Educational program by Festo and SICK focuses on robot safety

Ted Rozier, Festo Didactic Director of Engineering (left), and Brian Sellers, SICK, Industry Marketing Manager at IMTS Student Summit, presenting the Safety Awareness Training Package

Festo Didactic, a major solution provider for industrial and technical education, has co-developed a new educational program (in collaboration with SICK) to teach students robot safety awareness in a holistic way. This Safety Awareness Training Package presents the latest industry best practices and how to become a valuable contributor as an employee.

As smart technology continues to evolve quickly in automation and engineering, this program helps to prepare professionals and aspiring engineers for careers in robotics.

Blending curriculum and hardware

With safety as the primary theme, the Safety Awareness Training Package blends curriculum and hardware. The curriculum focuses on robot risk assessments, as well as the implementation of the system approach compared to automation à la carte, while the hardware consists of a Festo Didactic manufacturing production system (MPS), a simulated Cyber-Physical Smart Factory with a six-axis robot, SICK area scanners, safety PLC, and safety relay.

In addition to the importance of risk assessment, this program helps students to understand what to do with the digital information that their robots capture. The curriculum guides them through the Six-Step Method of Robotics and Automation equipment safety, which explores the topics of risk assessment, safe design, technical protective measures, administrative measures and information about residual risks, overall validation of the machine, and machinery deployment. Students also learn the definitions of performance measures, areas of severity, frequency, and avoidance.

Unlike traditional robotics education, which has focused on specific robot brands and their operation, this program adds a safety curriculum for the Festo MPS product line and the Cyber-Physical training equipment. Students develop a well-rounded working knowledge of how robots are tightly integrated into the real world – and the curriculum is adaptable to all major robot manufacturers.

Several universities and community colleges across Canada have already set up the Safety Awareness Training Package, and its use is not limited to current students; incumbent workers may sign up for the program to upgrade their robotic knowledge and skills. Learning and performing the competency-based exercises in the curriculum give students the skills they require to succeed through their robotic careers

To learn more, contact Festo.

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