Re:Have you ever hurt yourself from your own code?
by ta988 on Thursday May 27, 2021 @08:49PM
(#27310512)
I worked for a car company. We had robots for mounting parts. Big robotic arm several tons of pressure possible. I was part of the maintenance team, we get an alert for a robot malfunctionning. Coming in the area we see screwdrivers cleverly placed in all the safeties. And a guy trying to tweak the robot that was slowly moving...
Re:Have you ever hurt yourself from your own code?
by faeyanpiraat on Friday May 28, 2021 @02:19AM
(#27312297)
Could you please elaborate? I don’t fully understand what’s going on with the tweaking?
Is he next to the malfunctioning robot?
Re:Have you ever hurt yourself from your own code?
by ta988 on Friday May 28, 2021 @09:21AM
(#27315015)
He was next to the robot (like his hip touching it) trying to do we never knew what with his hands on the robot. And the robot was moving of course all securities were disabled and it was in a kind of. debug/manual mode) He was also just an operator from the next stage of production, so he was not supposed to be here at all. We checked everything and ran the calibration and validation procedures and they went through so maybe he did repair it in the end.
Re:Have you ever hurt yourself from your own code?
by hutzlibu on Friday May 28, 2021 @02:29AM
(#27312343)
I think the malfunctioning was the guy shutting down safety meassures intentionally with screwdrivers?
In other words, some person did something very stupid, while thinking he is clever.
Re:Have you ever hurt yourself from your own code?
by ta988 on Friday May 28, 2021 @09:22AM
(#27315024)
Not just that, going next to it with securities off.
Re:Have you ever hurt yourself from your own code?
by neilv on Thursday May 27, 2021 @05:08PM
(#27308575)
I hope that the arm healed well, and that, after the painful demonstration, everyone in the organization was fully onboard with workplace safety protocol.
Re:Have you ever hurt yourself from your own code?
by monocasa on Thursday May 27, 2021 @08:13PM
(#27310250)
Yeah, the arm healed great, and whole situation (plus the subsequent "N Days Since a Limb Mangled" sign) contributed greatly to the manager's humility and respect for safety.
Re:Have you ever hurt yourself from your own code?
by Digit-Al on Friday May 28, 2021 @08:14AM
(#27314442)
> plus the subsequent "N Days Since a Limb Mangled" sign
That made me actually lol.
Re:Have you ever hurt yourself from your own code?
by CoastalCoder on Thursday May 27, 2021 @07:30PM
(#27309900)
Oddly enough, I'm right now watching Shake Hands with Danger[0].
Re:Have you ever hurt yourself from your own code?
by Doxin on Friday May 28, 2021 @02:55AM
(#27312474)
I don't work in robotics so I might be entirely off-base here, but surely the interlock process would consist of hitting an E-stop somewhere? What was this process that took long enough for said manager to get annoyed with?
Re:Have you ever hurt yourself from your own code?
by jdiez17 on Friday May 28, 2021 @07:54AM
(#27314277)
You usually only hit the E-stop when the robot is moving in a way that could be dangerous. Safety interlocks are intended to minimize the probability of such a dangerous situation. The robot won't move unless all of the interlocks are outputting a "go ahead" signal. The most common interlock is a (switch/laser/hall effect sensor/whatever) that detects the door to the robot cell is closed.
Re:Have you ever hurt yourself from your own code?
by Doxin on Monday May 31, 2021 @03:14AM
(#27341173)
Well yes I know that much, but surely having an e-stop pressed will stop the robot from moving, same as any of the other interlocks? And opening/closing a door or the like doesn't seem like something that takes a long time either...
Re:Have you ever hurt yourself from your own code?
by monocasa on Friday May 28, 2021 @10:55AM
(#27316078)
That cut power and the robot needed to fully recalibrate afterwards which took time while iterating trying to replicate a defect.
Re:Have you ever hurt yourself from your own code?
by Aeolun on Friday May 28, 2021 @03:49AM
(#27312758)
I assume you still need it to move, not be entirely turned off?
Re:Have you ever hurt yourself from your own code?
by CoastalCoder on Thursday May 27, 2021 @07:32PM
(#27309914)
Out of curiosity, what was that manager's attitude towards safety afterwards?
I would assume he'd be the poster-child for following safety protocols after that. But I'm still learning a lot about human nature.
Re:Have you ever hurt yourself from your own code?
by monocasa on Thursday May 27, 2021 @08:16PM
(#27310282)
A lot of the toxic pressure that pushed the manager in that direction still existed, but a light hearted floppy arm joke served well to remind everyone relevant of the state space of outcomes.
I'm just glad that ultimately he was the only one who faced physical consequences for his poor choices. And thankful that the consequences weren't that bad at the end of the day; a broken arm is way better than a cracked open skull.