Example of the robotic cell [9] 

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... far less risk of injury. New technologies require, so called “collaborative robots”, allowing the robot and the people to share the same workspace and work side-by-side. In accordance to this, safety solutions and standards must follow these upturns. The organization of the paper is as follows: section 2 provides a brief overview of the main characteristics of the most commonly used protective devices in robotic cells. Section 3 presents most important standards relevant to designing the safety solution for robotic cell. Section 4 shows the practical use of previous two sections while designing flexible robotic cell at Narvik University College. Section 5 explains the integration of safety with VALIP system while section 6 concludes the paper. Depending on the purpose of the robot system, there is a broad range of safety solutions. Within this paper we will retain focus on safety requirements for small robotic cells, as well as using robots in educational purposes. The choice of selecting the best safety solution depends on the specific job that the robot is performing, the working area and the possibility of injuries for the people. The best choice for protective measure is a device or a system that provides maximum protection with the minimum impact on normal machine operation. Safety-rated programmable logic controllers (PLCs) play a crucial role in a robotic work cells. They collect input data from sensors about a status of a person within the robot work space, as well as inputs from safety devices such as e-stops, pendants, sensors and interlock switches. PLC outputs help control the robot power circuit, robot servos, as well as any other devices within the cell. If the robot is performing a task that does not need human interference, the best solution is to use this form of protection. The good aspect of using physical protection is distancing the operator from the hazard and protection from flying objects. The guards often have a door with interlock switch fitted to the guard door. While the door is open, the robot is not moving. The operating process starts once the doors are closed and locked. If the doors are opened during the operating process of the robot, robot stops, and to have it started again, it is needed to press the reset button. This button is located outside the protected area to prevent trapping the personnel inside the robot working area. Figure 1 shows robotic cell safeguarded by guards, safety mats and light ...