A robot assembly for safe operation in a manufacturing setting with humans including a sensor for detecting a human location and human movement is provided. A safety control module providing a boundary of a safety zone area that is associated with the human in a task oriented state that includes a largest possible area in which the human or an associated work object can extend when the human is standing in one location and performing the work task. The human movement and safety zone area location being used to develop a capture set area that includes at least one predictive future safety zone area location. Using the at least one predicted future safety zone area, establishing a travel path for moving the robot between locations without overlapping the capture set area.

Systems and methods for determining safe and unsafe zones in a workspace—where safe actions are calculated in real time based on all relevant objects (e.g., some observed by sensors and others computationally generated based on analysis of the sensed workspace) and on the current state of the machinery (e.g., a robot) in the workspace—may utilize a variety of workspace-monitoring approaches as well as dynamic modeling of the robot geometry. The future trajectory of the robot(s) and/or the human(s) may be forecast using, e.g., a model of human movement and other forms of control. Modeling and forecasting of the robot may, in some embodiments, make use of data provided by the robot controller that may or may not include safety guarantees.

A robot system can include a main body; a manipulator installed on the main body; a sensor configured to detect an object approaching a restricted region including the manipulator; a camera configured to monitor the restricted region and the object approaching the restricted region; a storage configured to store a material for an operation of the manipulator, the storage including an inlet for receiving the material; a remaining amount sensor configured to detect an amount of the material remaining in the storage; and a controller configured to change the restricted region based on at least one of a result of detection of the remaining amount sensor and image information of the camera, and in response to the sensor detecting that the object is within the restricted region, stop manipulation of the manipulator.

A method for controlling a robot includes the steps of: deciding whether there is a non-permanent object in a vicinity of the robot; if there is a non-permanent object, deciding whether the object qualifies for extended protection or not; and defining a safety zone around the object which the robot must not enter or in which a maximum allowed speed of the robot is less than outside the safety zone. The safety zone extends to a greater distance from the object if the object qualifies for extended protection than if it does not.

A vehicle assembly system includes a vehicle chassis of a vehicle; at least one object sensor mounted to the vehicle chassis, where the at least one object sensor generates sensor data based on at least one detected object; a vehicle controller mounted to the vehicle chassis and configured to receive the sensor data from the at least one object sensor, where, during assembly, the vehicle controller is configured with production control software that enables the vehicle controller to generate production object data from the sensor data, monitor for a safety event based on the production object data, and generate a safety event signal in response to detecting the safety event; and a safety controller configured to receive the safety event signal from the vehicle controller and alter a movement of a surveilled machine corresponding to the safety event.

A technique shortens the time taken to adjust a protection area. An area setting device includes a setting unit that sets a protection area in at least a part of a surrounding environment of a robot to detect an entry of an object, an obtainer that obtains surrounding information about the robot, and a storage prestoring a set value for the protection area and the surrounding information associated with each other. The setting unit sets the protection area based on the set value read from the storage.

Various embodiments for enforcing safe operation of machinery performing an activity in a three-dimensional (3D) workspace includes computationally generating a 3D spatial representation of the workspace; computationally mapping 3D regions of the workspace corresponding to space occupied by the machinery and a human; and based thereon, restricting operation of the machinery in accordance with a safety protocol during physical performance of the activity. Limited-access zones are defined within which the presence of a human will not affect operation of the machinery.

The disclosure relates to systems and methods for determining and adjusting an allowable maximum speed of a machine for movement in a workspace. 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 machine as both move throughout the workspace. This captured data is analyzed to determine a safety protocol that includes a maximum allowable speed for each of various axes of movements for the machine, wherein the safety protocol decreases the maximum allowable speed of the machine only along the one or more axes of movement where the movement of the machine approaches the human.

A robot system includes: a recognition means that recognizes an operator in distance image data as a security surveillance target; an area setting means that sets, in the distance image data, a common work area that a robot and the operator are allowed to enter; and a boundary setting means that sets, in the distance image data, a first boundary that the operator S is allowed to cross for entering the common work area but the robot is not allowed to cross, and a second boundary that the robot is allowed to cross for entering the common work area but the operator is not allowed to cross, wherein the crossing of the second boundary by the security surveillance target and the crossing of the first boundary by a non-target object not recognized as the security surveillance target are detected.

The present disclosure generally relates to a method for performing industrial automation control may include detecting, via a sensor system, positions and/or motions of a human in an industrial automation system, determining at least one derivative value from the detected positions and/or motions, and determining a possible automation command and an undesirable condition based upon the detected positions and/or motions and the at least one derivative value. The method may then include implementing a control and/or notification action based upon the determined possible automation command and the undesired condition.