Collaborative robots are on the rise. Thanks to modern sensor technology, they can detect their surroundings and react much more flexibly to events than the first generation of industrial robots. They therefore enable close to direct collaboration with the machine - without the risk of humans being injured by the collaborating robot. In this role, they support humans in their work and ensure increasing quality and efficiency in production. However, they are not yet widely used in industry.

In fact, the high safety requirements for collaborative robot systems still pose major challenges for system integrators and system planners today. In each individual case, it must be clarified in detail what effect the various safety sensors used have on the specific process in which the robot is integrated, on the immediate environment and on the type of collaboration between humans and robots. It must neither injure the humans working in its vicinity nor significantly disrupt the production process through its reactive changes to movement sequences. If these essential questions are not clearly clarified, the use of a collaborative robot is not possible.

"With today's conventional planning and design methods, such questions can only be answered to a limited extent, if at all," says Roland Behrens from the Fraunhofer IFF, describing the situation. He is responsible for the development of new robotic systems with HRC functions and their integration into industrial processes at the Magdeburg research institute. "The problem is that the existing tools are not adapted to the relevant safety requirements of HRC," says the robotics expert. Today, for example, it is not possible to consider critical safety aspects for state-of-the-art robotic and assistance systems as early as the planning phase, as the necessary planning tools, such as software tools or process structures, are not available. As a result, the effects of integrating such systems can only be tested later. This makes it more difficult for companies to plan their deployment flexibly.

In cooperation with the system integrator Symacon, the Fraunhofer IFF is now closing this methodological gap by developing and testing new tools for this purpose and integrating them into Symacon's real planning processes. The aim is to provide companies with a basic tool for planning robot cells with special HRC functions. It is intended to enable an early assessment of the safety requirements for systems that implement the "safety-assessed monitored stop" and "speed and distance monitoring" safety operating modes in accordance with ISO/TS 15066.

Detlef Mlynek, Managing Director of Symacon, emphasizes the importance of the cooperation with the Fraunhofer IFF: "Human-robot workplaces will be found in many industries and in growing numbers in the future. They are as much a part of the future of work as demographic change or the digitalization of production."

The "MR_KOOP" project will run for 24 months and is funded by the Investitionsbank Sachsen-Anhalt and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). pb