SPRY347 June   2022

 

  1.   At a glance
  2.   Authors
  3.   3
  4.   Introduction
  5.   Functional safety requirements for industrial robots
    1.     ISO 13849 in factory automation
    2.     ISO 10218 in industrial robots
  6.   Designing functional safety architectures for industrial robots
    1.     Dual external safety controllers
    2.     Single integrated safety controller
    3.     Dual integrated safety controllers
  7.   Processor-level integration for industrial robots
  8.   Making certification easier
    1.     Documentation support
    2.     Software support
  9.   Summary
  10.   References

Introduction

The Fourth Industrial Revolution, also known as Industry 4.0, typically refers to the digitization of the manufacturing industry. Increased digitization, or a connected everything environment enables companies to collect, store and use large amounts of data simultaneously; greatly enhances manufacturing processes; and creates a fully digital value chain [1]. The ability to collect and use information in real time enables the creation smart factories and smart systems in manufacturing.

The Industry 4.0 revolution includes the advancement and adoption of industrial robots and robot systems. Industrial robots perform automated programmable movements in manufacturing on the factory floor. The implementation of Industry 4.0 in industrial robotics in a factory requires [2]:

  • Interoperability: people, machines, devices and sensors that connect and communicate with one another.
  • Information transparency: the systems create a virtual copy of the physical world through sensor data to contextualize information.
  • Technical assistance: both the ability of the systems to support humans in making decisions and solving problems, and the ability to assist humans with tasks too difficult or unsafe for them.
  • Decentralized decision-making: the ability of cyberphysical systems to make simple decision on their own and become as autonomous as possible.

A trend toward increased human and machine interaction, including collaboration in factory environments, emphasizes the underlying importance of functional safety for industrial robots. This white paper describes functional safety for processors in industrial robots and explores some options to enable functional safety.