ERGONOMICS AND USABILITY OF PENDANT TERMINALS

FOR IMPROVED SAFETY

Atsushi Matsumoto, Masaki Nobuhiro, Takao Fukui, and Toshihiro Fujita

IDEC IZUMI Corporation, 1-7-31, Nishimiyahara, Yodogawa-Ku, Osaka 532-8550, Japan

Abstract
Highly advanced, automated production systems have recently been developed, however, humans still
operate machines directly in many environments, especially in teaching operations where operators
program robots using pendant terminals. Teaching operations are in most cases performed in
hazardous areas, thus ensuring operator’s safety is of primary importance. Various standards such as
ANSI/RIA R15.06, IEC60204-1, ANSI B11.19, and ISO10218 (Manipulating industrial robots – Safety)
which is currently being revised, describe the requirement of pendant terminals with 3-position enabling
switches [1-4]. Accordingly, the usage of such devices has dramatically increased in the last few years.
This paper reports the evolutionary improvement in pendant terminals, safety components for installing
on the pendant terminals, both of which have been developed from the viewpoints of ergonomics and
usability, based on thorough analysis of human behaviors on the operation of machinery.

Introduction
Highly automated production systems as shown in figure 1 still involve many situations where humans
directly operate machineries, such as setting, teaching, process changeover, trouble-shooting,
repairing, cleaning and maintenance. These human-attended operations are performed in extremely
hazardous areas, thus operators must be provided with reliable safety measures, for instance carrying
a mobile pendant terminal as an enabling device, to protect themselves from possible accidents [5-9].
After presenting the safety of ergonomically-designed pendant terminals at the 2nd SIAS conference in
2001, we have further pursued enhancement in ergonomic and usability aspects, and conducted
researches on operator’s usability of pendant terminals in actual working environments. Concurrently,
the requirement of pendant terminals that ensure operator’s safety has greatly increased, and the
urgent development of such devices is highly expected.

Requirement of Ergonomic Usability on Pendant Operation

ANSI/RIA R15.06 stipulates that a teaching operator must hold a pendant, which can be controlled only
by the operator, and the pendant must have an enabling device using an “OFF-ON-OFF” 3-position
enabling switch [1]. The usability of a 3-position enabling switch depends on how the switch is installed
in the mobile pendant. The designer has to take into consideration the operational characteristics of a
3-position enabling switch on a pendant, such as the load on the pressing finger. Various
ergonomically- designed teaching pendants have been developed for various applications [5-9].

Operator
Operator

Operator

Figure 1. Production System Examples

 (a) Pendant terminal held (b) Pendant terminal held (c) Grip Switch held with
with one-hand with two-hands one-hand
Appearance

E-stop
Switch 3-position
Switch
In Left Hand

E-stop
Switch

3-position
Switch 3-position Switch

E-stop
Switch 3-position
In Right hand

Switch
E-stop
Switch
3-position
Switch
3-position Switch

Figure 2. Holding Status of Ergonomically-designed Pendant Terminals and Grip Switch

Figure 2 shows the examples mobile pendants and grip switch held in right and left hands. Small-sized
robots, such as desktop type, are generally programmed using a one-handed pendant as shown in
figures 2 (a). A one-handed pendant must be designed for easy operation for both right and left hands,
so that the operator can change the operating hand when feeling tired on one hand. This ergonomic
design is extremely important to achieve high-level usability for the operator. Figures 2 (c) shows the
examples of grip switch. Because grip switches are generally used in one hand, the grip switch is also
ergonomically designed to allow the operator to operate in either hand.

Middle- and large-sized robots, such as welding and painting machines, need a number of teaching
programs and therefore require middle or large, information-terminal type pendants equipped with a
Graphical User Interface (GUI) shown in figures 2 (b). Machine users with progressive foresight place a
great importance on the inherent safety design of machines, and require the pendants equipped with
two enabling switches, both on the right and left. Two enabling switches are necessary because the
operator needs to change the operating hand during teaching operation, and either right-handed or
left-handed operators must be able to use the pendant.

An important mechanism of the pendants equipped with two enabling switches is that while one
enabling switch is held depressed in position 3 “OFF”, the other switch must not enable the robot
motion. Enabling of robot motion must resume only after both enabling switches have been released
and safety has been confirmed. For this purpose, a measure must be provided to detect whether the
two enabling devices are “OFF” at position 1 or position 3.
 Danger!

E-stop Switch Recognize the Locate Press

Danger need to use
emergency stop emergency stop
Stopped Moving emergency stop switch switch Stopped
Machine
Movement

Intention to operate machine

ON
X1
OFF

Intention to stop machine

ON
X2 OFF
E-Stop Switch
Delay before pressing the switch: OFF (open)
ON Distance to the switch x speed
(close)
X3 E-Stop
Sw itch OFF
(open)
T0 T1 T2 T3 T4 T5
Time
(a) Emergency Stop Switch

Danger!

