New Robots Test the Robot Safety Standards

Industrial robots are a great tool for manufacturers, but it’s a tool that comes with strict safety guidelines. The robotics industry has spent a great deal of time and resources to create standards that will provide employees with a safe working environment.

Now, with robots designed specifically to work and interact with humans, a whole range of new opportunities for robot applications has appeared. Companies like Rethink Robotics and Universal Robots have designed their new robots with particular care concerning worker safety, but they are embarking on a new horizon. With the potential for direct human-robot interaction, how will we develop safety standards?

Setting the Safety Standard for Cage-Free Robots
by Travis Hessman

From their easy programming and expanded flexibility to their comparably low cost and decreased footprint, Mitch Rosenberg, vice president of Marketing and Product Management at Rethink Robotics — Baxter’s Boston-based manufacturer — has an endless list of features that have made these robots so notable in the industry of late.

But the key feature holding them all together and driving this emerging market, he said, is safety.

“We are seeing increased interest in robots that can work safely alongside humans without safety barriers,” Rosenberg explained. The appeal, of course, is that “robots working shoulder to shoulder with people don’t require manufacturers to completely rework their workspaces or manufacturing processes.”

Unlike traditional caged robots, he said, these robots can simply be added to the existing manufacturing line with very little process redesign. This increases the overall flexibility of the robot while reducing risks as compared to accommodating traditional robotic tools.

Add to that the low investment costs they carry and that “inherently safe” label Rosenberg uses to describe them and these new machines seem destined for a record fast market takeover.

However, very few companies — most notably Rethink Robots and Universal Robots — have yet ventured into this ripe field. The rest in the industry are all stymied by that same prickly issue that makes the technology so attractive for U.S. users. Safety.

Read the full article at IndustryWeek. What do you see as the challenges — and solutions — to the issues of safety with this new model of robotics?

You can see robots from Rethink Robotics and Universal Robots, as well as many other companies, at the 2013 Automate Show in Chicago, Jan. 21-24. Automate offers you live demonstrations of automation technologies and systems across a broad range of industry sectors and applications, as well as the knowledge to successfully apply them. Register for your free show pass at the Automate website.

New 2012 Edition of ANSI/RIA R15.06 About to be Approved

by Jeff Fryman , Director, Standards Development
Robotic Industries Association

The big international news getting all the buzz this month is obviously the London Olympics.  The big national robot news is that the 2012 edition of R15.06 is in the final stage for ANSI approval.  For those of us working on the revision process for over ten years, it almost feels like the last leg of a marathon race.  The finish line is in sight, and if you join us for the September National Robot Safety Conference you might actually be there when we cross it.

Shortly after the ANSI/RIA R15.06-1999 was approved, we shifted our standards development efforts to updating the international standard, which was then ISO 10218:1992.  It had a similar topic – robot safety – but hardly a similar set of requirements.  The “seed” document we used for the international revision was actually the 1999 edition of R15.06, but divided it into two parts, one for the robot manufacturer, and one for the integration, installation and use.  These two parts have become ISO 10218-1:2011 and ISO 10218-2:2011, and have been adopted as harmonized standards in Europe.

With the success of “globalizing” the safety requirements from R15.06, the challenge became adopting an international standard to be our national standard and thus “close the loop” on having globally accepted safety requirements worldwide.  Our Canadian colleagues are also on board with this effort and we expect to see the Z434 revised to adopt the ISO requirements as well.  That will mean that systems designed and built in one country can be freely moved to other countries and be compliant.  Adopting the international standard means almost no changes to our ongoing expectations for robot safety, but does introduce some new capabilities as a result of the ever changing technical improvements.

Every robot system is different and has its own unique requirements for safeguarding personnel working with the system.  In recognition of that, the integrator in now responsible to conduct a risk assessment of each system to determine the hazard associated with tasks and mitigate against them.  Dozens of risk assessment methodologies are available, including the methodology found in the 1999 standard.  We anticipate providing an updated version of this methodology during the transition period from the 1999 edition to the 2012 edition.

A new technology being introduced is “safety-rated soft axis and space limiting”.  This feature, available only on new robots, has different names from each of the manufacturers.  But the functionality is the same. Safety-rated software is used to control the robot motion so the restricted space can be more flexibly designed.  Case studies presented at the National Robot Safety Conference have suggested savings in factory floor space on the order of 30 to 40 percent; and cost savings in system designs in excess of $100,000.00.

Another new feature, also available only with new robots and purposely built new robot systems is the introduction of man reintroduced to the loop of active interaction during automatic robot operation.  Called “collaborative operation” systems can be designed for the operator to directly load/unload the robot; or manually drive the robot to a selected location eliminating costly fixtures.

Standards developing efforts will now shift to providing new documents providing guidance on using the new R15.06 such as unique requirements for compliance with our national occupational safety requirements; aids to risk assessment; and aids to properly position and implement safeguarding robot systems.  Most of these documents will be directed to the “user”.

