Types of hazards associated with robots include the following:
- Impact or collision hazards with the robot’s arm or peripheral equipment as a
result of unpredicted movements, component malfunctions, or unpredicted program changes
- Crushing or trapping hazards because body parts are trapped between the robot’s arm
or other peripheral equipment
- Mechanical component hazards resulting from mechanical failure with components
associated with the power source, drive components, tooling or end-effector, and/or
peripheral equipment (mechanical gripper, etc.)
- Human errors resulting in hazards both to personnel and equipment. Errors in
programming, interfacing peripheral equipment, connecting input/output sensors can all
result in unpredicted movement or action by the robot which can result in injury to
personnel or damage to equipment. Examples of judgement errors include incorrect
activation of the teach pendant
or control panel. The most common example is personnel placing themselves in hazardous
positions while programming or performing maintenance within the robot’s work
envelope. This is because they are too trusting in assuming the nature of the motions.
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