Safety Manual

9
Human Robot Collaboration
There has been a rising trend of small industrial robots classified
as “cobots”. But what does this mean? And can I use Eva for
collaborative operations?
Generally speaking, cobots are industrial robots designed to work
safely with humans. To achieve this, they will usually employ some
of the collaborative techniques described within ISO/TS 15066.
It’s important to note that this is only a technical specification, not
a fully fledged standard. Whilst it may indicate best practice, it is
certainly not mandatory to follow all the requirements within.
However, there’s more to creating a collaborative application than
simply selecting a cobot. Whether or not the application is safe for
human robot collaboration is as much about the hazards created by
the application and the environment than it is about the robot and
the safety features it has to offer. If you were to attach a hazardous
payload to the end of the robot, would it still be considered a
collaborative application? Probably not. For any robotic application,
cobot or not, a risk assessment must be conducted to ensure the
risks are identified and reduced to as low as reasonably practicable.
So, can we consider Eva as a cobot? . . . It depends on your
application and the features you have deemed necessary for risk
reduction.
Of the 4 collaborative techniques described within ISO/TS 15066,
Eva employs the hand guiding technique (we call this backdriving).
This can be considered as collaborative operation if the guidance
provided in this and other manuals have been followed and a risk
assessment covering this activity has been conducted.
NOTE: Eva does not provide safety-rated speed monitoring or a
3 position enabling device as recommended by ISO/TS 15066 for
hand guiding operations. The severity and probability of injury
has been deemed to be negligible for the majority of applications.
A 3 position device may be fitted to the robot in addition to the
emergency stop device if deemed necessary for the application.