Safety systems and methods employed in robot operations

A method of operation in a motion planning system to generate motion plans that are safety system aware, the motion plans executable to control one or more robots, the method comprising:

• performing collision assessment by a processor-based motion planner for each edge of a first motion planning graph, the first motion planning graph comprising a plurality of nodes and a plurality of edges, each of the nodes representing a respective configuration of a first robot and each of the edges representing a respective transition between a respective pair of the configurations of the first robot that are represented by a respective pair of the nodes that are connected by the respective edge;
• for two or more of the edges of the first motion planning graph, determining whether a respective transition represented by the respective edge in the first motion planning graph will violate one or more safety rules of a set of safety monitoring rules of a processor-based workcell safety system that monitors an environment in which at least the first robot will operate;
• for each of the two or more edges of the first motion planning graph, setting a cost for the respective edge in the first motion planning graph based at least in part on both:
• i) the collision assessment and ii) the determination of whether a respective transition represented by the respective edge in the motion plan graph will violate one or more safety rules of the set of safety monitoring rules of the processor-based workcell safety system;
• and
• generating a first executable motion plan based at least in part on the first motion planning graph with the cost set for each of the two or more edges, the first executable motion plan executable by a robot control system to control operation of the first robot.

A motion planning system that generates motion plans that are safety system aware, the motion plans executable to control one or more robots, the motion planning system comprising:

• at least one processor-based motion planner that:
• performs collision assessment for each edge of a first motion planning graph, the first motion planning graph comprising a plurality of nodes and a plurality of edges, each of the nodes representing a respective configuration of a first robot and each of the edges representing a respective transition between a respective pair of the configurations of the first robot that are represented by a respective pair of the nodes that are connected by the respective edge;
• for two or more of the edges of the first motion planning graph, determines whether a respective transition represented by the respective edge in the first motion planning graph will violate one or more safety rules of a set of safety monitoring rules of a processor-based workcell safety system that monitors an environment in which at least the first robot will operate;
• for each of the two or more edges of the first motion planning graph, sets a cost for the respective edge in the first motion planning graph based at least in part on both:
• i) the collision assessment and ii) the determination of whether a respective transition represented by the respective edge in the motion plan graph will violate one or more safety rules of the set of safety monitoring rules of the processor-based workcell safety system;
• and
• generates a first executable motion plan based at least in part on the first motion planning graph with the cost set for each of the two or more edges, the first executable motion plan executable by a robot control system to control operation of at least the first robot.