A vision based human robot interface for robotic walkthroughs in a biotech laboratory

Both Robots and Personal Computers established new markets about 30 years ago and were enabling factors in Automation and Information Technology. However, while you can see Personal Computers in almost every home nowadays, the domain of Robots in general still is mostly restricted to industrial automation. Due to the physical impact of robots, a safe design is essential, which most robots still lack of and therefore prevent their application for personal use, although a slow change can be noticed by the introduction of dedicated robots for specific tasks, which can be classified as service robots. Moreover, as more and more robots are designed as service robots, their developers face the challenge of reducing the machines' complexity and providing smart user interface methods. Ideally the robot would be able to cooperate with a human, just like another human would.