Collaborative robots (cobots) share workspace with humans. A safety controller continuously tracks human position and slows or halts the robot as it enters a protective separation zone (speed-and-separation monitoring, ISO/TS 15066), balancing task throughput against injury risk.
v_robot = v_max * clamp((d - d_min)/(d_safe - d_min), 0, 1)
near_miss if d < d_min during motion
handoff success if |pos_robot - pos_human| < d_grasp AND v_robot ~ 0
- Robot speed — the arm's maximum unconstrained speed toward the handoff point; higher values raise throughput but risk.
- Sensor sensitivity — how quickly/accurately the robot detects the human's position and reacts, tightening its speed reduction response.
- Safety-zone radius — the protective separation distance at which the robot begins slowing down.
- Human unpredictability — how erratically the human avatar moves, testing the safety controller under realistic noisy motion.
Well-tuned sensitivity and safety-zone sizing let the robot approach at full speed until the human is near, then slow smoothly — maximising safe handoffs while minimising near-misses.