Robot Protective Field Monitoring for Adaptive Safety Boundaries
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for monitoring the operation of robots, particularly articulated robots, often require large, inefficiently positioned protective fields that lead to unnecessary space usage and undesired production downtime due to manual adjustments, which are difficult to adapt to complex robot movements.
Innovation Solution
A method that dynamically determines and adjusts the protective field by removing the space occupied by the robot during its movements, creating an inner boundary within the protective field, allowing precise adaptation to the robot's position and movements, using sensors and/or simulations to ensure safe operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the protective field is positioned far from the robot to prevent violations, then safety is improved, but space requirements increase and production downtime increases
Solution Approach 1:
The protective field boundary is made dynamic by automatically adapting it to the robot's current position and occupied space. The system continuously determines the robot's position, calculates the occupied space, and adjusts the protective field boundary accordingly, transforming a static safety zone into a dynamic one that moves with the robot, thereby reducing the required space while maintaining safety
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs self-monitoring and self-adjustment of the protective field. The robot system itself determines its occupied space and automatically adapts the protective field boundary without external intervention, enabling the system to serve its own safety needs dynamically
2Reliability
If the protective field is positioned far from the robot, then safety is improved, but production downtime increases due to unnecessary stopping
Solution Approach 1:
The dynamic adaptive protective field continuously adjusts to the robot's actual position and occupied space, preventing false violation detections that would cause unnecessary stopping. By making the boundary dynamic rather than static, the system maintains safety while avoiding unnecessary production interruptions
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements continuous feedback by monitoring the robot's position and occupied space in real-time, and automatically adjusting the protective field boundary based on this feedback. This closed-loop control ensures the protective field accurately reflects the robot's actual state, preventing false alarms and unnecessary stopping
3Ease of manufacture
If manual definition of protective fields is used, then setup is simple, but adaptability to complex robot movements is poor
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically determines the robot's occupied space and adapts the protective field boundary without requiring manual configuration for each robot position. The robot system itself provides the data needed for adaptive boundary calculation, eliminating the need for complex manual setup while maintaining simplicity
Solution Approach 2:
The system pre-calculates the occupied space for various robot positions and uses this preliminary information to automatically define the adaptive protective field boundary, preparing the safety parameters in advance rather than requiring manual adjustment during operation
4Speed
If computational intensity is reduced, then processing speed is improved, but measurement precision of occupied space may deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The calculation of occupied space is segmented into discrete robot positions and individual components. By dividing the complex continuous space calculation into manageable discrete segments corresponding to specific robot positions and components, the system achieves accurate measurement without excessive computational intensity
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
AI summary
The present invention relates to a method for monitoring the operation of a robot, in particular an articulated robot with, for example, 6 axes. A final protective field for a robot (12) is determined, which the robot (12) must not leave. The final protective field comprises an outer (24) and an inner (28) boundary. The final protective field is determined or learned in a learning phase by defining a first initial protective field (22) enclosing the robot and subtracting or removing the space (26) occupied by the robot (12) in all its programmed positions (P1...Pn) from this initial protective field. During operation, monitoring then only checks whether the robot (12) violates the determined final protective field.