Mastering Robot Safety Class

This comprehensive training is your definitive guide to the technical safety requirements for collaborative robot applications , providing a deep dive into the standards that govern this field. It is designed to equip engineers, integrators, safety professionals, and technicians with a complete understanding of the requirements for Collaborative robot systems , ensuring you are fully compliant with the latest technical mandates. You will gain a comprehensive understanding of technical requirements from ANSI/A3 R15.06-2025 and the pivotal guidance of ISO/TS 15066, empowering you to design, integrate, and validate safe human-robot collaboration. This section of the class focuses exclusively on collaborative robot safety, providing a deep dive into the engineering controls that keep your highly productive systems operating safely.

With the rapid adoption of collaborative robots, staying ahead of the latest safety standards is no longer optional – it’s essential for protecting your team and your business. This class provides the specialized knowledge needed to confidently navigate this new frontier of automation. Equip yourself with the skills to ensure your collaborative applications are not only productive but also impeccably safe and compliant.

Collaborative Robot Technical Safety Requirements That We Cover:

• Foundational Principles of Collaboration

• The Collaborative Application Concept: Understanding the shift in terminology from “collaborative robot” to “collaborative application,” as defined by ANSI/A3 R15.06-2025, to emphasize the entire system’s safety.
• ISO/TS 15066 Overview: A review of the technical specification that provides detailed guidance on human-robot collaboration, including biomechanical data for pain thresholds and force limits.
• The Four Collaborative Techniques: A detailed examination of the four methods of achieving collaborative operation as outlined in the standards, including the controls and applications of each.
• Risk Assessment for Collaborative Spaces
• Collaborative Risk Assessment: Specialized techniques for performing a risk assessment in a shared workspace, identifying hazards specific to human-robot interaction.
• Quasi-Static and Transient Contacts: Understanding and mitigating the two types of physical contact between a human and a robot, and how to apply the biomechanical data from ISO/TS 15066.
• Force and Pressure Measurement: Practical application of force and pressure measurement devices and how to test and validate that a collaborative robot application remains within the safe limits defined by the standard.

• Safety-Related Control Systems

• • Safety-Rated Monitored Stop: Requirements for a control function that ensures the robot comes to a complete, safe stop when a human enters the collaborative space and cannot restart until the human has left.

• • Speed and Separation Monitoring (SSM): Learning to implement and validate systems that use sensors to dynamically adjust the robot’s speed or trigger a stop based on the distance to a human.

• • Power and Force Limiting (PFL): Implementing and verifying the most common collaborative technique, which uses the robot’s inherent design to limit forces and pressures to safe levels.

• • Hand Guiding Controls: Safe requirements and design considerations for systems where an operator manually guides the robot, often for teaching or complex material handling tasks.

• Design, Validation, and Operation

• Collaborative Workspace Design: Principles for designing the shared workspace to minimize pinch points, crushing hazards, and other risks, while maximizing productivity.

• Safe Tooling and End-Effectors: Designing and integrating end-of-arm tooling that minimizes hazards to the human operator during collaborative tasks.

• Validation and Verification: The critical final step of confirming that all safety functions and measures, including force and pressure limits, meet the required Performance Levels (PL) and are operating as intended.

• Human Factors and Training: Understanding the importance of proper training and a “safety-first” culture for all personnel working in a collaborative environment.

The landscape of industrial automation has fundamentally changed with the publication of the newest safety standards. This comprehensive training is designed to equip engineers, integrators, safety professionals, and technicians with a complete understanding of the requirements for traditional, safeguarded industrial robot systems, ensuring you are fully compliant with the latest technical mandates. You will master both the core safety principles and the critical new requirements introduced in the revolutionary ANSI/A3 R15.06-2025 and ISO 10218-1:2025 standards. This section of the class focuses exclusively on industrial robot safety, providing a deep dive into the engineering controls that keep your highly productive systems operating securely within defined safety barriers.

Don’t let outdated knowledge create risk or compliance gaps in your facility. The 2025 revisions mandate explicit functional safety standards and introduce crucial new areas like cybersecurity, making this update essential for anyone involved in the robot system lifecycle. Secure your expertise, protect your personnel, and ensure your operations meet the highest global standards for industrial automation. Gain the confidence and competence needed to design, integrate, and maintain a safe and compliant industrial robot environment.

Industrial Robot Technical Safety Requirements That We Cover:

• Foundational Standards and Risk Management

• • Standard Structure and Application: Overview of ANSI/A3 R15.06-2025 and ISO 10218 (Parts 1 & 2), defining the scope for robot manufacturers versus system integrators.
  • The Risk Assessment Process: Comprehensive training on performing and documenting a mandatory risk assessment, including identifying the Restricted Space, the Safeguarded Space, and determining required risk reduction measures.
  • Hazard Recognition: Identification of the primary hazards in a traditional robot cell: impact, crushing/trapping, mechanical failure, electrical/hydraulic/pneumatic, and hazards from auxiliary equipment (e.g., welding, lasers).
  • Terminology Updates (2025 Revisions): Review of key updated terms relevant to non-collaborative systems (e.g., the use of Monitored Standstill replacing Safety-Rated Monitored Stop).

• Safeguarding and Perimeter Protection

• • Robot Cell Design and Layout: Principles of safe robot cell arrangement, including layout to prevent unintended access and minimize exposure to pinch points and crushing hazards.

• • Fixed and Perimeter Guarding: Detailed requirements for the design, construction, mounting, and height of fixed physical barriers (fences, cages) that prevent unauthorized entry into the restricted space.

• • Interlocked Barrier Devices: Requirements for access doors and gates, ensuring interlocks reliably stop the robot (or remove hazardous energy) when the barrier is opened.

• • Muting and Blanking: Proper application, configuration, and validation of muting functions for material handling access points (e.g., light curtains that ignore pallets but detect personnel).

• Safety-Related Control Systems and Functions

• • Explicit Functional Safety Requirements (Major Update): Training on the explicit mandatory requirements for using Performance Levels (PL) as defined in ISO 13849 for all safety-related control functions.

• • Protective Stop Functions (P-Stops and E-Stops): Requirements for the installation, location, visibility, and reliable function of Emergency Stop (E-Stop) and Protective Stop (P-Stop) devices.

• • Monitored Standstill Implementation: Requirements for safely achieving and reliably monitoring a standstill state, ensuring no hazardous motion can occur while personnel are performing specific tasks.

• • Enabling Devices and Modes: Proper use and requirements for three-position enabling devices and selector switches for different operating modes (e.g., Teach Mode, Automatic Mode, Manual Mode).

• Life Cycle, Maintenance, and Documentation

• Installation and Commissioning Requirements: Procedures for safe installation, initial power-up, and verification of all wiring and safety component connections.

• Validation and Verification: Training on the mandatory process for validating that all installed safety functions and control measures achieve the required Performance Level (PL).

• Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout/Tagout): Detailed procedures for LOTO specific to robotic systems, including stored energy release (hydraulic/pneumatic bleed, counterweights).

• End-Effector and Tooling Safety: Requirements for the inherent safe design and attachment of end-effectors, minimizing sharp edges or unsecured parts that could become projectiles.

• Cybersecurity in Safety (New Requirement): Requirements for addressing cybersecurity vulnerabilities that could compromise the integrity of the robot’s safety-related control functions.
  
• Personnel Training and Responsibilities: General requirements for training workers (operators, programmers, maintenance staff) on the specific hazards, safeguards, and safe work procedures for the robot system.