Moscow/Bremen. Intelligent human-machine interfaces aim at facilitating the remote control of robots, e.g. for operation on the moon or on the International Space Station ISS. By using so-called exoskeletons worn at the human’s upper torso, natural movements can be transferred to the robot and permit an intuitive control. This is shown by researchers of the Bremen-based Robotics Innovation Center at the German Research Center for Artifical Intelligence (DFKI) in cooperation with the Russian firm Android Technics: Within the framework of the 2nd German-Russian workshop on space robotics, they present results from the first phase of their common project “i-Learning” at the occasion of the 10th International Conference “Manned Spaceflight” in Moscow on 25 November 2013. The researchers focus on programming an interface making communication between different robotic systems possible. Both institutions dispose of an exoskeleton and a humanoid robot. The software for controlling the own robot by the respective own exoskeleton existed already. The project “i-Learning“ aims at controlling the other humanoid robot situated in Bremen or Magnitogorsk respectively via exoskeletons. So far, common software interfaces were defined and tested in the course of the project. A video of the Robotics Innovation Center shows the successful implementation of the project. It is shown how the Bremen robot lady AILA is controlled from Russia – and the robot in Magnitogorsk via the Bremen exoskeleton. It is planned to continue the two-month German-Russian cooperation and to take it as a basis for the following project phases.
About the workshop
The German-Russian workshop on space robotics is a platform for exchange of professional experience between experts of space robotics from research and industry. It is intended to support the cooperation between developers and users at both a national and an international level. The workshop is held for the second time within the framework of the International Conference “Manned Spaceflight“, organized by the federal state organization “YU.A. Research & Test Cosmonaut Training Center, the center of excellence “Baden-Württemberg International“ (bw-i), the “German Association of Robotics (DGR)” and the “Forum Luft- und Raumfahrt Baden-Württemberg”.
Contact for further informationen:
Dr.-Ing. José de Gea Fernández
Senior Researcher
DFKI Robotics Innovation Center