A detection device for safety apparatuses for the control of industrial machines or plants comprises a reading head adapted to be associated with the receiving device of the safety apparatus to receive a presence signal provided with the identification code following the positioning of one of the movable actuators at a predetermined minimum distance from said reading head, a processing circuit integrated in said head and adapted to generate a plurality of output signals corresponding to respective command or signalling functions for one or more parts of the machine or plant, wherein the processing circuit is adapted to associate to each of said identification signals a personalized combination of said output signals for the execution of respective combinations of said functions differentiated for one or more of said movable actuators.

In one embodiment, a non-transitory computer readable medium may include computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, may cause processor to receive a set of user data associated with a user that is attempting to access an electronic lock, receive a request to actuate a locking mechanism of the electronic lock configured to prevent the user from accessing a machine in an industrial automation system, actuate the locking mechanism in response to the request and the set of user data corresponding to an expected set of data, store a log of the request and the set of user data, and send the log to a cloud-based computing system.

A control system configured to control safety-critical and non-safety-critical processes and/or plant components includes: a non-safety controller module, at least one safety controller module, and at least one condition monitoring module. The non-safety controller module is configured to control the non-safety-critical processes and/or the non-safety-critical plant components. The at least one safety controller module is configured to control the safety-critical processes and/or the safety-critical plant components. The at least one condition monitoring module is configured to perform fail-safe condition monitoring and to collect monitoring data. The non-safety controller module is configured to receive the collected monitoring data from the condition monitoring module and to pass the collected monitoring data to the safety controller module. The safety-controller module is configured to evaluate the monitoring data based on safety conditions.

A method for recognizing an input pattern in at least one time series is provided including a. providing the time series; b. generating associated time series sections of a specific length on the basis of the time series by a combination of statistical approaches or a machine learning model; c. indexing each time series section; d. assigning each time series section to an applicable key value index; e. recognizing the input pattern in at least one time series of the plurality of time series by identifying at least one time series section that matches or is similar to the input pattern by a similarity search approach on the basis of the plurality of indexed time series sections; and f. providing the at least one identified time series section as an output pattern that matches or is similar to the input pattern if a match or similarity is detected.

A conveyance robot system according to the present disclosure includes a conveyance robot, and a robot control unit configured to control an operation of picking up an object performed by the conveyance robot, wherein the robot control unit determines that a movable range area, which is an area outside a safety cover where a robot arm is operated, satisfies a safety ensuring condition that can regard safety of the movable range area as equivalent to the safety inside the safety cover and allow the robot arm to perform a work while projecting toward the shelf.

A method and system of robotic arm safety detection based on EtherCAT automation are provided. The method includes: issuing a control data through the protocol module to control the robotic arm to complete an automation operation process by the control system module, and receiving joint data fed back in real-time of the sensor module; acquiring a real-time data of the robotic arm by the data capture module; wherein the real-time data includes protocol data and joint data; the joint data is acquired by the data capture module through the sensor module; performing a protocol data rule matching and physical process detection by the intrusion detection module based on the real-time data, and obtaining an intrusion detection result; wherein the intrusion detection result is configured to detect whether an intrusion behavior occurs during a normal operation of the robotic arm.

A functional safety system performs safety analysis on three-dimensional point cloud data measured by a time-of-flight (TOF) sensor that monitors a hazardous industrial area that includes an automation system. To reduce the amount of point cloud data to be analyzed for hazardous conditions, the safety system executes a real-time emulation of the automation system using a digital twin and live controller data read from an industrial controller that monitors and controls the automation system. The safety system generates simulated, or shadow, point cloud data based on the emulation and subtracts this simulate point cloud data from the measured point cloud data received from the TOF sensor. This removes portions of the point cloud data corresponding to known or expected elements within the monitored area. Any remaining entities detected in the reduced point cloud data can be further analyzed for safety concerns.

A facility information access system, comprising: a housing positioned in a location proximate to a facility, wherein the housing is accessible to pedestrians at ground level. The housing defines an internal cavity and comprises an access cover to block unauthorised physical access to the internal cavity. A facility information device housed inside the housing and comprises: a processor; a communication interface accessible by the processor and configured to allow exchange of information with devices external of the housing; and a memory storing executable program instructions accessible by the processor. The processor is configured to execute program instructions to: receive facility information from an external computing device through the communication interface, wherein the facility information relates to the facility; store the received facility information in the memory; receive a request to access the facility information through the communication interface; and in response to the request, determine whether the first request is an authorised request and, if the request is an authorised request, transmit the facility information through the communication interface.

In one embodiment, a multi-purpose sensor may couple to a machine operating in an industrial environment and include numerous sensors disposed within the multi-purpose sensor to acquire sets of data associated with the machine or an environment surrounding the machine. A first portion of the sets of data may include historical sensor measurements over time for each of the sensors, and a second portion of the sets of data may include sensor measurements subsequent to when the first portion is acquired for each of the sensors. A processor of the multi-purpose sensor may determine a baseline collective signature based on the first portion, determine a subsequent collective signature based on the second portion, determine whether the collective signatures vary, and generate signals when a variance exists. The signals may cause a computing device, a cloud-based computing system, and/or a control/monitoring device to perform various actions.

A method for ensuring safety critical functionality for a laser engraver includes obtaining a command from a laser motor controller; obtaining sensor data from a plurality of sensors, the sensor data corresponding to an operating status of various components of the laser engraver; determining a functioning status for each component; and as a result of determining the functioning status for all of the components, enabling supply of power to a laser, where the method is performed by a safety controller that is embodied in hardware completely separate from hardware in which the laser motor controller is embodied. One example required functioning status is that a power button has been selected twice in quick succession.