Intuitive Gesture Control of robots with a sensor arm sleeve based on dielectric elastomer sensors

Different types of robots help to fulfill simple work on their own like simple pick-and-place, handling and mounting tasks over long-lasting periods with no loss of accuracy and speed. However, regarding to products produced in small numbers the programming of those robots can be very time-consuming and workers have to be trained in programming the movements and tasks. Also, in the medical field where robots can be used for assistance during surgery or cancer treatment in future the surgeon or doctor has to respond to each patient individually. To train those medical specialists in programming robots would be very extensive. Therefore, the development of an intuitive robot control can help to facilitate tasks done by non-specialized workers or surgeons. In this contribution a concept of an intuitive control of robots via gesture control is shown. For the perception of gestures the different degrees of freedom of the worker's arm are detected by the use of a wearable sensor system based on dielectric elastomer sensors, which are generally lightweight and flexible. This paper describes the whole system consisting of an arm sleeve with attached stretch sensors, an analysis circuit board, the used software for communication and data processing as well as the controlling of the robot and the robot itself. Experiments show promising results, which are also specified in this paper. Furthermore, suggestions of different future applications based on dielectric elastomer sensors for example as artificial skin of prostheses are discussed.