CSA/RIA Robotic Safety Conference Update


Yesterday included sessions from Roberta Nelson-Shea on the coming changes to the robot standards. I was really glad to hear that the US and Canada are planning to adopt the new ISO 10218 standard for robot safety instead of continuing with a similar but different path under the current standards.

...We also had some good sessions from other presenters on guarding applications, including a good review of Presence Sensing Device application requirements from Ian Brough of SICK Optic, and a good, but somewhat rushed, session from Roberta N-S, Jim Van Kessel, Ian Brough and Tom Vardon on stop time measurement and analysis. Tom Doyle did his presentation on the business case for loss management - always interesting.

...This system uses three video cameras mounted in a single head that can be positioned above an area that needs safeguarding. The system takes three images and generates two 3D images from the data.... The really cool thing about this is that you can actually define differing protection levels at different heights, effectively assigning protection zones instead of just dealing with planes.

Yesterday included sessions from Roberta Nelson-Shea on the coming changes to the robot standards. I was really glad to hear that the US and Canada are planning to adopt the new ISO 10218 standard for robot safety instead of continuing with a similar but different path under the current standards. This will only be a positive thing for robot manufacturers, integrators and end users.

We also had some good sessions from other presenters on guarding applications, including a good review of Presence Sensing Device application requirements from Ian Brough of SICK Optic, and a good, but somewhat rushed, session from Roberta N-S, Jim Van Kessel, Ian Brough and Tom Vardon on stop time measurement and analysis. Tom Doyle did his presentation on the business case for loss management - always interesting.

The exhibition hall was busy, with plenty of vendors and some interesting new products. One of the most interesting is Pilz' new 3D Safety Vision system. This system uses three video cameras mounted in a single head that can be positioned above an area that needs safeguarding. The system takes three images and generates two 3D images from the data. Comparison of the images in near-real time allows the system to detect intrusions. The really cool thing about this is that you can actually define differing protection levels at different heights, effectively assigning protection zones instead of just dealing with planes. I am really looking forward to learning more about this product and it's applications!

More later - gotta go join that lovely Toronto traffic!!

Posted: Wed - March 28, 2007 at 06:23 AM          

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