Characterizing Task-Based Human-Robot Collaboration Safety in Manufacturing

A new methodology for describing the safety of human-robot collaborations is presented. Taking a task-based perspective, a risk assessment of a collaborative robot system safety can be evaluated offline during the initial design stages. This risk assessment factors in such elements as tooling, the nature and duration of expected contacts, and any amortized transfer of pressures and forces onto a human operator. Risk assessments of example tasks are provided for illustrative purposes.