Stereo Visual System for Ensuring a Safe Interaction of an Industrial Robot and a Human

This article describes a safety system for interaction between an industrial robot and a human using an RGBD sensor. The RGBD sensor of the system allows a precise determination of a person's location in 3D space and prevents his/her undesired physical contacts with the industrial robot. The system was developed and tested in the Gazebo simulation environment, which allowed running virtual experiments without safety risks for a human user, an equipment, and an infrastructure. In the virtual experiments, the industrial robot operated in a joint with a human user area without a physical contact, to ensure a maximum safety. If the system detected a human in the robot's workspace, the robot's trajectory was automatically modified or the robot stopped. The developed system can be applied in an industrial production to ensure a human safety while working in a common area with industrial robots.