In order to teach students robotic safety holistically, SICK and Festo Didactic have collaborated to develop a Safety Awareness Bundle that combines curriculum and hardware.
Robot risk assessments and the application of the system approach are the main topics covered in the Safety Awareness Bundle’s curriculum. The curriculum was created by Festo Didactic to assist students in learning industry best practices. Festo Didactic’s manufacturing production system (MPS), a model Cyber-Physical Smart Factory with a six-axis robot, SICK area scanners, a safety PLC, and a safety relay make up the hardware.
“With such a demand for Smart Manufacturing methods to be demystified,” says Ted Rozier, director of engineering at Festo Didactic North America, “students who have been exposed to this sort of implementation have a real advantage when it comes to applying to jobs compared to students who have not been provided with the same experiential learning and job training.”
Students are guided through the Six-Step Method of Robotics and Automation Equipment Safety by Festo Didactic’s curriculum. The definitions of terms like “performance measures,” “areas of severity,” and others will be clearer to students, who will also have a better understanding of risk assessment, safe design, technical protective measures, administrative measures, overall validation of the machine, deployment of machinery, and more.
In order for students to apply the knowledge they learn to any top robot manufacturer, SICK and Festo Didactic made their Safety Awareness Bundle robot agnostic. Festo Didactic takes into account the types of robots that are used in factories near the training facility when deciding which robot to give to each student.
“This strategy guarantees that students can be hired locally. In order to allow students to become adaptable contributors from day one on the job, FESTO and SICK created this content to be manufacturer-agnostic. This means that it will align with the best practices of any robot manufacturer.
Only one in four educational institutions uses robots for teaching purposes, according to a recent global survey by ABB, even though 70% of US and European businesses plan to invest in robotics and automation in the next three years as a result of supply chain changes.
Across the nation, community colleges and universities have set up the Safety Awareness Bundle, and current employees can enroll in the course to expand their knowledge of robotics.
