An augmented reality system for safe human-robot collaboration

Closer interaction in Human-Robot Collaboration (HRC) could result in increased worker efficiency in manufacturing situations. However, physical cages often limit this. Our research is investigating the potential for using Augmented Reality (AR) to visualise virtual safety zones, thus replacing real cages. This paper presents initial experiments towards addressing the issues of how to display the safety zones and what size they should be in relation to a robot arm in order to ensure safe working practices.