An online Toolkit for applications featuring collaborative robots across different domains

José F. Saenz (1) , Jule Bessler-Etten (2, 3) , Marcello Valori (4) , Gerdienke B. Prange-Lasonder (3) , Irene Fassi (4) , Catherine Bidard (5) , Aske Bach Lassen (6) , Imre Paniti (7) , Andras Toth (8) , Tobias Stuke (9) , Sebastian Wrede (10) , Kurt Nielsen (6)

1 Fraunhofer IFF - Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation
2 University of Twente
3 Roessingh Research and Development
4 STIIMA-CNR - Institute of Intelligent Industrial Technologies and Systems for Advanced Manufacturing [Bari]
5 DIASI (CEA, LIST) - Département Intelligence Ambiante et Systèmes Interactifs
6 DTI - Danish Technological Institute
7 SZTAKI - Institute for Computer Science and Control [Budapest]
8 BME - Budapest University of Technology and Economics [Budapest]
9 Weidmüller Interface GmbH & Company, KG, 32756 Detmold
10 Universität Bielefeld = Bielefeld University

Collaborative robots (cobots) are being applied in areas such as healthcare, rehabilitation, agriculture and logistics, beyond the typical manufacturing setting. This is leading to a marked increase in the number of cobot stakeholders with little or no experience in traditional safety engineering. Considering the importance of human safety in collaborative robotic applications, this is currently proving to be a barrier to more widespread cobot usage. A web-based Toolkit that targets cobot end-users and manufacturers with varying levels of safety expertise was developed, helping them to understand how to consider the safety of their cobot applications. In this work we will provide an overview of the state of the art for ensuring cobot safety, highlight the support provided by the "COVR Toolkit" and introduce three examples where third parties applied the Toolkit for their collaborative robotics application.

Domaines: Automatique / Robotique

José F. Saenz, Jule Bessler-Etten, Marcello Valori, Gerdienke B. Prange-Lasonder, Irene Fassi, et al.. An online Toolkit for applications featuring collaborative robots across different domains. IEEE Transactions on Human-Machine Systems, 2022, 99, pp.1-11. ⟨10.1109/THMS.2022.3213416⟩. ⟨cea-04086443⟩