Robotic Safety Systems

This book reboots the conversation about all technologies relating to robot safety. It covers key features of industry standards, relevant government regulations, hardware devices, physical safeguards, and vendor-specific software implementations, including FANUC's Dual-Check Safety, ABB's SafeMove and more.

Robotic Safety Systems: An Applied Approach discusses some of the unique concerns associated with remote I/O and systems designed to be controlled over wide-area networks, including the internet. It includes annotated example safety configurations and programs that can be customized and loaded and deployed on existing robots, giving the reader tools to immediately apply the lessons learned in this text. The text also provides best practices for using cutting-edge systems – such as cobots and mobile robotic arms (with some autonomy) – systems that have advanced faster than the regulatory frameworks. Included are real world examples from FANUC, ABB, Universal Robots, and Kuka – the most popular brands on the market. Finally, as an appendix to this text, a case study demonstrating proper use of A3/RIA standards is included. This will allow readers to make an informed decision prior to purchasing these expensive references.

This book is intended for post-secondary classes at universities with specializations in robotics or robotic engineering. It will also be useful for robot systems integrators – design engineers, consultants, integration experts, robot programmers.

Dr. Justin Starr currently serves as the Endowed Professor of Advanced Technology at the Community College of Allegheny County where he works to integrate advanced technology into the technical curriculum including, augmented reality, electron microscopy, computer vision, machine learning, collaborative robots, and other cutting-edge topics. He is a certified FANUC and Universal Robots instructor, and has experience integrating robots in a variety of production environments. Previously, Dr. Starr served as CTO of RedZone Robotics, a manufacturer of water and wastewater inspection robots, CEO of High Tide Technologies, a developer of end-to-end cloud SCADA systems, and worked as a fractional COO for a number of private equity-backed firms in the high tech space. Dr. Starr holds 14 U.S. patents for inventions in robotics, artificial intelligence, and automation, and was named an Engineering Unleashed Fellow and Hi-TEC Fellow for his work with high-impact technologies.

Christopher Quick is the founder of RealBotics, Inc., a company specializing in remote control, telerobotics, and industrial automation consulting. His industrial automation experience includes various robotic installs in heavy forge and stamping applications, the implementation of automated guided vehicles (AGVs) on the factory floor, the use of collaborative robots in industrial settings, and various research projects utilizing machine vision. Chris also has experience with the mechanical, electrical, and computer science aspects of the design and development of mobile device platforms such as drones, cellular-based systems, and mobile robotics. Chris received his BS in Mechanical Engineering, with minors in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Robotics, and Computer Vision, and an MS in Engineering Management from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.