Personalized Safety: Considering the Worker’s Anthropometry in Safety Evaluation of Human-Robot Collaboration

A risk-mitigating strategy for human-robot collaborations limits the power and force to comply with biomechanical limits in a collision, according to ISO/TS 15066:2016. Before industrial use, a safety evaluation is required to estimate potential impact forces and pressures, and the likely body regions affected. The verification depends on the chosen body region, as the standards specify physical parameters and biomechanical limits for specific regions. Depending on the worker’s anthropometry, different regions can be hit with a particular robot configuration, e.g., chest, abdomen, or pelvis. The problem is that the person working with the robot and their body parameters are often unknown, and the affected body region can only be estimated. This paper analyzes the influence of the worker’s anthropometry on safety evaluation of a human-robot collaboration. A study with 31 participants revealed considerable differences in affected body regions in possible impact scenarios. An exemplary biomechanical measurement illustrates these effects on the impact forces, confirming that consideration of the worker is essential.