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Robotics Special Report: Making Sense of ANSI R15.06 and ANSI B155.1

To determine the right standards approach for your organization, it’s helpful to understand how standards are structured, which responsibilities and requirements are associated with the standards, and ISO restrictions.

Pmmi Standards

When getting started with robotics, often a question arises as to which standard(s) apply to a machine. Or stated differently, “Is this a robotic system that does packaging, or a packaging machine that includes a robot?”

The answer is important because different standards may have differing requirements. Standards that may apply to a robotic packaging machine include:

·     ANSI R15.06 for robots

·      ANSI/PMMI B155.1 for packaging and processing machinery

·      ANSI B20.1 for conveyors,

·      ANSI B11.19 for safeguarding

Other standards may apply as well. Depending on which standard(s) is applied, the requirements for machinery safety may differ. To recognize the right approach for your organization, it’s helpful to understand how standards are structured, which responsibilities and requirements are associated with the standards, and ISO restrictions.

Standards structure. A hierarchical structure to industry standards can assist in addressing the issue of guarding. This structure is explained in the Foreword to ANSI B155.1 Safety requirements for packaging and processing machinery (2016).

Pmmi 1

This structure is derived from the identical ISO structure (see ISO Guide 51). 

The robot and conveyor standards are all type C standards. ANSI B155.1 is a hybrid type A and type B standard. The type C standards would generally take precedence over B155.1 due to the following common premise:

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