A system for promoting safety of a robotic appendage includes: a robot controller; and a robot controllable by the robot controller, the robot controller configured to compute an estimated power draw of a planned trajectory of the robot, the robot controller further configured to modify the planned trajectory to prevent the estimated power draw from exceeding a power limit; the robot comprising: an appendage; an appendage controller configured to control the appendage; and a breaker configured to limit power delivered to the appendage. A system for promoting safety of a robotic appendage includes a plurality of robots operably connected with each other, the robots configured to communicate with each other regarding estimated power draw characteristics.

Predefining a permissible maximum speed for a robotic device may include predefining a contact point between a human operator and the robotic device for a collision between the human operator and the robotic device, a geometry of the robotic device at the contact point, and a spatial boundary condition of the collision. The method may also include determining whether the collision is a clamp-free collision or a clamped collision using a computing unit. The method may also include calculating, by the computing unit, the permissible maximum speed of the robotic device at the contact point with a free-impact model, and with a clamping-impact model or with a quasi-static-clamping model. The method may also include using the computing unit to output a signal dependent on the calculated permissible maximum speed for the robotic device to predefine the permissible maximum speed of the robotic device.