Key figures

• Duration: 9 months (12/2020-09/2021)
• Total budget total: 150K € (IRTJV budget: 50K €)
• Partners: 4 French partners (Project coordinator: CNRS)

Towards the adoption of cable-driven parallel robots in industry

Cable-Driven Parallel Robots (CDPRs) is a class of parallel robots which moving platform is linked to a fixed base frame with cables. The non-rigid, low mass, elastic nature of cables provides CDPRs with unique safety challenges. Indeed, the lack of standards and safety studies on CDPRs is one important obstacle to their adoption in industry.

 

The ROCABLE project addresses safety issues specific to CDPRs and aims to develop guidelines and tests leading towards CDPRs safely sharing their workspace with human operators.

 

In order to bring CDPRs closer to the CE-making, ROCABLE will determine the relevant standards and directives to use CDPRs co-existing with human operators; develop safety-related software/hardware to manage the CDPR emergency stop; propose innovative solutions in order to prevent and manage hazardous situations, such as cable breaks or cable collisions; run several experimental trials in order to test, improve and validate some of these solutions; provide a risk assessment guidance.

 

The ROCABLE project was accepted within the framework of a cascade funding organised by the European project COV-R, which organised three open calls for proposals.

 

A French consortium dedicated to innovation in robotics

 

The ROCABLE consortium brings together four French partners which led research and work for the integration of CDPR in industry.

 

IRT Jules Verne is a research centre dedicated to manufacturing technologies and has been active in the recent years in developing CDPRs for industrial applications, including high payload and high speed CDPRs.

 

The LS2N/CNRS team led by Stéphane Caro has been working in several industrial projects on parallel robots and CDPRs and is currently involved in a French national project on collaborative CDPRs.

 

The INRIA team led by Jean Pierre Merlet has been developing cable robots for several applications involving humans, including rescue, rehabilitation and training and has already studied the cable breaking dynamics of CDPRs.

 

EES-Clemessy ADS is an assembly line integrator familiar with safety issues of production machines and is involved in the current industrial development of a CDPR standard.

 

IRT Jules Verne, an active actor in the use of CDPRs for manufacturing applications

CNRS and IRT Jules Verne have investigated together several industrial applications for cable driven parallel robots including sanding, painting, metrology, inspection of large parts, logistics with fixed and mobile CDPRs, agile operations with an embedded serial arm, and heavy part handling.

 

In order to achieve the final stage of the project, which consists in obtaining the CE certification, IRT Jules Verne will work with Clemessy, an integrator familiar with safety issues; and INRIA, which has already worked on solutions for preventing and managing cable breaks.

 

Discover cable driven parallel robots at the Jules Verne Institute:

 

 

  This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under COVR – Award Agreement – Realistic Trial ID no. S38661| Call 3.