Safety Systems for Industrial Robots

In order to operate robot systems in a manufacturing environment, stringent safety requirements have to be met. Thanks to new safety technologies and proactive work carried out by standardization committees, the productivity of robot systems can be significantly increased.

Services

• Risk assessments:
  In a one-day or several-day workshop, together with experts from your company we make a risk assessment of a specific system. The workshop is held by an expert from Fraunhofer IPA. The end-result is a risk assessment of the system in the form of a document and accompanying report, which contains a description of the measures required to make the system safe. After implementing these measures, the risk assessment can be used as a basis for obtaining a CE label.

• Development of safety concepts:
  Fraunhofer IPA helps you develop and implement safety concepts. Our goal is to design and implement a practicable safety concept which is inexpensive, easy to apply and optimizes productivity. Fraunhofer IPA can also help you clarify safety matters related to close human-robot interaction as well as to develop new concepts to make your systems safe. These not only increase the safety and productivity of your system but also enable existing safety concepts to be updated in accordance with changing norms and standards.

• Consulting:
  Do you have specific problems associated with the safety of your system? Do you need an independent expert opinion, recommendations on how to proceed and technical solution concepts? As part of our consulting services based on daily rates, an expert from Fraunhofer IPA can give you new ideas to help you solve safety matters related to your system.

• CE label support:
  Fraunhofer IPA assists you with the documents you need for the CE label. Together with technical experts from your company, we prepare the necessary technical documents and, where applicable, bring them into line with the machine guidelines of the relevant designated authorities.

Advantages of state-of-the art safety concepts

State-of-the-art safety concepts enable man and machine to work in the same area. This significantly improves the productivity and flexibility of systems without compromising on safety. Furthermore, state-of-the-art safety concepts also make it easier to install and reconfigure systems.

Sample applications

• Human-robot interaction, e.g. guiding an industrial robot by hand
• Collision avoidance between man and the robot or other system components

Trends and technologies

• Replacement of enclosed safety devices by ones allowing access and joint usage of open work areas by man and machine
• Fail-safe control systems with corresponding software replace mechanical safety components to increase flexibility
• Safe control of movements makes way for new manufacturing processes

Services

• Design of innovative system concepts to “open up” robot cells
• Discussion of concepts with monitoring authorities, such as trade associations
• Implementation and start-up