AI summaryⓘ
The authors developed a flexible, wireless system using 5G technology to improve human-robot collaboration, especially in industries like remanufacturing where work environments often change. They created a battery-powered sensor platform combined with advanced computer vision to detect objects and human hands accurately and quickly. By processing data on nearby edge devices over 5G, their system balances fast response times with high data needs. They tested the system in real 5G networks in Hungary and Norway, finding it works well but also identified some challenges with current 5G compatibility. Overall, their work shows promise for safer and more adaptable robot collaboration but highlights areas for future improvement in 5G setups.
Human-Robot Collaboration5G wireless networksedge computingcomputer visionobject detectionpose estimationremanufacturinglow latencybattery-powered sensors
Authors
Emma Takács, Mátyás Hajós, Ádám Juniki, Ádám Fischer, Zoltán Komáromi, Kristóf Abai, Dániel Horváth, Sándor Máthé, Konstantinos Kousias, Bence Tipary
Abstract
Human-Robot Collaboration (HRC) plays a vital role in dynamic, high mix, low volume industrial scenarios such as remanufacturing, which frequently face workcell rearrangements. Traditional setups are constrained by power and data cabling, restricting modularity and reconfigurations, while the selection of commercial wireless devices suitable for real-time perception and safe collaboration are limited in availability. This paper presents a highly flexible, wireless, 5G-based system that serves as a versatile experimental testbed for applications including remanufacturing, operator training, and user studies. To eliminate infrastructure barriers, the workcell integrates a novel battery-powered, multi-sensor platform prototype. Additionally, to support operator safety and system adaptability across environmental shifts, the system integrates a computer vision module for object detection and pose estimation, further augmented for robust hand recognition. Trained on synthetic and real data, the model reliably detects oriented grasping poses and human hands across varying lighting and background conditions (with an mAP@50-95 of 97.74 +- 0.10% and a mean inference time of 12.5 ms). Offloading these computationally intensive tasks to the edge via 5G, the proposed architecture contributes to resolving the bandwidth-latency trade-off. To demonstrate portability, the system was implemented in both Hungary and Norway, and was evaluated across a combination of public and private, Standalone and Non-Standalone 5G infrastructures. The performed network experiments produced results in round-trip response times down to 12 ms in case of compatible network-device pairings, suitable for safe, adaptive HRC. However, these measurements also revealed practical limitations related to interoperability in current 5G deployments that should be addressed in future works.