An MPC Framework for Online Motion Planning in Human-Robot Collaborative Tasks

Human robot collaboration requires new planning strategies to guarantee an efficient and safe coexistence of robots and humans in the workspace. We propose a framework based on a model predictive control approach to trajectory scaling and inverse kinematics. The online modification of the velocity override slows down the task to ensure safety and the redundancy of the system is exploited to maximize the distance from the operator. Experimental results on a 7-degree-of-freedom robotic system prove the effectiveness of the method.