For all the selling points robotics offers, safety needs to be a big part of the conversation upfront. Bryan Sellars, industry marketing manager at SICK, Inc., joins Manufacturing Matters to discuss this important topic and other automation trends. One of SICK’s newest products, safeVisionary2, is a 3D time-of-flight camera sensor with multiplanar lidar designed for robot and human safety. But safety starts before a product hits the factory floor. SICK performs risk assessments not only to keep workers out of the robot operation “danger zone,” but also ensure its products are implemented and applied correctly. While the company’s stronghold remains factory and logistics automation, Sellars sees growth in what he calls “off road” applications, ranging from autonomous construction vehicles to disinfecting robots in airports.
