The present invention relates to a method for monitoring the operation of a robot, in particular an articulated arm robot having, for example, 6 axes, in a protective field, wherein the protective field has an outer boundary, wherein a respective space occupied by the robot is determined for different robot positions, the space occupied by the robot in the respective robot position is removed from the protective field, wherein an inner boundary of the protective field is created and/or changed by removing the occupied space.

A control device for a robot, includes a speed calculator that calculates the speed of at least one target point of the robot operating according to an operation program, on the basis of a speed command value written in the operation program; a limitation direction specifier that specifies a direction in which the speed of the at least one target point is limited; a speed limit component calculator that calculates, out of the speed of the at least one target point calculated by the speed calculator, a speed component in the direction specified by the limitation direction specifier; and a speed limiter that limits, only upon motion exceeding a prespecified speed limit, a motion speed of the robot such that the speed component calculated by the speed limit component calculator is equal to or less than the prespecified speed limit.

The disclosure relates to a system and method for verifying robot data that is used by a safety system monitoring a workspace shared by a human and robot. One or more sensors monitoring the workspace are arranged to obtain a three-dimensional view of the workspace. Raw data from each of the sensors is acquired and analyzed to determine the positioning and spatial relationship between the human and robot as both move throughout the workspace. This captured data is compared to the positional data obtained from the robot to assess whether discrepancies exist between the data sets. If the information from the sensors does not sufficiently match the data from the robot, then a signal from the system may be sent to deactivate the robot and prevent potential injury to the human.

A safety device according to the present disclosure includes a sensor that is attached to a self-propellable travel device or a robot provided to the travel device, is set with a given detection area on the basis of a position of the sensor, and detects an object existing within the given detection area. The safety device further includes a motion suppressing device that suppresses motions of the travel device and the robot, when the existence of the object within the given detection area is detected by the sensor, and an area changing device that changes the given detection area according to operating states of the travel device and the robot.

A control device for a robot, includes a speed calculator that calculates the speed of at least one target point of the robot operating according to an operation program, on the basis of a speed command value written in the operation program; a limitation direction specifier that specifies a direction in which the speed of the at least one target point is limited; a speed limit component calculator that calculates, out of the speed of the at least one target point calculated by the speed calculator, a speed component in the direction specified by the limitation direction specifier; and a speed limiter that limits, only upon motion exceeding a prespecified speed limit, a motion speed of the robot such that the speed component calculated by the speed limit component calculator is equal to or less than the prespecified speed limit.

A safety unit is provided for this purpose, and includes a position determining unit, a speed determining unit, a logical product unit, and a stopping unit. When a rotation amount (positional data) of an encoder rotating in connection with a rotation shaft of a servo motor falls within a predetermined limiting range, the position determining unit outputs a command for stopping a motor to a logical product unit. When rotation speed of the encoder rotating in connection with the rotation shaft of the servo motor falls within a predetermined limiting range, the speed determining unit outputs the command for stopping the motor to the logical product unit. This control by the logical product unit requires a stop command from both the position and speed determining units. The logical product unit informs the stopping unit to stop the servo motor to a controller.

A numerical controller has a test mode of a machining program, sets, for each axis, a neighboring distance from a movement prohibition boundary of a tool or a workpiece, and temporarily stops an axis movement at a boundary of a near region thereof. A movable distance in a direction approaching the movement prohibition boundary is obtained for each axis such that the movable distance is less than a distance to the movement prohibition boundary. Further, if an axis exceeding the movable distance is present, an axis movement is stopped by restricting a movement distance within a range not exceeding the movable distance.

Spatial regions potentially occupied by a robot (or other machinery) or portion thereof and a human operator during performance of all or a defined portion of a task or an application are computationally estimated. These potential occupancy envelopes (POEs) may be based on the states (e.g., the current and expected positions, velocities, accelerations, geometry and/or kinematics) of the robot and the human operator. Once the POEs of human operators in the workspace are established, they can be used to guide or revise motion planning for task execution.