Kuka glovebox remote handling demonstration

The latest exciting industry-relevant remote handling demonstration from RACE includes two collaborative Kuka robot arms and Robotiq grippers. The newest iteration of the system allows for the robot arms and grippers to be moved and controlled via a pair of custom-built gloves, while a VR headset allows the user to track movements in digital space.

This demonstration platform will be invaluable for the development of solutions relating to:

• Grasping
• Human Robot Interaction
• Condition monitoring
• Machine Learning
• Digital twins

In addition, the platform allows for the integration and testing of inputs from collaborative research. Discussions have already been held with RAIN-partner universities from Bristol, Liverpool, Nottingham, Manchester and Sheffield in order to accelerate improvements.

The demo platform also presents the opportunity to constructively collaborate with other member institutions of RAIN. A two-day workshop hosted by RACE involving Bristol, Liverpool, Nottingham, Manchester and Sheffield universities was held in January to identify research strategies of the glovebox handling challenge and to combine research and test efforts to accelerate results or address more of the challenge.

A video is being recorded to share more detail about the work related to the remote handling platform; we will share that with you as soon as it’s ready.