In this episode, Erik Reynolds talks with Dr. Ricard Picas Prat, Advanced Solution Engineer at Novanta Inc., about functional safety for dynamically stable robots. Ricard brings a background spanning academic research, hardware engineering, and years of leading SIL 3 and PL E functional safety certifications at what is now Novanta's servo drives division.

They cover how classical safety functions like safe torque off and safe brake control work, and why those approaches fall apart for humanoids and quadrupeds. When a dynamically stable robot loses power, it doesn't stop safely. It falls.

The conversation also gets into the challenge of writing a standard for technology that is still being invented. Ricard is doing that work firsthand as an active contributor to ISO TC 299 Working Group 12, while simultaneously building products for the market those standards will eventually govern.

More on Novanta Inc: www.novanta.com

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