Measuring the Collision Potential of Industrial Robots

How to classify the danger potential of a robot in close vicinity to a human is not yet a settled question. Space sharing operations between a robot and a human pose new threads to the operator's health due to the rising risk of an unintended contact. Imposing performance limits on the machine is the first approach to make the cooperation safer. Still the injury risk remains undefined, as long as these limits are not correlated to their effect on an injury potential. Where to set the limit for a safe human-robot-cooperation is right now a lively discussion in the area of human-robot-cooperation. Research results thereby do not only enhance the safety of robot systems in operation, but also foster the development of new robot systems opening up new fields of application. This article describes current activities taking into account the collision potential of robots to conclude on its hazard potential. Strategies for robot safety assessment as well as experiments are introduced. A measurement setup to analyze the potential injury risk of a robot system for human-robot-cooperation is presented.