Safety of Human-Robot Collaboration within the Internet of Production.

Recent trends in globalization have led to an increased competitive pressure, particularly affecting the manufacturing industry. The Cluster of Excellence “Internet of Production” (IoP) aims at developing innovative solutions and reshaping production to enable local industries to thrive in a digitized world. These developments create new possibilities for Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) and Human-Robot Collaboration (HRC) in particular. An extended framework for the classification, analysis, and planning of HRI use cases within the cluster IoP was developed, whereby examples from preforming and assembly were introduced and classified. Due to their collaborative nature, these cases require high safety standards that protect the human from the cobot. This paper describes how the cluster IoP handles safety of human workers in HRC processes, which allows a shift towards an increased collaboration between humans and robots. In this context, this paper proposes different methods to increase safety in HRC applications. This includes the use and verification of Behavior Trees for process planning and execution, the application of Computer Vision, the design of safe robot tools, and the evaluation of human acceptance and trust.