Robot Hazard Mapping Using Human Support Points and Safety Spaces
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for identifying hazards in robot applications rely heavily on developer experience and are inefficient in ensuring human safety in shared workspaces, lacking a systematic approach to identify and mitigate potential dangers.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that create a model of the robot's application environment, identify points suitable for human support, define safety spaces, and flag potential hazards by overlapping safety spaces with the robot's movement range, accompanied by a user interface for proposing and approving safety measures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a systematic automated hazard identification method is implemented, then hazard identification reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The application environment is divided into discrete lattice points that can be individually evaluated. Each lattice point represents a specific location where hazard assessment can be performed independently, allowing systematic coverage of the entire workspace without requiring complex global analysis.
Solution Approach 2:
The hazard identification is extended from two-dimensional robot movement paths to three-dimensional safety spaces. By defining safety spaces with vertical dimensions (accounting for robot arm reach and object heights), the system comprehensively assesses hazards in the third dimension, improving reliability while maintaining manageable complexity through structured spatial analysis.
2Measurement precision
If comprehensive environmental modeling is performed, then hazard detection precision is improved, but calculation time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary modeling of the application environment, including defining the robot's movement range and identifying all lattice points in advance. By pre-processing the environmental model and robot kinematics, the actual hazard identification runs faster since the foundational data structures are already prepared.
Solution Approach 2:
The system evaluates all lattice points in the environment, which may be more points than strictly necessary. However, this exhaustive approach ensures no hazard is missed and allows selective optimization where only relevant points (those within or near the movement range) require detailed safety space analysis.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for identifying hazards in a robot application comprises a) providing a model of an application environment of a robot, the application environment extending beyond the limits of a movement range of the robot, the movement range comprising all points that the robot can occupy in any pose it is capable of assuming; b) identifying at least one point in the environment suitable for supporting a person; c) for each point identified in step b), defining a safety space above the point, the safety space comprising a volume expected to be occupied by a person supported by the point and a safety range around the volume; d) identifying one of the at least one point identified in step b) as hazardous when the safety space associated to said point overlaps with the movement range of the robot.