Howard John, Murashov Vladimir, Roth Gary, Wendt Christopher, Carr Jacob, Cheng Marvin, Earnest Scott, Elliott K C, Haas Emily, Liang Ci-Jyun, Petery Gretchen, Ragsdale Jennifer, Reid Christopher, Spielholz Peregrin, Trout Douglas, Srinivasan Divya
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Washington, District of Columbia, USA.
Office of Performance, Planning and Evaluation, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
Am J Ind Med. 2025 Jul;68(7):559-572. doi: 10.1002/ajim.23729. Epub 2025 May 1.
Starting in the 1970s with robots that were physically isolated from contact with their human co-workers, robots now collaborate with human workers towards a common task goal in a shared workspace. This type of robotic device represents a new era of workplace automation. Industrial robotics is rapidly evolving due to advances in sensor technology, artificial intelligence (AI), wireless communications, mechanical engineering, and materials science. While these new robotic devices are used mainly in manufacturing and warehousing, human-robot collaboration is now seen across multiple goods-producing and service-delivery industry sectors. Assessing and controlling the risks of human-robot collaboration is a critical challenge for occupational safety and health research and practice as industrial robotics becomes a pervasive feature of the future of work. Understanding the physical, psychosocial, work organization, and cybersecurity risks associated with the increasing use of robotic technologies is critical to ensuring the safe development and implementation of industrial robotics. This commentary provides a brief review of the uses of robotic technologies across selected industry sectors; the risks of current and future industrial robotic applications for worker and employer alike; strategies for integrating human-robot collaboration into a health and safety management system; and the role of robotic safety standards in the future of work.
从20世纪70年代与人类同事物理隔离的机器人开始，如今机器人已在共享工作空间中与人类工人协作以实现共同的任务目标。这种类型的机器人设备代表了工作场所自动化的新时代。由于传感器技术、人工智能（AI）、无线通信、机械工程和材料科学的进步，工业机器人技术正在迅速发展。虽然这些新型机器人设备主要用于制造业和仓储业，但人机协作现在已出现在多个商品生产和服务提供行业领域。随着工业机器人成为未来工作的普遍特征，评估和控制人机协作的风险是职业安全与健康研究及实践面临的一项关键挑战。了解与机器人技术使用增加相关的物理、心理社会、工作组织和网络安全风险，对于确保工业机器人的安全开发和实施至关重要。本评论简要回顾了机器人技术在选定行业领域的应用；当前和未来工业机器人应用对工人和雇主的风险；将人机协作纳入健康与安全管理系统的策略；以及机器人安全标准在未来工作中的作用。
