When Industrial Robots don't have work...

[JohnBoucher]

Do Not Try This At Home....

Unless you have one of these sitting in your basement.

http://www.geeksaresexy.net/2009/03/...strial-robots/

[Qbranch]

Really Fun

Kuka had one of their big (~500kg payload) industrial arms with it's outer link removed at the Industrial Robotics & Vision Show doing this. I looked... and I watched...

...and I really hoped those people riding knew they were counting on a processor, a bunch of silicon junctions in the FETs, and some fragile encoders not to turn them into people patties on the concrete.

But, it looks like a great time as long as it works. I'll sit this one out though.

-q

[DonRotolo]

That is pretty funny but, as Alex wrote, not for me.

Honestly, the robot is surely reliable enough for this to not end in tragedy, and there's certainly not enoough of a load for it to be a factor. I trust my life to a 3650 pound rolling chunk of metal every day that, if some silicon failed in just the right (wrong?) way, would splat me pretty quickly, but I have faith in engineering.

On the other hand, it doesn't turn me upside down.

Don

[JoshD]

That just made my day, thank you! I bet it would be a ton of fun too.

[MrForbes]

Originally Posted by Don Rotolo

I trust my life to a 3650 pound rolling chunk of metal every day that, if some silicon failed in just the right (wrong?) way, would splat me pretty quickly, but I have faith in engineering.

I'm a heck of a lot more worried about the folks driving all those cars than the cars themselves....and yes, I'm one of the drivers I worry about....

[Chris_Elston]

Actually the real story of this is:

Shop owner bought a used robot on eBay.

Bolted in his shop, made a chair.

People like me "Controls Engineers" saw kids sitting in lawn chairs and thought this was pretty unsafe.

Fanuc got involved.

Fanuc asked owner to take down robot.

Owner complied.

One of the threads I started in 2007, I was a bit nervous of the whole safety aspect and didn't wanna see anyone get hurt. I've seen Fanuc robots go AWOL. It would not think twice to pile drive your head into the concrete.

http://forums.mrplc.com/index.php?showtopic=10381