On-line Training and Monitoring of Robot Tasks through Virtual Reality

Currently, the implementation of virtual, augmented and mixed realities-based solutions is one of the megatrends in the Industrial Automation domain. In this context, Virtual Reality (VR) permits the development of virtual environments that can be used for different purposes, such as designing, monitoring and/or training industrial machinery. Moreover, the access to such environments can be remote, facilitating the interaction of humans with cyber models of real-world systems without the need of being at the system facilities. This article presents a virtual environment that has been developed within VR technologies not only for training and monitoring robot tasks but also to be done at robot operation runtime within an on-line mode. In this manner, the user of the presented environment is able to train and monitor de tasks at the same time that the robot is operating. The research work is validated within the on-line training and monitoring tasks of an ABB IRB 14000 industrial robot.