As labor markets shift and change, ensuring workplace safety remains a top priority for organizations across the globe for employees and employers alike. With automation continually revolutionizing various industries, cobots have emerged as a groundbreaking solution to enhance workplace safety. In this article, we’ll explore the importance of safety when using cobots and how AUBO Cobots help transform your organization’s safety standards: protecting your employees and increasing productivity.
Mitigating Safety Risks with Cobots
Even some of the most basic tasks on the production floor carry a risk of endangering the safety of human labor. Think about your own workflow, are there any tasks your employees currently perform which might pose a safety concern in the right circumstances? The answer is likely “yes”.
The key to understanding how cobots mitigate these safety risks is by understanding how they enable you to control the definition of “the right circumstances” entirely. Cobots are able to replicate a pose or path indefinitely without introducing variability into high risk tasks; with AUBO cobots having a pose repeatability as high as ±0.02mm, that means they’ll never make a mistake which can lead to an accident. In this sense, figuratively, you can think about a cobot as the “control” in carrying out hazardous tasks due to their consistent performance.
The level of consistency that cobots introduce to your production workflow enables you to reduce the variables which introduce the most risk to your operations, and by result significantly reduce the likelihood of workplace injuries.
Cobots enable better workplace safety standards by mitigating the risks associated with tasks that involve:
- Strenuous Repetitive Tasks: Repetitive motions can lead to musculoskeletal disorders and are one of the leading causes of long-term injuries originating from work. AUBO cobots excel in performing repetitive tasks with consistency thanks to their high repeatability – that way you can free up your human capital for tasks that require problem solving.
- Lifting Heavy Objects: Lifting heavy objects manually can lead to strain and injuries. AUBO cobots reach payload capacities of up to 20kg, with rigorous testing processes that ensure all of the components are of the utmost quality and are designed to handle heavy duty applications. By automating with AUBO cobots, you ensure the safety of your team while providing a collaborative environment where your human labor can optimize workflow and space.
- Exposure to Hazardous Materials or High Temperatures: Certain industries involve handling hazardous materials or high heat applications. These tasks can pose serious health risks to human labor, however by deploying cobots to handle these materials, you can minimize human exposure and maximize operational efficiency.
- Working within Tight Spaces: Tight clearances, and small workspaces can increase the likelihood of accidents. AUBO Cobots are designed to be compact, flexible, and mount at any orientation, and allow with 6-axis of up to 360 degrees of freedom. Enabling them to work seamlessly in confined areas without compromising safety – even for machine tending tasks.
Key Safety Features of AUBO Cobots
You might assume that cobots introduce risk factors in shared workspaces with human labor – this is not true. In fact, collaborative robots are engineered with several safety features that enable them to operate safely even in close proximity to human labor.
AUBO Robotics USA places a strong emphasis on safe operation, we’ve spent the last 13+ years integrating several iterative safety features into our i-Series cobot range. Though every AUBO cobot is customizable through a vast ecosystem of hardware integrations and open source based software to improve safety even further, all AUBO Cobots share the following safety features:
Collision Detection and Sensing:
AUBO cobots are equipped with advanced sensors that enable them to detect potential collisions with obstacles at 10 customizable collision detection levels. When a potential collision is detected, the cobot will immediately slow down or halt its movements, preventing accidents and ensuring the safety of nearby workers.
Sandbox Programming Options:
AUBO cobots offer various programming options and software integration that enable engineers to create intuitive and safe robotic protocols. AUBO offers a VM based sandbox development system called AUBO PE which allows anyone, regardless of if they’re an AUBO customer to test code and robotic pathing before a cobot is ever deployed, AUBO Robots also integrate with popular simulation software like RoboDK to enable extensive testing and simulation.
Speed and Force Limiting: AUBO cobots are designed to operate at safe speeds and exert limited force dependent on end of arm payload. As a general rule, this means that the higher the payload, by default, the more speed and force limited the operation of the cobot. This ensures that even in the event of accidental contact with a human worker, the cobot’s actions will not cause harm. These power and force limiting features are fully customizable to your specific use case.
Open Source Based Operation: Thanks to robust secondary development capabilities with SDKs in C/C++/C#, Python, LUA,AUBO cobots integrate easily with IoT technologies thanks to their open source nature to monitor and control the robot easily. The intuitive interface enhances safety by facilitating quick response times to potential issues.
By entrusting cobots with tasks involving strenuous repetitive motions, heavy lifting, exposure to hazardous materials, and working within tight spaces, you can alleviate health risks and empower your workforce to focus on more complex problem-solving.
AUBO Robotics USA leaves no stone unturned in ensuring the utmost safety for its cobots. Pioneering the integration of iterative safety features over the course of 13+ years, AUBO cobots offer several hardware and software safety features that enable safe operation and peace of mind. AUBO cobots epitomize adaptability and innovation, making safety and productivity harmonious.
To embark on your journey towards a safer and more efficient workplace, contact an automation expert today.
