Wearable Operator Risk Assessment for Distance-Based Hazard Avoidance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing risk assessment systems cannot accurately calculate risk values for operators spaced apart from machines, as they require physical contact to acquire operator condition information, and uniformly calculate risk based on distance without considering operator physical conditions.
Innovation Solution
A risk value calculation system that includes a wearable operator device to acquire health and posture data, and an information processing apparatus that corrects the hazard avoidance possibility value based on this data when the operator is within a certain distance of the machine, allowing for a more accurate risk value calculation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a robot contacts the operator via an object to be carried to acquire physical condition information, then the robot can acquire health data, but the robot must be in contact with the operator and cannot acquire data when spaced apart
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a wearable operator device as an intermediary between the robot and the operator. This device includes sensors that directly acquire health data (body temperature, blood pressure, heart rate) and posture information from the operator's body, eliminating the need for robot-contact acquisition. The operator device wirelessly transmits this data to the robot, allowing the robot to obtain accurate physical condition information regardless of contact status or distance.
2Device complexity
If the system uniformly calculates risk value based on distance between operator and machine, then the calculation is simple, but the system cannot acquire risk values based on operator physical conditions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms the static, uniform risk calculation into a dynamic, adaptive system. The risk value calculation is no longer fixed based solely on distance, but dynamically adjusts by integrating real-time health data (body temperature, blood pressure, heart rate) and posture information from the wearable operator device. This allows the risk assessment to adapt to the operator's actual physical condition, improving accuracy while maintaining computational feasibility through standardized calculation formulas.
3Reliability
If the robot uses contact-based methods to acquire operator data, then data acquisition is reliable, but the system cannot function when the operator is spaced apart from the robot
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical contact-based data acquisition system with a wireless sensor system. The wearable operator device incorporates sensors that directly measure physiological parameters (body temperature, blood pressure, heart rate) and posture, transmitting this data wirelessly to the robot. This substitution eliminates the need for physical contact or carrying objects, maintaining data reliability through direct physiological measurement while enabling flexible operation at any distance.
Data Source
AI summary
A physical data acquirer included in an operator device acquires at least one of health data indicating a health condition of an operator or posture data indicating a posture of the operator. A distance determiner included in an information processing apparatus determines whether a distance between the operator and a machine is below a predetermined threshold. A corrector corrects an avoidability definition value defined as a value indicating a possibility of the operator avoiding a hazard caused by the machine in accordance with at least one of the health condition of the operator indicated by the health data acquired from the operator device or the posture of the operator indicated by the posture data acquired from the operator device. A risk value calculator calculates a risk value by substituting the corrected avoidability definition value and a riskiness definition value into a calculation function for the risk value.