Safe Human-Robot Cooperation in an Industrial Environment. (10th January 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Pedrocchi, Nicola; Vicentini, Federico; Matteo, Malosio; Tosatti, Lorenzo Molinari
• Is Part Of: International journal of advanced robotic systems. Volume 10:Number 1(2013)
• Publication Date: 2013-01-10
• Subjects: Collaborative Task -- Workspace sharing -- Collision Avoidance -- Safe-network of un-safe devices; Robotics -- Periodicals; Robotics; Periodicals; 629.892
• DOI: 10.5772/53939
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1729-8806

Abstract

The standard EN ISO10218 is fostering the implementation of hybrid production systems, i.e., production systems characterized by a close relationship among human operators and robots in cooperative tasks. Human-robot hybrid systems could have a big economic benefit in small and medium sized production, even if this new paradigm introduces mandatory, challenging safety aspects. Among various requirements for collaborative workspaces, safety-assurance involves two different application layers; the algorithms enabling safe space-sharing between humans and robots and the enabling technologies allowing acquisition data from sensor fusion and environmental data analysing. This paper addresses both the problems: a collision avoidance strategy allowing on-line re-planning of robot motion and a safe network of unsafe devices as a suggested infrastructure for functional safety achievement.