Keeping humans safe from the robots

Two years ago, a robot crushed a 22-year-old man to death at a Volkswagen factory in Germany. While this type of tragedy is still relatively rare, efforts to improve safety are intensifying as factories around the world become increasingly automated.

Now, in a development that has drawn interest from carmakers, German entrepreneurs Roman Weitschat and Hannes Hoeppner say they have designed a way to better safeguard interactions between humans and robots, with the aim of allowing them to work more closely.

Their new company, Cobotect, uses airbags to cushion potentially dangerous automated parts and prevent workers from getting hurt. Increased safety would mean robots could work more efficiently and at a faster pace when near humans, say the researchers.

“A lot of people were complaining about unsafe robots and robot tools,” says Weitschat.

The Cobotect team started working in March 2016 on a nowfinished prototype. Videos and demonstrations show a robotic arm with an airbag attached to its gripper inflating and deflating. The contraption nudges and then knocks the head of a person, who walks away unharmed.

The pair of researchers is trying to find a strategic investor for their company to help fund large-scale production of the airbags. They’ve had interest in the products, especially from Germany’s car manufacturers, says Weitschat.

Volkswagen is “in contact with Cobotect and is watching their developments for safety,” a spokeswoman says.

Robot makers Kuka and ABB are also investing in safety mechanisms. Solutions so far have focused on camera-based and pressure sensors that can see and recognise people to avoid collisions.

Volkswagen says it now has humans working in the same areas as lightweight robots, without being separated by a protective fence. Sensors force the robots to brake when they approach or touch a human.

Robots working near humans are usually either walled off or programmed to move slowly so they can’t hurt a worker in a collision.

If the Cobotect airbags get German safety approval, deploying robots more widely onto factory floors could become a lot easier, Weitschat says.

“The robots wouldn’t be stuck in one place, walled off with fences, but could be placed here one day, and somewhere else the next,” he says. “That’s always the problem, that this flexibility isn’t there. Industry then goes to other countries where they let people do it for cheap.”