Timetable

The talk will briefly present the results of recent scientific studies that should be taken into account when considering human-robot safety. Biomechanical corridors from human subject studies, based on pain thresholds, show human body stiffnesses and limits. They can be used for a safe operation of a power- and force-limited robot.

Cobots have come to be used in many manufacturing fields. On the other hand, there are many issues of risk countermeasures due to being caught in workpieces and jigs, and research and development as a means of ensuring more practical safety and security and helping each other in the future is desired. In this report, we will provide topics on examples of collaborative use of automobile manufacturing lines and examples of evaluating the physical burden on people using cyber-physical systems. We will discuss future issues and prospects for people-centered collaboration manufacturing.

This talk will take a look at current trends in human-robot collaboration with a few examples of recent activities in this field. Finally I will identify and briefly discuss some key trends for the future of the field.

There are many kinds of autonomous ground vehicles and this presentation focuses on autonomous mobile machines and mobile robots. Autonomous mobile machines are applied in outdoors applications and their safety systems rely usually on access control and on-board safety systems. The mobile robots are used often indoors and there are plenty of suitable on-board safety sensors to be applied. Currently one common challenge with both autonomous mobile machines and mobile robots is that there are plenty of different applications and the current requirements are written only to specific cases. The variety of mobile vehicles is increasing.

Robotics have long been used for dirty and dangerous tasks, thereby contributing to reduced risks for workers. With the “new normal” requiring resilience and agility – despite the labour shortage, greater automation is needed.  Smaller robots and mobile robots enable the automation of tasks that are dull and injury prone.  Often the solution is partial automation to work collaboratively with people.  The results are fewer ergonomic strains, sprains and injuries while experiencing increased productivity.

We newly established risk reduction system, named “Safeguarding Supportive System (SSS)”, which is proposing to ISO. It is established to prevent human error and intentional unsafe behavior from mechanical side (hardware side). The SSS would reduce residual risks with appropriate ITC combination. We examined efficacy of the SSS at a rental company of portal workbench. We examined 1) whether RF-tag system was adequately operated by workers, 2) whether UWB-active-RFID system precisely monitored and captured workers movement and location in real time, and 3) whether gateway monitor system appropriately monitored entering into and leaving from the work zone. As results in the present study, there were no differences in relative ratio of correct count, safe failure and dangerous failure in zone A1 and those of B1. Time and trace of movement of workers were recorded by UWB active RFID system. Also, the system could be confirmed of state of the simultaneous works of more than one worker.

As the labor shortage due to a falling birthrate and aging population has accelerated, the demand for collaborative robots that can realize automation at manual production sites without safety fences has been increasing exponentially. I would like to introduce the features of collaborative robot with ease of use even for first-time robot users and application examples, including safety aspects.

Presented as a key to competitiveness, collaborative robots are generating a lot of interest in the industry. Many see it as a way to combine human know-how with the endurance of these robots designed to work in proximity to workers. Nevertheless, collaborative robotics raises the question of how to integrate them into companies because of the new human-robot coactivity that it implies. This can lead to physical risks but also to psychological constraints. The conference reminds us of the importance of a global risk prevention approach when putting in place a robotic cell. The consideration of human and technical factors throughout the deployment process ensures a successful integration. The different technical and organizational solutions are addressed. Finally, the conference opens on current and future developments in terms of AI, mobile robotics, etc.

Machines for collaborative work with humans, such as service robots and assist suits, have appeared. These machines realize efficient collaborative work in anticipation of the actions and movements of workers. Therefore, the safety measures that have been applied so far are not sufficient, and an essential safety design that considers functional safety in the collaborative work content is required. In addition, since the risks and safety measures change dynamically depending on the relationship between humans and machines, dynamic risk management is required. The safety of collaborative machines is under discussion in the ACOS and IEC White Papers, and this presentation will explain the latest situation.

Until now, based on the recognition that human behavior is unpredictable, the image of a predicted accident and the necessary safety measures have been discussed (Accident preventative Safety). In the future, in order for humans and robots to cooperate, technology to predict human behavior is required. That is, human modeling is important. By accurately modeling individual people, it is possible to predict human behavior using technologies such as AI. By using an accurate model of an individual, work support suitable for the individual is possible. This leads to improved productivity. In other words, improving safety enables individual human management and increases productivity. This is a new safety concept (Productive Safety).

Currently, when discussing the safety of industrial robots in collaborative work systems, pain is the norm and the protective interval distance is determined. However, as robots coexist in closer proximity to humans to service them, the protective spacing distance alone becomes irrelevant to the discussion. In this presentation, I would like to ask the following question: depending on the frequency of human-machine contact, can the norm of internal bleeding as well as the norm of pain be determined as the upper limit of safety data? This is the position that ISO/TR 21260 is based on.

Due to the difficult challenge of construction and a shortage of labor, we started our development of working robots in 2016. The robots have the ability to work while moving to the next location autonomously. We have designed these robots to be functionally safe and to incorporate risk avoidance. Safety management of robots and workers has also been taken into account.

The implementation of robots began last year. We would like to introduce the feature of the safe and effective robots.