Safety measures by safety LiDAR for the industrial robots

With the introduction of automation aimed at improving the productivity of industrial robots and the diversification of risks of occupational accidents, safety measures are becoming more important at manufacturing sites.

In addition to the conventional safety equipment such as light curtains and mat switches, safety laser scanners with a high degree of flexibility in installation attracts attention in responding to complicated safety measures at production sites.

We introduce how to utilize safety laser scanners around industrial robots and collaborative robots in below.

A safety laser scanner is a reflective safety sensor that scans laser light horizontally in two dimensions. It is used for intrusion detection in dangerous areas, residual detection, and obstacle detection for transport trolleys.
In addition, it is a safety device that has been designed in accordance with international standards and has been certified by a third-party certification body.

Industrial robots have a large payload and are used in tasks such as palletizing / depalletizing, welding, and assembly that cannot be done by humans or are burdensome.

In many cases, safety measures are implemented by separating the space where the robot and the worker are located with a safety fence and combining it with a movable guard door switch or light curtains. However, this method only takes measures against "intrusion", and measures against the risk of "remaining" of workers inside the fence are insufficient.
Other peripherals are also installed inside the safety fence, and there may be blind spots that cannot be seen from the position of the robots start button. In this case, there is a risk that worker A will not notice the remaining worker B in the fence and restart the device after maintenance work.

By installing the safety laser scanner anywhere in the fence, the detection area can be freely set according to the space of the site, so it is possible to monitor the remaining blind spot of worker A.

When implementing safety measures for residual detection with a light curtain or mat switch, it is difficult to set the area according to the space inside the fence because the light curtain or mat switch can only monitor in a fixed area. In addition, installing sensors at multiple locations to cover complex areas has the disadvantage of increasing equipment costs and start-up man-hours.

Collaborative robots are literally robots that work in cooperation with humans, and are designed for use in existing production lines. Compared to conventional industrial robots, it has a smaller payload capacity, but it is characterized by easy teaching and low hurdles to installation.
Collaborative robots are equipped with safety features that comply with regulations, but may require additional safety measures. For example, there is a risk of injury to the worker due to the work itself, such as when the work is sharp.

By using a safety laser scanner, it is possible to detect when a worker approaches the robot or workpiece, and switch to low-speed operation or stop the robot before contact.
Our safety laser scanner UAM series can cover a wide range of 270°, so if you install it diagonally on the robot pedestal, you can easily monitor the entire surroundings with two units.

Another advantage of collaborative robots is that they are easy to relocate. This is the best additional safety measure with no additional cost or effort.