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Safety Analysis for a Human-Friendly Manipulator

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Abstract

The DLR Lightweight Robot III (LWR-III) developed at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) is characterized by low inertial properties, torque sensing in each joint, and a load to weight ratio similar to humans. These properties qualify it for applications requiring high mobility and direct interaction with human users or uncertain environments. An essential requirement for such a robot is that it must under no circumstances pose a threat to the human operator. To actually quantify the potential injury risk emanating from the manipulator, impact test were carried out using standard automobile crash-test facilities at the ADAC (German automobile club). Furthermore, we introduce our analysis for soft-tissue injury based on swine experiments with the LWR-III. This paper gives an overview about the variety of investigations necessary to provide a safety analysis of a human-friendly robot based on biomechanical injury results. We believe this paper can provide a guideline for the robotics community for future qualifications of other robots and thus serve as a key component to bring robots in our everyday life.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics, DLR—German Aerospace Center, P.O. Box 1116, 82230, Wessling, Germany

    Sami Haddadin, Alin Albu-Schäffer & Gerd Hirzinger

Authors
  1. Sami Haddadin
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  2. Alin Albu-Schäffer
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  3. Gerd Hirzinger
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Correspondence to Sami Haddadin.

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Haddadin, S., Albu-Schäffer, A. & Hirzinger, G. Safety Analysis for a Human-Friendly Manipulator. Int J of Soc Robotics 2, 235–252 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-010-0053-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-010-0053-z

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