Applying STAMP to safety standards of mowing robots

Abstract

The use of mowing robots in anthropic environment is increasing, leading to the call for specific safety standards. This is a challenging endeavour, however, because the user must usually be placed in the robot's workspace and the residents must frequently interact with the robot. Although specific safety standards for mowing robots do not yet exist, there are several mowing device standards and well-established principles of risk analysis and safety design that can and should be applied. This paper presents an overview of safety constraints for mowing robots, starting with a discussion of high-level system safety requirements, followed by methods for risk assessment (or hazard analysis) and a presentation of STAMP (Systems-Theoretic Accident Modelling and Processes) as a safety strategy.