Ergonomic mULtimodal Collaborations for Human-Robot SystEms – HERCULES

HERCULES proposes a framework for controlling a collaborative robotic system in order to preserve industrial worker health, safety, mobility and expertise. HERCULES outcomes will contribute to:

-a new generation of ergonomically optimal controllers for collaborative robots, capable of adapting their behavior to the individual worker’s features,
- new multimodal quantitative assessment tools for Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WMSD). These tools will operate at both the biomechanical and psycho-social levels.

The proposed approach is based on new theoretical concepts mixing multimodal perception, control and ergonomics, but also is as pragmatic as possible to answers concrete industrial needs. In the long-term, HERCULES general framework allows the adaptation of the proposed system to other industrial tasks and applications such as assisted functional rehabilitation.