Robot With Knives Used In Robotics Injury Study

An anonymous reader writes "IEEE Spectrum reports that German researchers, seeking to find out what would happen if a robot handling a sharp tool accidentally struck a human, set out to perform a series of cutting, stabbing, and puncturing tests. They used a robotic manipulator arm, fitted with various sharp tools (kitchen knife, scalpel, screwdriver) and performed striking tests at a block of silicone, a pig leg, and at one point, even the arm of a human volunteer. Volunteer, really?! The story includes video of the tests."

Comments

Roberto!

[WrongSizeGlass]

It sounds like Roberto from Futurama! I'm happy to see he finally found another job.

Re:Roberto!

[petermgreen]

Potentially more force, more speed (which both translates to force through inertia and less time to react and stop things) but IMO most crucially different control systems.

Afaict most control systems are designed both electrically (though PID etc) and mechanically (through worm drives etc) to control position as tightly as possible regardless of external applied force. That is what makes "machining" possible. It is what makes it possible for a machine to put components on PCBs at breakneck speed.

Humans don't work like that we control force. If we hit an unexpected resistance we have to consciously apply more force. We will also generally stop applying force if either we feel pain or the person we are working with feels pain and screams. On the flip-side if a resistance we are pressing against disappears we slip all over the place.

What this means is unless the tools are extremely sharp unpowered held tools only do serious damage under very particular situations e.g. when they slip out of a cut or when someone deliberately swings them with lots of force and misses. We have safety rules to deal with this.

Robots either need very different safety rules or they need systems developed to make them respond more like humans (the people in the article seem to be working on such a system).

Re:Roberto!

[sharkman67]

Take a look at Saw Stop. A table saw that cuts wood and not a hot dog. http://www.sawstop.com/

Re:Roberto!

[GNUALMAFUERTE]

Actually, it will cut a hot dog. But it won't cut the hot dog if it's grounded. The system is pretty simple, there is a current applied to the blade, if it discharges somewhere, it'll stop. You can't use it to cut very wet wood, or other material with good conductivity.

Regarding the people saying that the collision detection shown in the article is useless because it can't differentiate between a human and a pig, here is what I think:

You can have a robot that has a certain mobility, and a designed space where it can punch/cut/puncture/etc. The robot turns on collision detection when it's out of the designated space. So, you can have a robot that can move from place to place freely with this safety feature on,and still be able to do it's job. If you have a robot that will be cutting fix in a given table, then moving the slices somewhere else, it can travel that path with the safety features on, if it happens to encounter a human (or cables, or anything else), it i will stop, but when the blade is down on the table (in the designated cutting space) the safety feature goes off.

im certain this all

[nimbius]

culminated with an old, gray professor scratching his beard and remarking, "hm...yeah its dangerous for pig legs...but.....hey, someone get me a grad student!"

Re:Pressure sensor..

[geekoid]

Audio feed back. AKA a loud scream.

I don't know what's so surprising about that

[fishexe]

When I was a kid I performed knife-based experiments on my fingers. Yeah, I got cut, but I determined that striking human flesh with a serrated knife does slightly less damage than sawing back and forth with the same knife. You're not a real nerd if you're not willing to make bodily sacrifices for the sake of science from time to time.

Re:Bishop's knife trick

[pipedwho]

Assuming that the first guy to stick his hand under it is the programmer; I suspect you'll find that the control loop code is the cleanest, most concise, and most methodically tested code that you've ever seen you're in your life.

Re:Priorities!

[SydShamino]

Knives don't stab people. Robots stab people...with knives.