Tradeoff Study between Production Efficiency and Human Safety in Flexible Manufacturing Environment of Interaction between Humans and Robots

        It is important to know that in last five decades, the use of robots in industrial production has been increasing with the passage of time. Different manufacturing industries such as packaging industry and automobile industry etc. have included robots in its production systems so that processes can be more quick and efficient. There was a time, when robots were used without any considerable human access, but time has changed now, and robots are being used in business processes, where human interaction with robots is getting common. Keeping this interaction at workplace in mind, it is important to understand that some risks do arise due to this interaction, and if things will continue in this fashion, then more risks can be there for humans at work. It means that industrial robots as well as other robots need to follow some safety standards and guidelines so that process can be risk free for everyone. It has been observed after doing research on industrial robots that if humans and robots work together on any task, then there must be some safety measures to follow. The robots should use technology and sensors to ensure that all kind of risks are avoided and if anything goes wrong, then robots should stop working (Fryman & Matthias, 2012)

            According to Chinniah (2016), it has been observed that when robots are used in industrial production processes, the workers have to deal with various kinds of risks and injuries. They used to face these risks during the maintenance of these robots, or doing setups, adjustments in the processes etc. That’s why it is required to have a proper risk assessment so that processes can be risk free in industrial units. A case study of collaborative robots was presented by Chinniah and all elements were analyzed in detail to see that what risks are there, and how risk assessment can help in developing relevant safety measures. The case study came with various techniques to adopt for risk reduction while working with collaborative robots. These kinds of findings are important for the future strategy of developing strong safety standards in use of robotics in business processes (Chinniah, 201).

            It is a fact that modern manufacturing processes and system do need the essence of technology like robotics so that they can make their processes more quick and efficient with automation. A study was conducted in 2019, where a cyber-physical system with optical sensors were used to monitor the robot work space which has been predefined into three safety zones for human presence and for any other moving machinery like AGV’s. The system uses depth data and TCP coordinates of the robot to calculate distance between the robot and humans in the workspace and speed of the robot after which the central node sends notifications or alerts to the mobile devices workers carry and to the robot system to avoid collisions. This study was able to determine safety measures on the basis of human robot collaboration in a workplace that what could be the safety zone, and how sensors can help in this regard (Nikolakis, et al., 2019)

            The installation of robots in an industrial unit is not an easy process to do, as it is not only time consuming task, but it is also costly as well. It has been observed that when collaborative robots are used in the industrial processes, they may offer considerable solution for the process, but their safety always remains a question mark, and it is often found that these robots come up with good safety standards, when their speed is reduced during their operations. If speed is fast to complete tasks quickly, then risk factors of these robots are more severe. A research was conducted to develop as well as implement a system, which is based on novel security while dealing with coexistence of humans and robots in a workplace. Three modes were used as an approach in this study and these modes were gravity compensation mode, coexistence mode, and nominal mode.

            Then Built a 3D dynamic zone security system consisting of collaborative robot UR1 0, which has a certified post-collision safety system with three exteroceptive sensors, three SICK TiM551 lasers. The three lasers are used a s detection plane. Out of the three lasers two are attached to the robot mechanically to create two vertical planes and the third laser is used as a horizontal plane to detect the legs of the people entering the zone. When there is a human or object detection in the zone the robot security modes (Nominal mode, reduced mode and Passive mode) change automatically according to the distance. The study came with useful findings like it was found that robotics used in this study were related to industrial material, but overall novel system developed in this study was good enough for generating safety zones at workplace while using other collaborative robots as well (Long & Girin, 2018)

            There are various international bodies, which are playing its part in developing robotics safety, and one of such organizations is the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The need for robotic systems is increasing with the passage of time, so as the need for handling its complexities. So, all stakeholders in this regard should play their part in developing safety standards, which are acceptable and applicable in all kind of scenarios in different industries. The international safety standards regarding use of robotics should be develop with the help of ISO. In 2006, ISO came with its first updated safety standards on robotic safety with the name of ISO 10218-1. This published document came with so many useful ideas and guidelines.