I invite you to learn more about industrial robot safety and the new 2012 R15.06 document by attending RIA’s 24th annual National Robot Safety Conference, September 24th to 26th in Indianapolis, Indiana.  We have a complete program that highlights important features and requirements in the new standard presented by some of the key persons responsible for it.

Details on the conference, including sessions, tabletop trade fair, registration, hotel information and more, can be found at http://www.robotics.org/safety12 or call RIA at 734/994-6088.  You will meet some of the marathon runners involved in this effort to provide the latest in global industrial robot safety.  Be sure to register and join us!

Read the article at Robotics Online.

Sensor Screen Offers Flexibility for Robot Safety

When working in an environment with heavy, complicated machinery, workers must take great care not to stumble into any hazardous situations. There are many different ways to make sure that your factory floor is safe for robots and people, and there are many different technologies out there that can help ensure the well-being of your employees. Here’s just one example of safety technology from RIA member Banner Engineering:

Flexible Safety Solution
By Mike Carlson

Due to the wide range of hazards present in any industrial plant, facility managers need safety solutions that are cost-effective and flexible. Safety light screens provide a flexible safeguarding solution with versatile mounting options, numerous cascading capabilities, and broad applications suitability.

Safety light screens (or curtains) are optoelectronic devices that can detect the presence of opaque objects, such as a hand, arm, or foot, upon entering the sensing field. The emitter/receiver pair is comprised of two basic components, an LED array, which emits infrared light beams, and a phototransistor array that detects the corresponding beams. The emitter modulates the light at a specified frequency and “code” that the phototransistors detect, allowing the internal logic to accept only that particular pulse of light and to ignore signals from external light sources. This precludes factory floor ambient light from affecting the performance of the safety light screen.

Read the rest of the article at InTech here. What are some of the procedures you use to keep safety a priority at your company?

The RIA offers several resources for maintaining safety in your work environment. Check out some of our classes and conferences based off the ANSI/RIA R15.06-1999 Robot Safety Standard or look into organizing in-house training at your own facility on the R15.06 Standard or on risk assessment.

New Trends in Robot and Controller Design

by Bennett Brumson , Contributing Editor
Robotic Industries Association Posted 03/06/2012

Without a controller, industrial robots would not be able to perform their application tasks. Controllers contain software giving robots the intelligence to perform complex tasks and provide a means for the robot to interact with the physical environment. Advances in controller design facilitate collaborative robotics, the ability of robots to work in direct interaction with people.

Proposed changes to ANSI/RIA R15.06 robot safety standards guidelines reflect the trend towards collaborative robotics and enable “robotification,” applying robotics into new applications.
“I see a trend towards the robot controller being more of a controller of the whole manufacturing process. With increased processing power, integrators are able to add more items into the robot controller,” says Erik Carrier, Product Engineering Manager with Kawasaki Robotics (USA) Inc. (Wixom, Michigan). “Traditionally, the robot was doing just one task or running one program. Now, controllers have the ability to run multiple programs simultaneously.”

With advancements in controllers, their integration into a work cell becomes easier, says Claude Dinsmoor, General Manager of the Material Handling Segment with FANUC Robotics America Corp. (Rochester Hills, Michigan). “Integration makes robots easier to apply, more agile to deal with the increasing demands for robust automation and contributes to the ongoing decline in the cost of robotic systems when compared to traditional fixed automation systems.”

Dinsmoor sees this trend continuing. “We see this trend accelerating with an increasing focus on ease of use of the robot software, increased capability of the robot to do functions normally done by external devices. We also see the dawn of learning robots, machines that learn from experience in executing an application to optimize their performance to become faster, more precise, and more flexible in production.”

More Power, Smaller Package
Controllers have been downsized, a trend that players in the robotics industry expect to continue. “The size of controllers are getting smaller and I expect to see more of that trend in the next five years. Like other electronic devices, robot controllers will have fewer components inside due to consolidation,” says Joseph Campbell, Vice President of ABB Inc.’s (Auburn Hills, Michigan) Robot Products Group. “End-users can now mount smaller controllers above a robot or embed it into the robot. Keeping the footprint small and flexible gives integrators options on where to locate the controller.” Compact robot controllers are very common in the electronic industry, Campbell says.

Likewise, James Shimano, Product Manager with Precise Automation Inc. (San Jose, California) anticipates the persistent shrinking of robot controllers. “I see a continual drive to shrink controllers. In the past, controller cabinets were large, bulky and unwieldy that needed harnessing to the robot. System integrators needed to find a place for the controller and their harnesses while keeping them safe. Controller placement was a problem in an industrial factory, where large and dangerous objects are moving around.”

