Robot Reliability

The subject of robot reliability is very complex and there are numerous interlocking variables in evaluating and accomplishing various reliability levels. A successful robot installation has to be safe and reliable. A robot with poor reliability leads to many problems: high maintenance cost, unsafe conditions, inconvenience, and so on. Nevertheless, the American National Standard for Industrial Robots and Robot Systems—Safety Requirements [1] specifically calls for the design and construction of robots in such a way that any single, reasonably foreseeable failure will not lead to the robot’s hazardous motion. There are many different types of parts which are used in robots: electrical, electronic, hydraulic, pneumatic, and mechanical. This makes the task of producing highly reliable robots rather a challenging one. Furthermore, the environments in which the robots have to operate may be harsh and may vary enormously from one installation to another even for identical models.