Evaluating the Possibilities of Collision Avoidance for Occupational Participation

Considering the Federal Republic of Germany, population shows a disability rate of 9.5%, simultaneously indicating a weak employment rate of disabled people (46.9%) compared to the total population (75.2%) [1-3]. One central element of the presented study addresses the inclusive design of assembly workplaces with respect to occupational participation. According to the technical specification ISO/TS 15066:2016, collaborative robot systems usually focus on conventional safety technologies such as safety-related stops, speed and separation monitoring or power and force limiting [4]. In consequence, risk scenarios inevitably imply speed reductions or safety stops of conventional robots. One of these risk scenarios is the provision of physical assistance for disabled people by the application of human-robot interaction with collaborative robot systems [5]. To enable this kind of occupational participation, an alternative safety concept focusing on collision avoidance is evaluated.