            The publication not only talked about safety of robotics use, but it also provided guidelines that how safety and measures can be ensured while designing and constructing robots itself. The second part of this publication then focused on safety standards while using these robots. The need for smarter robots is increasing for businesses, because it has been found out that if robots are smart and equipped with good sensors and technology, then they can be safe for humans at a workplace. For instance, there was a robot technology named Teach Pendants, which had cables attached with them, but now Teach Pendants technology has become cableless, which means more safety and less complexity in the processes (Schuster & Winrich, 2009)

            The things have always been difficult in adopting a new technology or system, because initial stages are not streamlined and processes are not that advanced. But as technology grows bigger and more efforts and research is put in, then things start to get better. This is what has been the story with use of robotics as well. It has been observed that when robots were started to be used in workplace having interaction with humans, many safety issues arise as various incidents happened where humans were injured by these robots. It was a clear signal that more efforts are needed for this field of technology so that processes can be made safer and secure for human use. The human-robot interaction on physical basis is still a danger for humans in so many ways, especially when environment is not following proper structure and guidelines. A study came with a hypothesis that traditional techniques and system design of robotics is not good enough to deal with the complexities of dynamic and different environments.

            So, study came with a safety protection and control system, which can be implemented in the process, when robotics is used. The analysis for hazard stages was done while implementing this system so that personal robots safety can be ensured after identifying various faults. To see that how effective this safety system is, different experiments were carried out by the researchers by using a process named “MobileRobots PeopleBot”. The experiments injected various faults into the system of controller to see that how this safety system detects those faults and handle them accordingly so that safety can be ensured. The safety control design proved effective and efficient in identifying faults and providing safety measures (Woodman, et al., 2012)

            The researchers and technology experts have been constantly looking at the technology of robotics that how this technology can be made simple and more useful with less risks and hazards for the businesses. The businesses have to realize the fact that robotics cannot be used in their processes without an interaction with humans, as at some point, humans do interact with these robots to complete the process. But this human-robot interaction poses various safety risks at workplace, but it has been identified that if robot behavior is properly designed and managed by the developers, then human-robot interaction can be made safer as well as more effective for business organizations to get as many benefits as possible. Different industries such as entertainment, services, transportation, and manufacturing industries are looking towards robotics for gaining business benefits, but they are certainly concerned with the human-robot interaction, which can be fatal in many circumstances.

            A thesis was presented by Liu (2017) to come up with a design of robot behavior, which can be safe for human-robot interaction. The thesis study came up with a proposal of using three component behavior system including three elements of learning, logic and knowledge. To make sure that robot does response in timely manner and it comes with perspective of a global scale, control architecture along with parallel planning was developed which used short term and long term safety and efficiency planners. The overall design for robot behavior proved good enough regarding safety of human-robot interaction, and it also proposed some future course of actions as well. The future research can develop behavior of robot by keeping diverse interactions’ modes in context. The computation efficiency can also be improved and complex human-robot interaction systems can also be analyzed in future research. These recommendations and consideration for future research can be quite crucial to develop more systems (Liu, 2017)

            The technology of robotics is important for businesses as it can come up with so many advantages. A robot may perform better than humans in many instances, because they cannot get tired of any repeated work, because they have no emotional perspective, rather they are designed to do tasks, and they are operated by humans to keep doing those tasks. Moreover, their use can be beneficial as employers don’t have to give any perks and privileges, any leaves or medical insurance to these robots. It does not mean that robots are not costly, they are costly as well, but their advantages are more than their disadvantages. The businesses have been transformed by robots especially the industrial businesses, where use of robots has become common and important to perform so many automated tasks. This demand for robots is going to increase in the future as automation is getting more space in business processes, which means that importance of robotics is also going to increase with the passage of time (Nichols, 2018)

            It has also been observed that use of robotics in businesses have made a huge impact on employment opportunities for humans, because more robots and automation means less jobs and space for humans in business and manufacturing organizations. This impact has not been analyzed properly yet. But it is obvious that boom of robotics in different industries is posing threats for human employment. A report was published by Price Waterhouse Cooper, which revealed that if automation will continue on current rate, then 38% of jobs in United States will be lost for humans till 2030. The robots are being used in various processes and they are coming with different types such as Warehouse & Logistics robots, Telepresence robots, Collobortaive robots, self driving vehicles as well as robots used in healthcare industry. All of these factors are clear enough to show that importance of robotics is certainly increasing, and this trend is more likely to continue in the future as well (Nichols, 2018)

                The various studies as well as literature has established the fact that robots and humans coexistence is going to be the future for many industries in the future, and this thing cannot be avoided by any means. The business industries are always looking for cost effectively and efficient processes to benefit their businesses so that they can decrease costs and increase profits. If trend will continue like this, then world is certainly moving towards a society, which will be based on coexistence of humans and robots. This coexistence is great in so many ways, but fact of the matter is that it is also coming with various threats and risks for safety as well. There are developed countries like South Korea and Japan, who are quickly moving in the direction of developing societies, which will experience coexistence of humans and robots. It has been estimated by experts that the way things are happening and developing in this regard, the robots will be included in our lives and unstructured environments to work along with humans after two decades. The next generation robots will be more advanced as compared to robots used in industrial processes, and they will come up with more autonomy, but this autonomy of robots will be a serious concern for the safety of humans. The study concluded that if society with coexistence of robots and humans is going to be developed in next decades, then there are various issues to be looked at, and world will need a proper concept of Safety Intelligence so that human-robots coexistence does not come up with any serious safety risks for the human and society as a whole (Weng, et al., 2009)

