why ai-powered safety is a business imperative in the era
TRANSCRIPT
Why AI-powered safety is a business imperative in the era of robotics and automation
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Why AI-powered safety is a business imperative in the era of robotics and automation By Sheila Kennedy, CMRP, contributing editor
Smart automation and robotic processes are everywhere in industrial plant and field oper-ations. Highly efficient robots, cobots, punching machines, cutting equipment, and other powerful machines succeed in solving operational challenges but pose an inherent risk. Because modern factories necessitate that people and robots coexist, safety must remain the top priority.
Research confirms the surging rate of robot adoption. The World Robotics 2020 Industrial Robots report from the International Fed-eration of Robotics (IFR) shows 2.7 million industrial robots work in factories globally.
“The stock of industrial robots operating in factories around the world today marks the highest level in history,” says IFR President Milton Guerry. “Driven by the success story of smart production and automation, this is a worldwide increase of about 85% within five years (2014-2019).”
Every transformation comes with inevitable challenges. The
most obvious in this case is that humans are coming “face to face” with fast-moving, potentially dangerous equipment, far more often. Safeguarding systems are required to protect the operators, maintenance and reliability teams, third-party service providers, and anyone else who might encounter the machines and cross into the danger zone (see Figure 1).
The causes of accidents and per-sonal injury vary, whether human error, control error, mechanical failure, power supply malfunction, or some other unexpected hazard. According to OSHA, the greatest problem is “over familiarity with the robot’s redundant motions so that an individual places himself in a hazardous position while pro-gramming the robot or performing maintenance on it.”
Fortunately, the options for ensuring workforce safety are get-ting smarter. Light curtains were an early, innovative alternative to physical barriers. Eventu-ally, developments in machine vision and artificial intelligence (AI) gave rise to safeguarding systems that combine the two
Figure 1. As factory automation increases, humans are increasingly coming face to face with heavy, dangerous machinery. Source: iStock
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technologies. Today, all-in-one smart cameras that perform AI at the edge solve additional tech-nical and functional challenges and provide an advanced hazard protection solution.
LONG-STANDING SOLUTION
HAS LIMITATIONS
Light curtains are a widely used
electronic machine-guarding technology. Typically installed at the perimeter of robotic work cells, light curtains send beams of infrared light from a transmitter to a receiver, and whenever the light’s path is blocked, a signal is sent out to illuminate the warn-ing light tower or immediately stop the machine (see Figure 2).
However, they are difficult to deploy, consume significant floorspace, and are inflexible. A light curtain installed for one application cannot be easily reused in another scenario. Fur-thermore, the presence of physical barriers restricts the exchange of materials between robot arms and autonomous mobile robots (AMR). Today’s modern factories require a more versatile, simpli-fied system.
EARLY AI POWERS AN
IMPROVED OPTION
The next iteration of safeguarding systems pairs internet protocol (IP) or surveillance cameras with AI computing modules. The solution can be used instead of a
Figure 2. In this image, the yellow bars show that a light curtain (transmitter & receiver) and mirrors are in place to protect workers. Source: ADLINK Technology, Inc.
MACHINE SAFEGUARDING SYSTEMS:
• Safety Light Curtains: less flexible, more floorspace required,
difficult to deploy
• Machine Vision-Based Solutions: Flexible and powerful, less
floorspace required, complex cabling, high bandwidth, delays
• NEON-2000-JT2 for AI Safety: Flexible and powerful, easy cabling,
less bandwidth and floorspace required, minimal delays, easy
integration and maintenance
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light curtain or together with a light curtain for multiple layers of protection.
Using IP cameras with AI com-puters is more flexible and easier to deploy than a light curtain, and it provides a smaller footprint. However, the cabling is lengthy and complex, the system requires considerable network bandwidth, incompatible hardware can pres-ent a challenge, and the data flow
is subject to unacceptable latency (see Figure 3). Because transmis-sion latency of even one second can result in injuries, latency is not allowed in time-critical appli-cations. For some industries, the time between an abnormal occur-rence and shutdown must be less than 150 milliseconds.
Maintenance of this solution is cumbersome as it has multi-ple potential points of failure.
Networking together the IP cam-eras, PoE hub, AI computer, and associated robot or equipment means each component and its power source must be effectively maintained to avoid experiencing a malfunction.
AI CAMERAS EXTEND
THE BENEFITS
The newest safeguarding option is an all-in-one AI smart camera
Figure 3. Safety light curtains vs. machine-based safety solutions. Source: ADLINK Technology, Inc.
“We used to deploy light curtains to safeguard the hazard area around robotic arms. However the curtains occupied notable floor space, and whenever someone accidentally altered the
light curtain angles, we needed to set them up again, causing a maintenance burden. After installing the NEON AI camera, we found that it saves us cabling issues, installation space, and
maintenance efforts. Now we can ensure worker safety around the robotic arms while keeping a smooth production operation.”
Vincent Hsieh, aDliNK GO-advanced Manufacturing Technology center Senior Manager
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solution that performs AI analysis at the edge, within the camera. The image sensor, vision software, and AI processor are all integrated in the smart camera, which con-nects directly to the robot with a single cable. No other hardware is required, and hardware compatibil-ity issues are avoided.
For example, the NEON-2000- JT2 for AI Safety from ADLINK Technology (www.adlinktech.com) is a smart camera solution. Raw image data is captured, processed, and analyzed immediately and locally within the camera. Image compression and decompression processes are eliminated, which
substantially reduces latency and allows more time for safety warn-ings and interventions to prevent injuries. Network quality require-ments are also lessened because all AI processing occurs on the edge device, saving network bandwidth.
By design, the solution saves floor-space, reduces cabling, and provides
a variety of I/O interfaces to facilitate integration, which improves flexibil-ity and increases the ease and speed of deployment (see Figure 4). It has fewer components to maintain and fewer potential points of failure than the earlier AI option, which is likely to result in reduced maintenance time and costs.
In addition to detecting intru-sions into the danger zone and sending the appropriate signals for emergency lights or machine stoppage, the NEON AI Safety solution can also support secu-rity needs when installed as an electronic barrier for high-risk entrances and exits.
BECAUSE SAFETY
IS PRICELESS
With robot and human collabora-tion becoming an inevitability in industrial organizations, the imper-ative is more pronounced to use intelligent safeguarding systems to prevent avoidable accidents. As the technology continues to mature and the AI algorithms become more powerful, the speed and effectiveness of the solutions will further improve, driving priceless value in terms of personnel health and safety.
Figure 4. NEON AI Smart Camera – Robot Hazard Prevention Solution Source: ADLINK Technology, Inc.
The newest safeguarding option is an all-in-one AI smart camera
solution that performs AI analysis at the edge, within the camera.
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