Robot collision safety with knives and saws

Found on RobotJunkie: http://www.botjunkie.com/2010/05/07/robots-with-knives-robots-with-knives/

This is an amazing post on RobotJunkie about robot safety work that the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics in Germany has done. They did research to find out exactly what happens when robots dangerously collides with humans (besides, you know, death). This was to help make a collision avoidance system, which works great when they integrated it with their robot arm. They reduce the cuts down to 1-3 mm lengths, which is much better than getting stabbed all the way through. Check out this video, especially all the way to the end when a real human gets tested!




This second video is about work with basic collisions, no knives. This deals with large robots that someone would be dealing with in, say, an assembly line.




On RobotJunkie they made the very good point that this is why we don't have to always be afraid of robots. They are certainly powerful and can do damage, but when you are careful and develop a sense of safety around these special mechanisms, you can use them to your great advantage without hesitance. On that note, RobotJunkie included this video about the SawStop, which I'll also include here. The SawStop is a table saw that drops the blade below the table surface if it senses a finger touching it. Watch the video to see more about how it works.