AiVibeRobot Cell Safeguarding
Robot cell safeguarding is the combination of guards, interlocked doors, sensors and robot safety functions that keeps people away from robot hazards, or stops the robot safely when they approach, as determined by the risk assessment.
Fixed perimeter guards keep people out of the robot's reach, with heights and openings chosen using the safety distances in ISO 13857. Interlocked doors stop the robot when opened, with interlocking devices covered by ISO 14119 and general guard requirements by ISO 14120. Light curtains and laser scanners provide access without doors, and robot functions such as safety-rated axis and space limiting can reduce the space the robot is allowed to enter.
Safeguarding allows robots to run at full speed in automatic mode while operators load parts, change pallets or carry out maintenance safely. Designs balance protection with access for production, cleaning and fault recovery, since awkward guards encourage people to bypass them.
Safeguards must be designed and validated so that their safety functions achieve the required performance level, and resistance to defeat is an important design criterion. Muting, mode selection and restart rules must be documented. Validation and any modification are tasks for qualified personnel following OEM documentation and applicable standards such as ISO 10218-2.
Key points
- Combines fixed guards, interlocked doors, sensors and robot safety functions
- ISO 13857, ISO 14119 and ISO 14120 cover distances, interlocks and guards
- Safety-rated axis and space limiting can reduce the restricted space
- Poorly designed access encourages guard bypassing
Where AiVibe comes in
AiVibe designs and manufactures the AiAmbA AI Factory, whose edge devices and AI agents let people talk to robot controllers in plain language. Robotics perception is an AiAmbA use case, and robot safety functions follow ISO 10218 and never depend on the AI layer.