A Safety 4.0 Approach for Collaborative Robotics in the Factories of the Future

Abstract

The digital and technological transformation which has been ongoing for the past decade is leaving an ever-increasing impact on manufacturing. Technology changes have always presented a constant drive for the evolution and shifting paradigms in the manufacturing industry. The complexity of state-of-the-art technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Cyber Physical Production Systems (CPPS) and Human-Robot Collaboration (HRC), is on the increase as new and unforeseen perils continue to emerge. One of the main challenges being faced is the design of manufacturing systems with embedded safety and security considerations. This research contributes an approach aimed at addressing the design of CPPS/HRC systems, and the embedding of safety and security within their design. The solutions achieved through the Safety embedded Manufacturing Function Deployment 4.0 were implemented in a prototype system. The developed methodology was titled ‘Safety embedded MFD 4.0’. The built system aided in the verification of the methodology developed, through the use of a case study scenario and industry interviews. The latter were very useful to attain feedback for both improvements and to achieve a better understanding of the performance of the methodology.