Shimano notes smaller controllers are necessary for successful “robotification” of research laboratories and life science installations. “In the last three years, the trend towards smaller tabletop controllers and robots in pharmaceuticals, life sciences, laboratories, solar panel assembly and semiconductors has grown. Integrated controllers are smaller in both their computing section, containing the processor and memory, but also the amplifiers.” Incorporating the amplifier and the controls within the robot’s structure into a very small package eliminates extra cabinets, making controllers more compact, a necessity for tabletop laboratory robotics, Shimano concludes.

Miniaturization facilitates robotic safety in non-industrial applications, Shimano says. “Integrated controllers can create safer robots for use in non-factory settings without safety shields. These controllers are easier to use by people who are not engineers, assembly technicians or scientists who want to use robotics in a collaborative fashion.”

Shrinking controllers is also on the mind of Michael Bomya, President of Nachi Robotic Systems Inc. (Novi, Michigan). “The trend towards miniaturization of robot controllers will continue to the point where integrating the controller into the robot’s arm will be simple and practical. Integrating the controller into the robot arm is a requirement to make a humanoid robot.” Robot controllers will become sufficiently small for placement within the manipulator to advance mobile robots, Bomya says.

Collaborative Robotics
More powerful and miniaturized robot controllers facilitate “collaborative robotics,” enabling people and robots to work in relatively close collaboration within a workspace. “I see new controller platforms allowing for collaborative applications. The robot is only one portion of collaborative work cells and other devices must facilitate it,” says, Carrier. “Proposed revisions to the (R15.06) robot safety standard will help move technology in the direction of collaborative robots.”

Robot manufacturers and integrators are working towards collaborative robotics and some robotic equipment is currently capable of meeting proposed revisions to the R15.06 safety standard, says Charles Ridley, PaR Systems Inc.’s (Shoreview, Minnesota) Material Handling Service Manager. “To meet the new robot safety standard, safety circuits must be dual channeled and dually monitored, with several processors redundantly monitoring each safety circuit. The robot program limits the work envelope, monitors location and speed of the robot by dual processors.”

Ridley illustrates his point by citing a palletizing application. “The robot goes to a certain point within its work envelope to pick up slip-sheets. When slip-sheets need replenishing, safety inputs allow the operator to replenish them without stopping the robot. The robot continues to palletize but safety inputs restrict the robot from going where the operators is.” Ridley adds that controller software recognizes when the palletizing work cell needs more slip-sheets as well as preventing the robot from moving into the area an operator is within the robot’s work envelope.

Jeff Fryman, Director of Standards Development at the Robotic Industries Association (RIA, Ann Arbor, Michigan) has a similar take as Ridley on the role of collaborative robotics. “The robot is in automatic mode during collaborative operations and the robot stops for the collaborative operation. Collaboration operation allows work cells designed without fixtures and simply drives the robot to a starting point.” The operator then commands the robot to execute a pre-programed operation.

Fryman recalls a demonstration of hand-guided collaborative operation at the Automate trade show in March 2011. “At Automate 2011, a simulation of a water-jet cutting work cell was demonstrated. A 150-kg capacity robot stopped and waited for the operator to maneuverer it within the work cell. The operator would then exit the collaborative work space and return the robot to its fully automatic mode, where the robot would cut out a predesigned pattern without the use of fixtures,” Fryman said. “Grabbing a robot by a joystick on the wrist plate and driving it around is impressive.”

Continuing, Fryman says, “Collaborative robots can assist the operator by doing the heavy lifting so the person can focus on the thought processes. Controller designs have built-in safety-rated features to assure the robot will do exactly what it is told to do and stop when it knows it did not.”

While the robot controller and its software makes the work cell more predictable, human nature remains unpredictable. “The difficulty with collaborative operation is that human operators do not always perform in a controlled or reliable fashion so safeguarding can be a challenge. The revised safety standard will require a risk assessment to address the potential hazards of a particular installation,” says Chris Anderson, Welding Technology Leader with the Motoman Robotics Division of Yaskawa America Inc. (Miamisburg, Ohio).

Brandon Rohrer, Principal Member of the Technical Staff at Sandia National Laboratories (Albuquerque, New Mexico) agrees with Anderson’s assessment. “I am watching the trend of enabling robots to behave well in unpredictable, unexpected, and poorly modeled environments. Traditional assembly line robots work really well as long as the lighting is just right and everything coming down the conveyor belt is oriented the same way. If circumstances deviate too much from design conditions, the system chokes really fast. New developments in controllers are pushing back those limits on how structured the environment must be.”

The notion of ridding work cells of hard stops intrigues John D’Silva, Marketing Manager with Siemens Industry Inc. (Norcross, Georgia). “The revised R15.06 robot safety standard could possibly do away with hard stop requirements in new robots, with better control of restricted space. Collaborative robotics is a way of the future because both the robot and operator can work in harmony to increase production. Reliable safety is provided by the safety controller during operation, setup and commissioning phases of the work cell.”

