METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR REDUCTION OF CO-WORKER'S INJURY

摘要

It is provided a method and an apparatus for reduction of a potential injury of a co-worker resulting from an intersection by a hazardous zone of a work piece held by a robot and a body part of the co-worker in a cell accommodating the robot. The method includes steps of: selecting a first, a second, a third and a fourth value for a first, a second, a third and a fourth variable, wherein the first variable represents a relative velocity between the hazardous zone of the work piece and the body part of the co-worker, the second variable represents a degree of an inertia of the moving part of the robot and the work piece, the third variable represents a degree of a vulnerability of the body part of the co-worker, and the fourth variable represents a degree of a hazardousness for the hazardous zone of the work piece; and predicting a degree of a potential hazard resulting from the intersection of the hazardous zone of the work piece and the body part of the co-worker according to the first, second, third and fourth variables. It is helpful to produce data to estimate the injury for a well-defined intersection at a given relative speed in vector form between a human body part and a work piece of elementary shape held by a robot in motion.