3D Sensor Robot Control for Shared Workspace Safety Zones
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current production sites using collaborative robots lack a system that effectively balances safety and productivity, as existing technologies separate worker and robot regions without considering modern safety standards for collaborative work.
Innovation Solution
A control system that includes a three-dimensional sensor to acquire position information of workers and robots, allowing users to virtually set collaborative work regions and control robot speed or stopping based on their positions and relative relationships, enabling safe and productive collaboration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the worker and robot regions are completely separated by security boundaries, then safety is improved, but productivity deteriorates due to restricted collaborative work
Solution Approach 1:
The shared work region is segmented into multiple zones (first region, second region, third region) based on distance from the robot, with different safety control levels applied to each zone. This allows collaborative work in safer outer zones while maintaining protection in the inner zone closest to the robot.
Solution Approach 2:
Different safety control strategies are applied to different spatial locations within the shared work region. The first region (closest to robot) uses emergency stopping control, the second region uses speed reduction control, and the third region allows normal operation, creating locally optimized safety measures.
2Productivity
If the robot operates at high speed, then productivity is improved, but safety deteriorates due to increased risk in shared workspace
Solution Approach 1:
The robot's operating speed is dynamically adjusted based on the worker's position relative to the robot. When a worker enters the second region, the robot automatically reduces speed; when a worker enters the first region, the robot prepares for emergency stopping. This dynamic speed control maintains productivity while adapting safety measures to real-time conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The safety control system continuously monitors the worker's position through sensors and provides real-time feedback to adjust robot behavior. The control unit receives position information, determines which region the worker occupies, and automatically adjusts robot speed or triggering emergency stop, creating a closed-loop safety system.
3Reliability
If complex safety monitoring systems are implemented, then safety is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
A safety control unit acts as an intermediary between the robot control unit and the monitoring sensors. This intermediary component simplifies the overall system architecture by centralizing the safety logic and region determination algorithms, making the complex safety monitoring more manageable and maintainable.
Data Source
AI summary
A control system (1) includes: a control device (100) that controls a robot (200); a three-dimensional sensor (300) that acquires positional information of a worker and the robot (200), which are included in a viewing-field area in a three-dimensional space; and a support device (400) that provides a user interface (411) for virtually setting a cooperation region in which the worker and the robot (200) are allowed to work. The control device (100) controls stopping or the speed of the robot (200) on the basis of whether or not the position of the worker or the robot (200) calculated on the basis of the positional information is included in the cooperation region, which is set by using the user interface (411), as well as the relative positional relationship between the worker and the robot (200) calculated on the basis of the positional information.