The research of intuitive robot programming in manufacturing is already 25 years old but, in recent years, it seems that intuitive programming as well as the intuitive 'use' of technology becomes increasingly relevant during a lot of processes in industry. For instance, new programming methods can enable the automated manufacturing of small lot sizes or even of single work pieces, hand drawings made with a digital pen can be transferred into robot programs automatically, or robot trajectories can be defined by guiding the robot using tactile feedback. Such flexibility can improve the task performance with direct effects on quality, safety, and productivity.

The project envisages the increasing of knowledge awareness by using intelligent robots (as working tools or machines) at the shop floor level in the manufacturing industry. It also envisages understanding the available organisational alternatives where intuitive robot interaction can be applied on higher levels of performance and productivity outputs.

This start-up project intends to conceptualize 'intuitive interaction with technology' (robotic systems) in manufacturing industry with respect to its social dimension, to contribute to a research network of social scientists in the field of industrial and professional robotics, to link research areas of "Humans and Technology" (MuT) and of "Anthropomatics and Robotics" (AuR) at KIT in the application field of manufacturing and in the production sector by developing a concept of intuitive interaction systems, and to identify relevant research questions about the possibility of developing safer robot systems in closer human-machine intuitive interaction systems at the manufacturing shop floor level. Some of these questions will be employed in interviews with robot manufacturers, experts, and policy makers in different countries (Europe, Japan, and the US).

Facebook group on "Human-robot work interaction": http://www.facebook.com/groups/201402533260869