Robotics : Performing the catalyst role
Current standards demand that the robot stop completely when the human is in the robot’s range of movement, today, robots must be built with hard-wired, full e-stops to their main axis of movement.
Robotics is poised to spring into new applications and markets, from medicine to personal care to manufacturing. But outmoded safety standards that prevent humans and robots from working together in a collaborative environment are getting in the way. The gap between the heavy industrial robot and the assistive, R2-D2 type that works with humans is getting narrower.
The "next generation robot," an initiative of the Robotics Industries Association (RIA), seeks to develop not only the technologies but also the rules and safety standards that will dramatically lower the cost of implementing robotics and broaden the range of applications for robots, including those that require closer collaboration between robots and humans. The benefits include greater productivity, achieving lean manufacturing goals and assisting humans in a wider range of activities.
New applications in manufacturing
Dynamic limit switches, stereo vision cameras that can perceive a three-dimensional workspace, capacitive and other non-touch sensors, tactile sensors, advances in servo motors and myriad other recent technological advances all play a part in the development of the new generation, lean, collaborative robots. But the biggest change is a new way of looking at how we can use robots and what they can do in a number of different environments. There are still some jobs that humans do better than robots, A human is also much better at going into a robotic workcell and clearing an error to allow the robot to start working again.
Restrictive safety standards
A robot's workspace must be separated from any human workspace, guarded by fences, cages or even walls, and all automatic operations must cease as soon as a human enters the workspace or otherwise comes close enough to be injured by a robot. Current standards demand that the robot stop completely when the human is in the robot's range of movement, today, robots must be built with hard-wired, full e-stops to their main axis of movement. There are robots that can provide lifting power under the guidance of the human operator, but when the human is in contact with the machine, it must go out of automatic mode. In automotive assembly operations, for example, a "collaborative robot" can provide the power to lift heavy components, while a human operator guides them into place. However, in this application, the machine is not operating in automatic mode — it's not a robot.
Basically, the direction has been to prevent close human interaction with the robot whenever possible, in early years, ësafe' meant higher fences, more e-stops and more ways to keep humans away from the automation." But greater clearances require more floor space and higher costs.
These rules prohibit laboratories from using robots for repetitive tasks because they would be working right next to people. Few laboratories have enough room for a robotic workcell surrounded by a mesh cage. The current standards also prohibit the use of current robots for human assistance. It's all in the name of protecting human operators, but at the same time, the standards limit the development of robots that really work with humans.
A new way of thinking about safety
Current safety standards are prefaced on the arranged in redundant arrays, with e-stops built into the hardware. You can't put a lot of software in the safety chain under the standards, as a result, the robot standards don't allow the use of some of the best, most advanced technologies and features. A good example is the requirement that industrial computer networks be hard-wired with redundant safety alarms, prohibiting the implementation of the "wireless plant. Implementing the "next-generation robot" — the type that works closely and safely with humans — requires "a different thought process, currently, the robot has to be programmed so that when a human is in the workspace, the robot can't move in there. E-stops and limit switches must be on the robot.
A new age of robotics?
Collaborative workspaces would allow manufacturers — and other industries, as well — to make even greater use of the respective strengths of human workers and robots: the power and precise repeatability of robots and the flexibility and adaptability of humans. New applications will include robots assisting humans in assembly operations, holding parts for welding and other operations, and learning and performing variable tasks. Safety standards that allow humans to touch operating robots will finally make "service robots" for personal care applications a reality. New standards will decrease the cost of actually using robots, leading to wider adoption and new kinds of applications that haven't been thought of yet. But most important, they'll allow businesses to decrease their costs, improve their quality and increase their competitiveness in this global economy.
