3D Hazard Zone Monitoring for Productive Robot Safeguarding
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing safeguarding systems for industrial robots, relying on simple presence detection, significantly restrict productivity as they require robots to wait stationary until a person leaves a hazardous zone, leading to inefficiencies in operation.
Innovation Solution
A system utilizing 3D sensors and a control unit to monitor and evaluate the hazardous zone, allowing for conditional bridging of the safeguarding function based on real-time 3D data, enabling safe shutdown only when a person approaches a critical distance to the robot's dangerous parts, thus maintaining productivity by allowing personnel to dwell in the zone.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If simple presence detection is used to ensure safety, then safety is improved, but productivity deteriorates due to robot waiting in stationary manner
Solution Approach 1:
The system transitions from static presence detection to dynamic monitoring by continuously tracking the position and movement of persons in the hazardous zone. The robot's response is dynamically adjusted based on real-time distance and approach speed measurements, allowing the robot to maintain motion while ensuring safety through active monitoring rather than stationary waiting.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the monitoring parameters from binary presence detection to continuous measurement of distance and approach speed. By evaluating multiple parameters (distance, speed, trajectory) rather than simple presence absence, the system enables more nuanced safety decisions that maintain productivity while ensuring safety.
2Productivity
If distance and speed monitoring is implemented, then productivity is improved by allowing robot movement, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor system performs multiple functions simultaneously: it detects presence, measures distance, calculates approach speed, and determines trajectory. By using a single multi-functional sensing system rather than separate devices for each measurement, the patent reduces overall system complexity while enabling comprehensive dynamic monitoring.
Solution Approach 2:
The control unit acts as an intermediary that processes sensor data and translates it into safety decisions. It calculates approach speed from position changes over time and evaluates whether the robot should slow down or stop based on predefined safety criteria, thereby managing the complexity of dynamic monitoring through a centralized decision-making layer.
3Reliability
If robot is slowed down based on distance and approach speed, then safety is improved through risk reduction, but operational efficiency deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies partial safety measures by slowing down the robot only when necessary based on the evaluated risk level. Instead of always stopping or significantly reducing speed, the robot maintains normal operation when persons are in safe positions or moving away, and applies speed reduction only when approach speed and distance indicate potential danger, thereby balancing safety with operational efficiency.
Data Source
AI summary
A system and a method for monitoring a hazardous zone of a machine comprising at least one sensor having a spatial monitored zone for monitoring the hazardous zone and a control and evaluation unit, wherein the sensor is configured to cyclically transmit 3D data of the monitored zone to the control and evaluation unit, wherein the sensor is further configured to generate at least one protected zone in the monitored zone, wherein the control and evaluation unit is configured to compare the received 3D data of the monitored zone with known position data of the machine and to check them for agreement, wherein the control and evaluation unit is configured to localize objects in the monitored zone of the sensor with reference to the 3D data and to determine their distance from a dangerous part of the machine, and wherein the control and evaluation unit is configured to bridge the sensor having the protected zone as long as there is an agreement of the position data and not to bridge the sensor having the protected zone if there is no agreement of the position data and not to bridge the sensor having the protected zone if the distance of objects from at least one dangerous part of the machine falls below predefined first distance values.