According to the International Federation of Robotics, the global manufacturing industry has averaged 74 robots per 10,000 employees in recent years. As the industry's reliance on robotics continues to grow, it's important for manufacturers to make sure they're doing everything they can to keep workers safe.
Traditionally, industrial robots have been considered dangerous machines that perform dirty, boring and dangerous work on production lines and are often caged to avoid harming human workers. However, some tasks require robot repeatability and human dexterity that large industrial robots cannot accomplish alone.
In the 1990s, manufacturers began to introduce industrial robots that could work safely around humans. These collaborative robots are smaller, lighter, and safer than traditional industrial robots.
Facilities now use collaborative robots that can work alongside or even directly with humans to help increase productivity on a variety of tasks, such as lifting, assembling, inspecting, or handling hazardous materials. However, as more and more machines emerge from their cages, manufacturers cannot assume that collaborative robots are inherently safe.
Meeting the Standard
ISO/TS 15066 was first introduced in 2006 to ensure that any machine categorized as collaborative meets specific safety requirements. According to the regulations, collaborative robots need at least one safety feature, such as safety level monitoring stops, manual guidance, speed and interval monitoring, or power and force limits.
If a manufacturer wants to use a robot in a collaborative environment, it must have at least one of these safety features. Then, if the robot does come into incidental contact with a human, it will not cause pain or injury.
Risk Assessment
When introducing any new equipment into a plant, manufacturers should conduct a thorough risk assessment. This assessment should consider the entire collaborative workspace and look at how operators will interact with the robot. Manufacturers should take the time to ensure that they risk assess every potential contact situation between the operator and the collaborative robot for every job the robot is expected to perform.
Engineers should carefully evaluate the details of each action the robot will perform - an oversimplified assessment does not accurately represent the level of safety of the robot. Manufacturers should consider ALARA's concept of safety (as low as reasonably achievable). This suggests that the manufacturer should consider all risks in the robot application, not just one or two.
Once the assessment is complete, the assessor should also share the information with the operator. Those using the machine need to be aware of the potential risks. After detecting any hazards, the assessor must also explain how they will mitigate those risks through controls. The assessor also needs to link each hazard to a control, a step that is often missed in the assessment process.
Add
While collaborative robots are considered safer than bulky industrial robots, manufacturers should consider how more equipment can improve safety or increase the risk of injury. For example, a collaborative robot may be safe to operate around humans, but could be harmful if the end-of-arm tool contains an attached knife or welding tool.
While robots keep humans away from dangerous tasks, manufacturers should not assume that the risk of injury no longer exists. Manufacturers should take the time to ensure that any robot that enters the space of collaborating with humans will not do more harm than good.