Manufacturing processes profit greatly from a close
collaboration between human and
machine. Whereas a human behaves flexibly and adaptively but is inclined to make mistakes during repetitive work operations, machines operate quickly and exactly but are static and not very flexible. In order to enable an improved
hazard protection in the context of a safe human-
machine interaction, a spatial- and time-dependent variable degree of
hazard is allocated to monitored spatial areas as a function of the current position and the current movement state of a
machine or a machine element, as well as of the observed person. For this purpose, a multicamera
system is used to acquire image data of the person in order to obtain the most detailed information possible about the position and alignment of a person, in particular also with reference to the body parts thereof, in an industrial environment. These image data are then examined with regard to the imaging of a person so that whenever a person has been detected in the image data, an articulated virtual 3D model of the
human body is matched to this person
hypothesis. Subsequently, this
virtual body model is continuously matched to the movement behavior of the person detected in the image data. A
hazard potential is determined using knowledge of the position and the movement behavior of the
virtual body model in space. The
hazard potential thus determined is subjected to a threshold value comparison in order to act upon the
movement control of the machine or the machine part in the event of this threshold value being exceeded.