merrill@raja.DEC (Rick) (04/23/85)
-------------- "`On July 21, 1984, a 34-year-old male worker in Michigan was operating an automated die-casting system that included an industrial robot. At approximately 1:15 p.m., he was found pinned between the back end of the robot and a 4-inch-diameter steel safety pole used to restrict undesired arm movement by the robot. The robot stalled, applying sustained pressure to the chest of the operator, who experienced cardiopulmonary arrest... the worker was admitted comatose to a local hospital, where he died 5 days later.' "The report provides additional details. Apparently the operator climbed around the safety bars and was trying to clean up metal scrap on the floor when he got pinned by the robot. The operator was thought to be fairly competent, but had a practice of sneaking into the robot's work envelope every so often. He evidently didn't anticipate the motions of the back of the robot as well as he anticipated the gripper motion. The company has since installed a chain link fence around the work cell." ------------ The socalled "safety bars" COULD have been made of a resilliant or rubber base so that it would yield and allow the worker to be thrown clear. It is clear that he was killed by the combination of robot and "safety bar." Artificial intelligence won't save lives - REAL intelligence might! Rick Merrill
broehl@wateng.UUCP (Bernie Roehl) (04/24/85)
<bug line>
...at the risk of sounding callous, the worker wasn't killed by the robot,
the fence, or any combination thereof; he was a victim of his own careless-
ness.
--
-Bernie Roehl (University of Waterloo)
...decvax!watmath!wateng!broehl