Not too long ago, there was a broadly publicized incident the place a chess robotic system broke the finger of a seven-year-old little one at a event in Moscow. This could by no means have occurred. The robotic was not considered one of our cobots, however we do really feel compelled to remark as a result of this robotic chess utility does NOT replicate regular security requirements and well-accepted practices throughout the robotics sector.
The way in which this incident was reported can distort understanding of robotics utility security. An official of the Russian chess federation implied that the incident occurred as a result of the kid ‘violated’ security guidelines. That is totally unreasonable!
Robotic system integrators ought to carry out a threat evaluation
It’s globally accepted that robotic system integrator ought to carry out a threat evaluation for the supposed use and readily foreseeable misuses. If this had been completed, quite a few modifications would have been applied together with a comfortable gripper as a substitute of 1 with onerous edges and using security sensors solely permitting motion when nobody was close by. It was fairly foreseeable that the human chess participant can be concentrating on the sport, not their robotic opponent.
Automation security is about “making the straightforward strategy to work, the protected strategy to work”. On this case, all chess motions want to have the ability to be carried out with out a individual needing to suppose “am I okay to maneuver my chess piece or will I be injured?”.
The know-how exists to forestall incidents like this from taking place
Energy and drive restricted (PFL) collaborative robots (cobots) would cease transferring after contact with an individual. Expertise of this sort is available. Following the appliance threat evaluation’s necessities, tens of hundreds of cobots are working safely alongside people every single day. In truth, cobots are more and more utilized in training settings to show programming and the event of robotic purposes.
Security requirements are established internationally and independently licensed
All respected robotic producers and integrators embrace their duty of delivering protected merchandise and options. At Common Robots, our e-Collection robots are licensed to EN ISO 13849-1 and EN ISO 10218-1 by TÜV Nord. The cobots embrace 17 superior configurable security capabilities licensed by TÜV Nord as PLd Cat 3. This implies they’ve configurable stopping time and stopping distance, joint place limits, pose restrict, instrument orientation restrict, security planes, security boundaries, protected house, drive limiting (TCP) and elbow security (drive, velocity, boundary restriction).
The protected deployment of cobots can carry big societal advantages
This chess taking part in robotic integrator displays badly upon the hundreds of automation professionals that take security very significantly. The world continues to face labor shortages. Robotics and automation can present a vital and well timed answer and can even make workplaces a lot better environments for people to work in. However these alternatives will solely be totally realized when security is a precedence in utility deployment.