Both Fryman and D’Silva pointed out that proposed revisions to R15.06 relating to shield-free work cells will be applied to new robotic systems and retrofitting current systems will not be an option for end-users.

Robotification
Advancements in controllers will help lead robotics into new applications. “Controller technology continues to open new applications for robots, especially in non-traditional areas, such as where either people or custom machines are normally applied, such as surface finishing, on-the-fly weight measurement, and precision assembly,” says Dinsmoor.

Similarly, John Boutsikaris, Senior Vice President of Adept Technology Inc. (Pleasanton, California), says, “Traditional applications will continue to expand with new gripper technology and continuous performance improvements. Fusion of sensory inputs including sonar, scanning lasers, three-dimensional vision systems and more, on the robot controller continue to expand the applications for robots into more flexible, dynamic environments.”

As controllers become more powerful, they will become more capable of managing other equipment and facets of the work cell, says Amy Peters, Business Planning Manager with Rockwell Automation Inc. (Milwaukee, Wisconsin). “End-users want tighter integration with the logic platforms, built-in kinematics, and the ability to control other aspects of a manufacturing plant.”

Joe Campbell believes “More intelligent controllers and enhanced safety circuitry allow robots to work in closer proximity to people and opens many new applications. I see growing opportunities where multiple robots in a work cell function in a very coordinated fashion.” Campbell also anticipates robots working outdoors. “I see manufacturing outside and robots aboard ships performing maintenance and repair of ship components as well as on oil rigs with controllers able to withstand the weather.”

Motoman’s Greg Garmann, Software and Controls Technology Leader says, “Robot controllers have all the tools required to jump into almost any new application. The only restraints are the imagination of programing engineers and the complexity of the task.”

Firefighting Robots Assist in High-Risk Scenarios

Among the many advantages of using robots is the benefit of applying the technology in high-risk scenarios. Two Korean companies presented their “firebots” to the Lafayette Fire Department and Purdue University researchers, demonstrating how to control the robots via remote to access hazardous situations and assess conditions.

Robotic Firefighters, big and small, impress

by Eric Weddle

The smaller support bot can withstand 662 degrees of heat and rough terrain.

Ideally, Kang explained, it would be used to explore a structure before the fire is fully involved. Sensors would detect air quality, including hazardous chemicals.

Answering a question from a Lafayette firefighter, Kang said the robot could even be thrown through a second-story window to assess a scene.

“I hope the product will lead to firefighters lives being saved,” he said.

Young Hwan Song, one of the Korean developers, hoped that the researchers at Purdue could design even more applications for the technology in the “firebot.” Robots have done their part to help increase worker safety. What other high-risk scenarios have robots already been deployed to?

Click here to read the full article at jconline.com and watch a video of the “firebot” in action.

RIA Publishes New Safety & Compliance Page on Robotics Online

Robotic Industries Association Posted 12/14/2011

(ANN ARBOR, Michigan USA) Robot safety is a topic of extreme importance to Robotic Industries Association, the only North American trade association dedicated solely to robotics. RIA is the secretariat of the ANSI/RIA R15.06 National Robot Safety Standard and recently published a new page for safety and compliance on Robotics Online, the Association’s website.

“This new page compiles an extensive library of information about robot safety that is available from RIA,” said Jeff Burnstein, RIA President. “Safety is profoundly important to the continued use and acceptance of robotic technology. We are happy to report the industry has a very good track record for safety, and we devote substantial resources to help keep it that way.”

A webinar on Robot Safety Awareness is showcased on the new Robotics Online safety and compliance page, as are case studies, articles and links to resources about training. To access the page directly, go to http://www.robotics.org/robotic-content.cfm/Robotics/Safety-Compliance/id/23.

“It is easier than ever to find the ANSI/RIA National Robot Safety Standard from our new page,” said Burnstein. “Plus, Robotics Online enables RIA members to login for discounts on publications, request training, and take advantage of member rates for the National Robot Safety Conference (September 24-26, 2012, Indianapolis, Indiana).”

A new RSS “safety feed” is available to help people keep track of all the news about robot safety: http://www.robotics.org/feeds/safety-in-robotics.xml. (Note the “XML” extension; you will need an “RSS reader.”)

About Robotic Industries Association
Founded in 1974, RIA represents more than 260 corporate members of leading robot manufacturers, component suppliers, system integrators, end users, educators, research groups, and consulting firms. The association sponsors the biennial Automate Show and Conference plus many regional events, and is secretariat of the ANSI/RIA R15.06 Robot Safety Standard. RIA also serves as North America’s representative to the International Federation of Robotics and provides detailed quarterly North American robot statistics. Full information on RIA activities is on Robotics Online (www.robotics.org), the world’s leading robotics resource on the Worldwide Web.