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Robotics & Automation vocabulary · Machine and Robot Safety

Risk assessment

Meaning in robotics & automation, with examples

/ˈrɪsk əˌsesmənt/nounCore term

In robotics & automation, risk assessment means: A structured review of a machine or task that identifies hazards, estimates how likely and how serious harm could be, and decides which safety measures are needed.

In Turkish: risk değerlendirmesi, risk analizi

How it is used

Required by machinery law in Europe and many other regions before a machine or robot cell is put into service; ISO 12100 describes the method. You carry out, update and sign off a risk assessment, and integrators usually write it together with the customer's safety team.

Example sentences

  1. The risk assessment showed that the operator could reach the robot through the loading window.

  2. We have to update the risk assessment because we changed the gripper.

Common collocations

  • carry out a risk assessment
  • update the risk assessment
  • risk assessment report
  • residual risk
  • hazardSomething that could cause injury or damage, such as a moving robot arm, a pinch point, a hot surface, high voltage or stored air pressure.
  • guardingPhysical barriers such as fences, covers and doors that keep people out of the dangerous area of a machine or robot cell while it is running.
  • collaborative robotA robot designed to work safely close to people, often without a fence, because it limits its force and speed and stops when it detects contact.
  • light curtainA safety device with a transmitter and a receiver that create a row of invisible light beams. When a person breaks the beams, the machine is stopped.
  • interlockA safety or control function that prevents a machine from running unless certain conditions are met, for example a door switch that stops the robot when the guard door opens.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Machine and Robot Safety

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