Robot runaway protection system

The application of a robot runaway protection system (RRPS) is discussed. The RRPS uses a triaxial accelerometer which is mounted on the robot´s end effectors. The accelerometer signals are sampled, digitized and stored in computer memory during an initial system data acquisition mode. The stored data forms the reference signature which is associated with a specified cycle of robot motion. Once the reference signature is acquired, the system protection mode engages and guards against robot runaway. A mismatch between the real-time acceleration signal and the stored reference signature generates an abort command if threshold limits are exceeded