St. Anna School of Perspective Researches (Pisa, Italy)

V. Colla, e-mail: valentina.colla@santannapisa.it

R. Matino

BM Group (Rozdano, Italy)
A. Faes

M. Schivalocchi

ArcelorMittal Italia (Taranto, Italy)
L. Romaniello

Dortmund Technical University (Dortmund, Germany)
A. Schröder

Abstract: The up-to-date robotic cell has been installed in a steelmaking workshop, which facilitates the work of operators when inspecting, cleaning and replacing lined elements of ladle gates. With full coordination, workshop workers interact with the robot in a safe and ergonomic way. The most time-consuming operations are performed by the robot, and the capabilities of operators to monitor and control the process as a whole are expanded compared to conventional manual methods through the use of vision systems and an intelligent human-machine interface (HMI). Thus, the system contributes to improving the protection of health and ensuring the safety of workers, as well as the quality and reproducibility of operations. The described robotic cell allows to save workers from labor-intensive operations, greatly contributing to improving the health and safety of workers in metallurgical workshops. Corresponding positive eff ects are also expected due to better reproducibility and traceability of the entire maintenance procedure. The aim of the further work will be to increase the degree of automation due to the specialized design of the slide gate, which allows to fully utilize the capabilities of the robot.

1. Maeda I., Nobuhiro M., Shimizu T., Okada K., Dohi M., Fujitani S., Inada K., Fujita T. New concept of safety to realize improvement of higher productivity and safety in an environment of humanrobot collaboration, and proposal of the concept of Collaboration Safety Level. 50^th International Symposium on Robotics. ISR 2018. pp. 468–471.
2. Malm T., Heikkilä T., Ahola J. M. Safety assessment process for human-robot handling tasks, Proceedings of the ASME Design Engineering Technical Conference. 2015. Vol. 9.
3. Coradeschi S., Saffiotti A. Simbiotic robotic systems: humans, robots, and smart environments. IEEE Intelligent Systems. 2006. Vol. 2 (3). pp. 82–84.
4. Darvish K., Wanderlingh F., Bruno B., Simetti E., Mastrogiovanni F., Casalino G., Flexible human-robot cooperation models for assisted shop-floor tasks. Mechatronics. 2018. Vol. 15. pp. 97–114.
5. Gualtieri L., Rauch E., Rojas R., Vidoni R., Matt D. T. Application of Axiomatic Design for the Design of a Safe Collaborative Human-Robot Assembly Workplace. MATEC Web of Conferences. 2018. Vol. 223.
6. Colla V., Schroeder A., Buzzelli A., Abbà D., Faes A., Romaniello L. Introduction of symbiotic human-robot-cooperation in the steel sector: an example of social innovation. Matériaux & Techniques. 2017. Vol. 105 (5-6).