A Robotic Lift Assister: A Smart Companion for Heavy Payload Transport and Manipulation in Automotive Assembly

Although as robot involvement in manufacturing for the transportation industry has increased dramatically in recent years [1], over 60% of automotive assembly tasks are still accomplished manually by human workers. The automotive assembly line presents numerous challenges, such as significant variability in tools and parts, flexible tasks, and unstructured and dynamic environments that preclude direct automation via traditional fenced robotic work cells. While human-robot collaboration offers a technically viable means to integrate robotic systems into automotive assembly [2]-[4], the lack of suitable robotic systems remains a challenge.