Cobot And Robot Risk Assessment (CARRA) method: an Automation Level-Based Safety Assessment Tool to Improve Fluency in Safe Human Cobot/Robot Interaction

Abstract

Cobots and robots are integral to automated manufacturing operations. Although there are many studies in the field of industrial robots and cobots to make them safer the number of OSHA accidents due to cobots and robots has not decreased. Even though these cobots are considered inherently safe, they open more probability for accidents because they are not caged. Therefore, it is necessary for the manufacturing industries using cobots to consider the risk involved in human cobot interaction and the ways to attain safety and lower the risk of injury before installing cobots on assembly lines. A user-centric tool was developed to perform an ergonomic risk assessment using process- failure mode effect analysis for different automation levels in human-cobot interaction. The tool suggests recommended actions and various options to eliminate physical injuries. The results provide insights about safety analysis that can be used by manufacturers to improve safe human cobot interaction.