Prevention of occupational risks related to the human-robot collaboration

Abstract

Industrial robotics called “collaborative” makes operator share his workspace with a robot or even perform tasks simultaneously with it. Human-robot co-activity situations as all new technologies, modify the operator’s work and raise health and safety issues at work. To prevent occupational accidents and diseases but also to better understand Human-Robot Collaboration in the workplace, a study based on an ergonomics approach was conducted in a food company. Preliminary results show that handling tasks decrease while supervisory tasks increase, Operators have therefore more interest in their activity and feel valued. They think that collaborative robot integration improves their work conditions. However, mechanical moving parts (arms, tools, handled parts) of these cobots have sometimes hit operators. This study tries to work out ways to improve this collaboration in terms of health and safety.