Preparation for Capturing Human Skills during Tooling Tasks Using Redundant Markers and Instrumented Tool

In recent years, robots have found extensive applications in automating repetitive, defined, position dependent tasks such as painting and material handling. However, continuous contact type tasks (such as finishing, deburring and grinding) that require both position and force control are still carried out manually by skilled labor. Majorly, because it is difficult to program experienced user skills in a robotic setup without having clear knowledge of underlying model used by the operators. In this paper we present a preparation for capturing human operator’s dynamics using an instrumented hand-held tool and a motion capture setup. We first present the design of an instrumented tool and later present a method for reliably capturing kinematics using redundant markers removing effects of marker occlusions, and effect of gravity caused by the tool's mass. Kinematic information is used for deriving the forces/torques on the tool end effector.