HRC Safety

Collaboration between humans and cobots requires proven safety.

Measurement Technology
Logo CoboSafe, GTE-business division Measurement Technolog
MRK Schulung

Successful Human-Robot Duo

Cobots are fast, agile and strong. They work persistently and precisely. They are also relatively easy to program, flexible and easy to transport. All of this makes them incredibly popular to use in a wide variety of applications, including industrial manufacturing, assembly and logistics, as well as medicine, nursing, restaurants and other fields. In many workplaces, humans remain indispensable with their experience, manual dexterity, or perception and instinct. When humans and robots work perfectly as a team, the optimum level of automation is achieved.

Reliable risk assessment

In human-robot collaboration (HRC), cooperation usually takes place without separating protective devices. Collisions between people and cobots can therefore not be completely avoided. There is a comprehensive set of regulations for HRC workplaces. For example, requirements to certain biomechanical threshold values for forces and pressures must be strictly followed.

To prove compliance with these thresholds, GTE Industrieelektronik has developed a biofidel force-pressure measuring system – CoboSafe. It has been developed in cooperation with the Institute for Occupational Safety and Health of the German Social Accident Insurance (IFA, Institut für Arbeitsschutz der Deutschen Gesetzlichen Unfallversicherung). Operators can use CoboSafe to ensure, especially at higher operating speeds, that people are not exposed to any risk of injuries due to mechanical impacts from the robot.

Biomechanical treshold values

The stresses a person can endure in each body region are defined by biomechanical threshold values based on occupational health studies for human-robot collaboration. Depending on the body regions, different transient and quasi-static forces and pressures are permissible. These are determined for the risk assessment of an HRC workplace on so-called biofidel test devices and then compared with the permissible biomechanical threshold values – a biofidel measurement principle.

HRC: Standards, rules, regulations

Standards relevant to the test method for force-pressure measurement on collaborative robots:

  • ISO/TS 15066 (Robots and Robotic Devices – Collaborating Robot)
  • ISO 10218-1 (Industrial Robots – Safety Requirements – Part 1: Robots)
  • ISO 10218-2 (Industrial Robots Safety Requirements –  Part 2: Robot Systems and Integration)

The standards for the American area are based on the specifications of the Robotic Industries Association of the American National Standards Institute:

  • RIA TR R15.806: „Technical Report for Industrial Robots and Robot-Systems – Safety Requirements – Testing Methods for Power & Force Limited Collaborative Applications“

Berufsgenossenschaftliche Regeln und Vorschriften:

Rules and regulations of the employers’ liability insurance association:

Cobosafe-CBSF series, all nine devices
CoboSafe Mensch-Roboter-Kollaboration MRK, Anwendung mit Cobot

We are pleased to assist you.

Do you need further information? Are you planning to automate your production? Are you considering performing force and pressure measurements on existing applications yourself? We are pleased to advise you on all questions concerning our CoboSafe product range. Contact us by phone at +49 2162 3703-0, by e-mail (cobosafe@gte.de) or send us a non-binding project inquiry via our inquiry form.
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Force and Pressure Measurement System CoboSafe

CoboSafe is a force andpressure measuring system that evaluates the transient and quasi-static forces and pressures on collaborating robots. The easy-to-use system has a modular design, and it includes force measurement devices, a pressure measurement set, and evaluation software to verify compliance with the required threshold values. A different combination of force measurement devices and pressure measurement sets can be put together as needed.

CoboSafe System