Estimating child collision injury based on automotive accident data for risk assessment of mobile robots

Risk assessment considering child injury risks in collisions should be performed before introducing mobile robots into human-robot collaborative environments. This paper provides data for estimating the injury level and the injury probability for risk assessment using information from automotive-accident research. Experiments representing collisions between six-year-old children and mobile robots were conducted using an automotive crash-test dummy. Mechanical data on the head, neck, and chest of the dummy were measured. The results indicate that robot manufacturers should consider head injuries in collisions before introducing their mobile robots into environments with children.