                The coexistence of robots and humans in workplaces is getting common, and this trend will be asking for collision avoidance techniques and measures so that this coexistence can be developed as a safe and beneficial one for all stakeholders. The algorithms can play a big part in developing a system, where these collisions between humans and robots are avoided. A research thesis was developed by BALAN (2006), which discussed about a real time algorithm with 3D collision avoidance. When robots work on normal speeds, they are not that risky for humans, but when they are operating at high speed for more productivity, and then they certainly can harm humans working with them. So, stakeholders need to find techniques, which ensure safety for humans. In this research thesis, a 3D model with algorithm of collision avoidance is presented after using it in the real time processes. A simulated work environment was used for experimenting and humans were asked to walk towards the arm of Puma robot. Various situations were used for this particular experiment. The results obtained from these experiments showed that real time 3D algorithm was effective in safety of humans, as it does responded well to the situations, where robots may have posed safety threats for humans. So, it is needed to develop more such kind of algorithms for safe human robot interactions, when they are coexisting in a working space (BALAN, 2006)

                The overall research has always been focusing on the fact that how robots’ coexistence with humans can be made safe, but attention has not been given to the fact that these robots are used to attain various wok efficiencies, and if complete focus will be on the safety of these robots, then working efficiency of these robots may be affected, which means that there is no use of using these robots in business processes. It means that a smooth collision avoidance system should be developed, which not only helps in safety of humans while interacting with robots, but it also helps in keeping the work efficiency of these robots on required levels. A collision avoidance model was tested by the researchers in a study experiment, where they tested the efficiency of robots to interact with a pedestrian human. To detect the nearby pedestrian, a laser range finder was used by the robot, and a social force model was also applied in the study to see whether robot is able to detect that pedestrian is avoiding the collision or not. In both cases, when pedestrian passed by the robot, the collision was successfully avoided as robot was able to responded accordingly in all situations. It means that proposed method for collision avoidance was good enough and future research can be performed to find more such methods, as it would help in safe human-robot interaction (Tamura, et al., 2010)

References of Interaction between Humans and Robots

BALAN, L., 2006. REAL-TIME 3D COLLISION AVOIDANCE ALGORITHM FOR SAFE HUMAN AND ROBOT COEXISTENCE, s.l.: s.n.

Chinniah, Y., 201. Robot Safety: Overview of Risk Assessment and Reduction. Advances in Robotics and Automation, 5(1).

Fryman, J. & Matthias, B., 2012. Safety of Industrial Robots: From Conventional to Collaborative Applications. s.l., s.n.

Liu, C., 2017. Designing Robot Behavior in Human-Robot Interactions, s.l.: ProQuest LLC.

Long, P. & Girin, A., 2018. An industrial security system for human-robot coexistence. Industrial Robot, 45(2), pp. 220-226.

Nichols, G., 2018. Robotics in business: Everything humans need to know. [Online]
Available at: https://www.zdnet.com/article/robotics-in-business-everything-humans-need-to-know/
[Accessed 18 July 2019].

Nikolakis, N., Maratos, V. & Makris, S., 2019. A cyber physical system (CPS) approach for safe human-robot collaboration in a shared workplace. Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing, Volume 56, pp. 233-243.

Schuster, G. & Winrich, M., 2009. ROBOTICS SAFETY. [Online]
Available at: https://www.isa.org/standards-and-publications/isa-publications/.../robotics-safety/
[Accessed 18 July 2019].

Tamura, Y., Fukuzawa, T. & Asama, H., 2010. Smooth collision avoidance in human-robot coexisting environment. s.l., IEEE Xplore, pp. 3887-3892.

Weng, Y.-H., Chen, C.-H. & Sun, C.-T., 2009. Toward the Human–Robot Co-Existence Society: On Safety Intelligence for Next Generation Robots. International Journal of Social Robotics, 1(4), pp. 267-282.

Woodman, R., Winfield, A. F., Harper, C. & Fraser, M., 2012. Building safer robots: Safety driven control. The International Journal of Robotics Research, 31(13), p. 1603–1626.