%0 Journal Article 
%A Alonso Cáceres, Diego
%A Sánchez Palma, Pedro
%A Ortiz Zaragoza, Francisco José
%A Pastor Franco, Juan Ángel
%A Álvarez Torres, María Bárbara
%A Iborra García, Andrés José
%T Experiences developing safe and fault-tolerant tele-operated service robots. A case study in shipyards
%D 2008
%U http://hdl.handle.net/10317/1218
%X Human operators use tele-operated service robots for performing more or less hazardous
operations (manipulation of heavy and/or dangerous products) in more or less hostile
environments (nuclear reactors, space missions, warehouses, etc). Anyway, independently
of the operation, the robot has to interact with both the environment it is working on and
with human operators. Therefore, it is essential that the design (which include both software
and hardware) of the robot involves no risk, or at least an acceptable level of risk, neither for
the operators, nor for the environment nor for the robot itself.
Nevertheless, it is not always possible to make a system free of failures in its design or
operation. Apart from the risk inherent to the use of the mechanisms themselves, these
systems work in hazardous environments, where the probability of the risk is higher than
normal. Should a failure happen, its consequences could even involve the loss of human
lives. (Neumann, 1994) documents many cases of computer-related failures, such as the
Therac-25 (a radiation-therapy device), the missiles shield in Saudi Arabia, etc.
Nevertheless, safety aspects are seldom included in the early phases of the system design
process from the beginning, even though they are a critic aspect. Generally, safety has to
conform and adapt to the already designed system and not vice versa, when it is widely
known that safety involves not only the design of the software but also the hardware. Even
more, a simple hardware solution can eliminate a hazard or simplify the software design in
many situations.
%K Lenguajes y Sistemas Informáticos
%K Tecnología Electrónica
%K Robots de servicio tele-operado
%K Entorno amigable y tecnología rentable para la eliminación de revestimientos (EFTCoR)
%K Mantenimiento de barcos
%K Limpieza vertical de barcos
%K Grúas teleoperadas
%K Vehículos de escalada teleoperada
%K Limpieza automática de barcos
%K Teleoperated service robots
%K Ship manteinance
%K Cleaning vertical surface
%K Tele-operated cranes
%K Tele-operated climbing vehicles
%K Environmental Friendly and Cost-Effective Technology for Coating Removal (EFTCoR)
%K Automatic blasting operation
%~ GOEDOC, SUB GOETTINGEN