3 ms·

All of those are possible, but food handling usually uses less powerful robots (simply because they're a lot cheaper) so there may have been some complacency ab

by eichin 3y ago

All of those are possible, but food handling usually uses less powerful robots (simply because they're a lot cheaper) so there may have been some complacency about them not being that dangerous. (Physical barriers can be tricky to get right too, though - there have been incidents of "worker crushed between robot and inside of safety cage" though design standards have been updated in response to that.)

jacquesm 3y ago
The one this article is about is an absolute brute.
- eichin 3y ago
  Any idea what model? The bbc picture looked like implausible artwork (way too much expensive hardware in-frame for a "replace cheap humans with cheaper robots" scenario) but I could see them picking a low-end industrial/automotive arm instead of a "collaborative" arm...
  - jacquesm 3y ago
    The BBC article picture is just filler (they should more clearly indicate it when their pictures have nothing to do with the article). Top picture: https://m.yna.co.kr/amp/view/AKR20231108062151052 https://m.yna.co.kr/amp/view/AKR20231108062151052 I've been trying to figure out the brand but enough of the text on the arm is obscured that I can't make it out beyond NZ...MI or something to that effect. I'd love it if someone could figure out what make and model it is. It's a palletizing robot, it looks superficially quite a bit like the Kawasaki models but the brand name fragment clearly doesn't match that (and that would be Japanese, not South Korean).
    - eichin 3y ago
      Ooh, thanks for the reference. Kind of looks like https://www.zonesunpack.com/products/zonesun-industrial-articulated-robot?variant=42210290041014 https://www.zonesunpack.com/products/zonesun-industrial-arti... - that four-bar linkage for the arm segments isn't unique (as you mentioned, the big kawasaki arms use it too) but it's really not something you expect in human accessible spaces, both for pinch hazards and just catching on things...
    - eichin 3y ago
      Ah, found nachirobotics with a matching logo (in a video about a refrigeration factory modernizing their automation, but it was on a welding robot there.) So, maybe one of https://www.nachirobotics.com/product/lp180/ https://www.nachirobotics.com/product/lp180/ (or a similar model, they have half a dozen in the "kawasaki cp180 knockoff" scale...)
      - jacquesm 3y ago
        Yes, you've found the brand, thank you! I thought I new most of these by now but this one threw me. That thing has 3 meters of reach, so a dome with a 3 meter radius would be within reach of the arm at maximum extension. You might feel quite safe with the arm retracted or pointing away from you but all it would take is a limit switch that is busted for it to be able to reach you. You couldn't pay me to get near one of these with the power on.

by eichin 3y ago

jacquesm 3y ago

The one this article is about is an absolute brute.

eichin 3y ago
Any idea what model? The bbc picture looked like implausible artwork (way too much expensive hardware in-frame for a "replace cheap humans with cheaper robots" scenario) but I could see them picking a low-end industrial/automotive arm instead of a "collaborative" arm...
- jacquesm 3y ago
  The BBC article picture is just filler (they should more clearly indicate it when their pictures have nothing to do with the article). Top picture: https://m.yna.co.kr/amp/view/AKR20231108062151052 https://m.yna.co.kr/amp/view/AKR20231108062151052 I've been trying to figure out the brand but enough of the text on the arm is obscured that I can't make it out beyond NZ...MI or something to that effect. I'd love it if someone could figure out what make and model it is. It's a palletizing robot, it looks superficially quite a bit like the Kawasaki models but the brand name fragment clearly doesn't match that (and that would be Japanese, not South Korean).
  - eichin 3y ago
    Ooh, thanks for the reference. Kind of looks like https://www.zonesunpack.com/products/zonesun-industrial-articulated-robot?variant=42210290041014 https://www.zonesunpack.com/products/zonesun-industrial-arti... - that four-bar linkage for the arm segments isn't unique (as you mentioned, the big kawasaki arms use it too) but it's really not something you expect in human accessible spaces, both for pinch hazards and just catching on things...
  - eichin 3y ago
    Ah, found nachirobotics with a matching logo (in a video about a refrigeration factory modernizing their automation, but it was on a welding robot there.) So, maybe one of https://www.nachirobotics.com/product/lp180/ https://www.nachirobotics.com/product/lp180/ (or a similar model, they have half a dozen in the "kawasaki cp180 knockoff" scale...)
    - jacquesm 3y ago
      Yes, you've found the brand, thank you! I thought I new most of these by now but this one threw me. That thing has 3 meters of reach, so a dome with a 3 meter radius would be within reach of the arm at maximum extension. You might feel quite safe with the arm retracted or pointing away from you but all it would take is a limit switch that is busted for it to be able to reach you. You couldn't pay me to get near one of these with the power on.