Working with an industrial robot can be an awesome thing to do but can also bring dangers with it. So when working with one i recommend that you think about the following points.
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be realistic
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build a safety cage
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define different scenarios
Be realistic
When it comes to safety you might know how to write the most amazing safety protocol but if you cant effectively use the robot in that manner it is pointless. Make sure the rules and regulations you define are realistic because that makes it a whole lot easier to keep yourself and your teammates to the rules. With this you also need to think about how the rules are going to be reinforced. Of course you are going to make sure you keep yourself from breaking the rules but everybody can make a mistake and do something by accident. I recommend the following things.
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make sure everybody in your group knows the rules well and understands them.
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Make sure the people who are around your project group are made aware of the rules so they themselves know what to do but can also correct you if you make a mistake.
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talk to your company contact about the rules and how to reinforce them. (required)
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talk to school about rules and how to reinforce them. (required)
Building a safety cage
Make sure the robot is not easily accessible by building a form of a cage around it. This step is for yourself so you don’t walk up to it without thinking but also for the other people in the company. When building the cage, make sure to think about a couple things.
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one entrance
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cage outside of the reach of the robot
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emergency stop(s) outside of the cage
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warning signs / stickers
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an indirect entrance (the robot can’t throw anything straight out of the cage
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sensors that make sure the entrance to the cage is closed
Some things mentioned might not be applicable for your situation but try to implement as many safety features as you can . better safe than sorry
Define different scenarios
The robot will not always run at full speed or running a program. Define the ways you want to use the robot and what is safe when using the robot in this way. A couple examples below
moving robot by hand max speed: …. location onlookers outside cage location operator : outside only allowed inside when holding tech pedant and emergency stop pressed.
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running a program for the first time max speed … location onlookers … location operator …
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running program without transporting items max speed … location onlookers … location operator …
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running program transporting items max speed … location onlookers … location operator …
While setting this up define what could go wrong and how to affect the people around the robot. So an example while transporting items an item could fall out so you want to move the onlookers and the operator out of the zone where the item could fall.