Robot Safety

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.

• Safety Light Curtains (AOPD) can be used to protect hazardous points as they can detect the presence of a finger, hand or arm. Safety Light Grids or Photocells and Control Units can protect hazardous areas with their detection of body presence or movement.
  
  
• Safety Laser Scanners (AOPDDR) are suitable for both static hazardous area protection by detecting the operator’s presence in given area, or moving hazardous area protection, for example when installed on board an Automated Guided Vehicles.
  
  

COMMON APPLICATIONS OF ROBOT SAFETY:

• Robotic cells with one or more access points are protected with one or more Safety Light Curtains, or Photocells and Control Units that detect the access of people and create safety conditions by stopping the movement of the robotic arm.
  
  
  
• Robotic cells with open sides are protected with one or more Safety Laser Scanner, which detect any access or presence in a configured area and create safety conditions by slowing down or stopping the movement of the robotic arm.
  
  
  
• Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV) movement is safe thanks to Safety Laser Scanner, which detect people or obstacles in the configured navigation area, with the possibility of setting "warning" areas that slow down and "safe" areas that stop the vehicle.
  
  
  
• Automated Mobile Robots (AMR) movement and operations are also protected with a Safety Laser Scanner, either against the possibility of causing damage to operators or against accidentally bumping into obstacles in the configured area.

COMMON BENEFITS OF ROBOT SAFETY:

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.