Glossary · Robotics
Collision avoidance
Also known as: Obstacle avoidance
German: Kollisionsvermeidung
In robotics and motion control, collision avoidance is the set of methods that prevent a robot, vehicle or axis from hitting objects, other machines or people, by planning paths around known obstacles, monitoring zones or reacting to sensed obstacles before contact.
- Robotics
In one sentence
Collision avoidance prevents robots and axes from hitting obstacles by planning around them or reacting to sensed objects before contact.
Example
Two robots working over the same conveyor use interference zones in their controllers, so only one robot can enter the shared area at a time.
How it applies
- Engineering: Common techniques are simulated path checks in Offline programming, interference zones between robots, workspace limits, and sensor-based avoidance on mobile robots. Some controllers offer safety-rated zone monitoring; ordinary path planning is not a safety function.
- Commissioning: Zone definitions and cell models are compared with the real layout; a fixture added after simulation is a classic cause of crashes.
- Documentation: The documentation team should distinguish functions that protect the machine (avoiding crashes) from functions that protect people, and name which ones are safety-rated. Changes to zones belong under change control, see Management of change (MOC).
Collision avoidance vs. collision detection
Collision avoidance acts before contact; Collision detection recognizes a contact that has already happened and stops or retracts the robot. Applications often use both, and neither replaces the risk assessment.