In the automotive industry, robots are used more and more to perform a variety of repetitive and sometime hazardous tasks such as material handling, assembly, arc welding, resistance welding, machine tool load and unload functions, painting and spraying. This category can also include Autonomous Guided Vehicles (AGV) and Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMR).
The selection of an effective safeguarding system for a robot, just like any other machine, must be based upon a risk assesment of the robot’s use, taking into consideration not only the normal mode of operation, but also programming and maintenance procedures, as well as possible malfunctions.
The kind of hazards that must be prevented include impacts, collisions, crushing and trapping, often caused by the unauthorized access into the robot’s safeguarded area. In these cases, the detection of access or presence of people can trigger the stop of any potentially hazardous movement until the area has been completely cleared.
Robot safety optoelectronic devices can perform this detection in a safe, reliable way, in order to stop the hazardous movement always and only when someone could be at risk.
The benefits of introducing safety in your machinery or plants does not depend only on regulatory and legal requirements. Datalogic safety products can also improve man/machine collaboration, increase productivity and avoid downtime, while protecting people, machines and plants from harmful operations.
Improved safety, reliability, total costs and time savings are achieved thanks to the following advantages:
Experience – Datalogic is among the pioneers and major manufacturers of safety optoelectronic devices and among the few to have proprietary technologies – that is for the user a guarantee of proven product knowledge, reliability, and the best safety solutions.
A wide product range – In terms of lines, functions, detection resolution, protected height or distance range, interfaces, etc. – for the user this means obtaining the best ratio between performance and cost, having exactly what is needed without compromise.
Advanced features – Such as blanking, cascading, muting or override configurators make the use of safety light curtains in different applications extremely flexible. Adding safety laser scanners to such applications completes the safety solution and additional external components that would deliver such functionalities are no longer needed.
Safety specialties – Application specific models with smaller "slim" size, hygienic design enclosure in IP69K, stainless steel for aseptic areas, OpenSafety over Powerlink interface, strong vibration resistant models – are just some examples of specific customer needs that Datalogic has solved.