc. Ing. Zdeněk Míkovec, Ph.D. (člen)
prof. Ing. Markus Vincze, Dr. (člen)

File inserted by supervisor Size
Hodnocení školitele [.pdf] 55,33 kB

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Posudek oponenta [.pdf] 113,41 kB

File inserted by the reviewer Size
Posudek oponenta [.pdf] 1,94 MB

Responsibility: Mgr. et Mgr. Hana Odstrčilová