Business

Human–robot interaction

Organic chemistry

Hazard

Workspace

Risk assessment

Safety assurance

Risk analysis (engineering)

Engineering

System safety

Artificial intelligence

Chemistry

Reliability engineering

Hazard analysis

Hazardous waste

Computer science

Computer security

Waste management

Robot

Safety Science

Close interactions with a human operator are an important safety concern for collaborative robot systems. For safety assurance, robot integrators are required to demonstrate that they have taken steps to identify potential hazards, which may be embedded in collaborative tasks, or embedded within the collaborative workspace. Consequently, design safeguards are developed to mitigate unintended contact, which may be hazardous to the human co-worker, while performing cooperative or collaborative tasks. The ISO 15066 standard proposes guidelines, which designers, integrators, and users need to consider when embedding passive and active safeguards on the robot system, or while designing collaborative workspaces. Importantly, the standard premises such safeguards on structured hazard analysis and risk assessment processes. However, from studies in literature, it is often unclear how designers, integrators or users can orient design safeguards to outcomes of hazard analysis and risk assessment. Often it is unclear which steps designers need to follow, or which methods they can use to analyze hazards and assess risks, which may occur when robot systems and human co-worker perform collaborative/cooperative manufacturing tasks. Consequently, verifying the sufficiency of design safeguards to mitigate hazardous interactions in a manufacturing cell is challenging. This article reviews requirements for safety assurance of collaborative robot systems discussed in the recent ISO 15066 standard for collaborative robots and how such safeguards are realized in studies discussed in literature. The review explores gaps and propose a framework based on the ISO 31000 for orienting design safeguards for collaborative robots to outcomes of hazard analysis and risk assessment.

Orienting safety assurance with outcomes of hazard analysis and risk assessment: A review of the ISO 15066 standard for collaborative robot systems