If people, systems, and robots are to work in efficient harmony, advanced sensors, robust connectivity, and even AI, is required.
If you work on a factory floor or in a warehouse, you’re likely to have a robot as a co-worker.
As manufacturing environments further evolve via Industry 4.0 transform efforts coupled with innovation expansion across the supply chain and into distribution facilities, the use of automated robotics is growing and diversifying at a rapid rate. They are also increasingly using the same space as human employees, which is raising new safety concerns.
The demand for increased safety measures combined with the need for robots to do more complex tasks means they must be smarter. They also must be nimbler, which requires more advanced computer vision and motor control technologies. And if people, systems, and robots are to work in efficient harmony, robust connectivity is needed to support timely communication and predictive maintenance to prevent problems that could impact safety.
Industrial robots are on the move
Robots on the factory floor are not new, but they are no longer separate from their human counterparts. Advancements in manufacturing mean the workspaces for people and robots overlap to the point where they are sometimes called “cobots.”
In an automotive plant, robots are tasked with labeling, welding, handling, painting, assembling, cutting, and even pouring hazardous substances. In some plants, robots are used to grease camshafts, fill engines with oil, and perform quality inspections. In other industries, robots might assemble, package, and palletize finished goods. Whether it’s a factory floor or a warehouse, today’s robots are more mobile, equipped with electronic components such as machine vision and AI systems that enable them to operate independently and respond to a variety of situations. They may even include drones deployed within a warehouse to help scan inventory throughout a facility, including hard to reach areas, without the guidance of lasers or markers.
The primary goal of robotic automation in manufacturing and distribution is to take over repetitive and strenuous tasks from human workers, as well as those that are inherently dangerous. However, adding robots into any environment creates safety concerns that must be addressed, especially as robots become more mobile and collaborate with people in shared spaces.
Collaborative robot safety depends on technology
As industrial robots continue to become widely used in warehouses and on the factory floor, as well as more versatile and powerful, robot safety becomes even more important. Every time a worker interacts with a robot or works in a shared space, there is an opportunity for accidents that can lead to serious and even fatal injury.
In some cases, the robot itself can be isolated from people, except when workers must interact with it for the purposes of programming, setup, testing, and maintenance. Each robotic system is different and needs to be assessed independently. For example, a robot that performs welding is governed by precautions such as weld curtains and interlocked perimeter guards. But different robots present different dangers, especially those that are more mobile, such as autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), that which can deliver inventory throughout a warehouse environment. This is where people traffic and robot traffic begin to overlap, especially if the robot can navigate between locations without a dedicated track.
A robot’s ability to navigate an environment independently is dependent upon maps, on-board computing capabilities, and sensors, which can also contribute to ensuring safety. An excellent example of a robot that travels amongst humans while working that needs to be managed from a safety perspective is an autonomous guided vehicle (AGV), which ferries products and materials from various locations within a factory or warehouse. These AGVs can perform tasks near people without putting their safety at risk, even while moving dangerous and heavy items around in a dynamic environment.
Today, there are four modes of collaboration for robots in a shared space. The first mode has clear boundaries in that sensing devices usually light screens or laser scanners or floor mats, to make sure robots and humans never share space at the same time, coordinated by a safety system that relies on those sensors. A much less common form of collaboration is where a robot arm goes into what is called a “float state,” allowing it to be gripped and guided.
A third collaborative mode, which is defined by ISO 10218, is a more sophisticated version of the first mode. Know an as speed and separation monitoring, the robot’s position and speed is modulated based on its proximity to a person. Here, it can even come to a safety-rated monitored stop when it gets too close to a human worker. A fourth collaborative is still emerging. Like the third, it employs modulation, but in this case the robot is programmed to limit force and power when it accidentally encounters a human worker. It is guided by ISO TS 15066, which defines dozens of various places on the human body, and the limits of pain on the body to inform how much force can be applied.
While sensors play a huge role in guiding collaborative robots in environments where people are close, so does software that restricts robot motion to what is needed for a specific function by helping to define and set safe robot speeds. Rather than simply telling a robot to stop completely when someone gets close, it can be slowed down, which increases productivity while also maintaining safety. Software also supports maintenance checks like brake reliability and more.
Smarter factories require safer and smarter robots
As collaborative robots become more common in production environments, they are now working closer with people to support more advanced automation. This is supported in part by wireless network-based artificial intelligence (AI). Capgemini Research Institute estimates 5G-powered “smart factories” will generate between $1.5 trillion and $2.2 trillion for the global economy by 2023, and 5G networks will provide robotic equipment and devices with a higher-bandwidth, lower-latency connectivity to the internet, as well as other connected devices, and the cloud, too. Wireless 5G will enable more mobile, collaborative robots because they no longer must be plugged into computers for updates and reconfiguration.
The future of factory safety may also be supported by the robots themselves. Last year, Hyundai Motor Group launched a “Factory Safety Service Robot” in collaboration with Boston Dynamics to support site safety. Equipped with AI, autonomous navigation, an integrated thermal camera and 3D LiDAR, and teleoperation technologies, the robot enables office personnel to observe and survey industrial areas remotely, detect dangers, and send alarms to managers.
This is just another prime example of the continued evolution of the modern manufacturing environment.
