Collaborative robotics is a rapidly growing subfield of industrial robotics, projected to reach 7.5 billion USD by 2027, representing up to 29\% of the industrial robotics market. This growth is driven by factors such as a shortage of highly skilled workers, the need for flexibility in automation, and the production of smaller, diverse product batches.
Collaborative robots differ from standard industrial robots through their construction, often featuring rounded, sometimes soft joints that are less dangerous upon contact. A key difference is the presence of torque sensors in the joints, allowing the robot controller to calculate the force at the end-effector. These sensors provide a safety feature for detecting collisions with users or external objects.
In this thesis, I present my implementation of machine vision to prevent collisions between the operator and the robot, using the Intel Realsense stereoscopic camera and Franka Emika Panda robot. I used the AlphaPose program for human pose detection to track human joint positions. When the robot detects a collision risk, it slows the robot's movement to a safe speed to prevent collisions.
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