Safety Strategy and Framework for Human–Robot Collaboration

Abstract

Modern manufacturing systems call for a safe, efficient and user-friendly working environment to meet the expectation of Industry 4.0 and Smart Manufacturing, which needs new approaches with smarter functionalities and a better/safer working environment for human beings. Human–Robot Collaboration (HRC) is considered as one of the promising approaches, and it attracts major research interest in both academia and industry, as it provides a feasible solution combing the flexibility and intelligence of a human, together with the accuracy and strength of an industrial robot. However, in the past years, despite the significant development of different HRC approaches, there is still a lack of a clear safety strategy for an HRC system. Current research efforts focus more on advanced robot control methods, while the uniqueness of each human body is not considered in the planning or control loop. Thus, in this research, the taxonomy of different human–robot relations is identified first. Then, the safety framework and strategy are developed towards a personalised solution in a human–robot collaboration cell. A dynamic HRC layout approach is also introduced, based on the actual speed of humans and robots, and the distance between them. The feasibility of the proposed approaches in this research is then evaluated via the implementation in an HRC-based assembly cell in a quantifiable manner. The operator’s biometric data is also included in the HRC control loop. It is proven achievable to conduct a personalised HRC safety strategy based on the human stakeholder’s role, physical conditions, speed and other characteristics. A future research outlook and essential considerations are addressed at the end of the chapter.