Energy Barrier Analysis Research Articles

Systems safety for robots: An energy barrier analysis

Rahimi, M., 1986. Systems safety for robots: An energy barrier analysis. Journal of Occupational Accidents, 8: 127–138. The need for a comprehensive study of hazards caused by robot work environments is stressed. Based on previous data and robot accident reports, major factors contributing to robot accidents are classified and listed. System safety is introduced as an appropriate approach to analyze safety of semiautomated and automated robot systems. A general procedure for conducting system safety analysis is presented. Energy Barrier Analysis (EBA), a qualitative system safety technique, is applied to a general model of human—robot system. Major concepts of EBA are integrated in a stepwise approach for evaluating and designing robot safety systems. As the result of this application, specific solutions and recommendations are discussed.