3-position Enabling Switch Release or grasp

tightly the enabling
Stopped Moving switch in panic Stopped
Machine
Movement

Intention to operate machine

ON
Y1
OFF

Intention to stop machine

ON
Y2 OFF

Enabling switch
ON
Enabling (closed)
turns off (open)
Y3 Sw itch OFF
Status (open)
Time
T0 T1 T2 T6 T7

(b) 3-position Enabling Switch

Figure 3. Operations of Emergency Stop Switch and 3-position Enabling Switch

installed on Pendants, from the Viewpoint of Operator’s Reaction to
Dangerous Situation
Operator’s Reaction to Dangerous Situations
In order to ensure safety and usability for the operator, emergency stop switches must be installed on
mobile pendants together with 3-position enabling switches, as required by various international
standards[1-4]. The operations of emergency stop switch and 3-position enabling switch installed on
pendant terminals are described below from the viewpoint of operator’s reaction to dangerous
situations. The 3-position enabling switch enables machine operation. An enabling device is provided
with a function to disable machine operation when the panicked operator either releases or grasps
tightly the enabling device. The emergency stop switch, on the other hand, is used for the sole purpose
of stopping machine operation in emergency.

While the panicked operator is expected to disable machine operation in danger using the enabling
device, emergency stop switches can provide additional protection to the operator, ensuring complete
disabling of the machine operation. The use of emergency stop is required as a complementary
protective measure in ISO12100 (5.4.2), and ANSI/RIA R15.06 states more specifically the requirement
of emergency stop on mobile pendants (4.7.4). Installing both 3-position enabling switch and
emergency stop switch on a mobile pendant provides increased safety to the operator.

Emergency Stop Switch Operating Status

Figure 3 (a) shows the operating status of an emergency stop switch. As the chart X1 shows, machine
operation starts when the operator intends to operate the machine at T1. When the operator
encounters a dangerous situation at T2, X1 turns off. The intention to stop machine X2 turns on at T3
after X1 has turned off. At T3, the operator recognizes the need to stop machine operation by using the
emergency stop X3. Because the operator has only recognized the need to stop operation, X3 remains
on (closed). The machine remains in operation and the operator is still in dangerous situation. When
the emergency stop switch is pressed at T4, the switch turns off, stopping the machine operation at T5
after necessary response time of the machine. As the figure shows, the emergency stop switch is
operated only a fraction after the operator intends to stop the machine X2.
3-position Enabling Switch Operating Status
Figure 3 (b) shows the operating status of a 3-position enabling switch. As chart Y1 shows, machine
operation starts when the operator intends to operate the machine at T1, by turning on the enabling
switch Y3. When the operator encounters a dangerous situation at T2, Y1 turns off, but the panicked
operator’s intention to stop the machine operation Y2 remains off. Because the panicked operator
either releases or grasps tightly the enabling switch, Y3 turns off at T6, thus stopping the machine
operation at T7 after necessary response time of the machine. As the figure shows, a 3-position
enabling switch can disable machine operation even when the operator’s intention to stop machine
operation Y2 remains off.

Table 1: (a) Emergency Stop Switch and (b) Stop Switch

(a) Emergency-stop switch (b) Stop switch

Appearance

Ergonomics,
Usability &
Performance HA1E XA1E HA1E XA1E
Button color Red Red Gray Gray
Operating force Approx. 6N Approx. 10N Approx. 6N Approx. 10N
Pushlock Pull or Pushlock Pull or
Operation method Pushlock Turn Reset Pushlock Turn Reset
Turn Reset Turn Reset
Safety Lock
Yes Yes Yes Yes
Mechanism
Safe Break Action No Yes No Yes
Direct Opening Action Yes Yes Yes Yes
Contact Configuration 2NC 4NC 2NC 4NC
Double Circuit Yes Yes Yes Yes
Double circuit and
No Yes No Yes
Monitor circuit
 Table 2: 3-position Enabling Switches
3-Position Enabling Switch

Appearance

Ergonomics, Usability &

Performance HE1B HE2B HE3B HE5B
Operation Thumb type Yes No Yes Yes
Style Hand-held type No Yes (four fingers) Yes (three fingers) No
To maintain in position 2 Approx. 3N Approx. 4N Approx. 4N Approx. 3N
Operating
Force To shift from position 2
Approx. 15N Approx. 30N Approx. 20N Approx. 17N
to position 3
Position 2 can be
maintained with light Yes Yes Yes Yes
Ergonomic
pressing force
Features
Clicking tactility when
No Yes Yes Yes
pressing into position 2
3-position switch 1 contact 2 contacts 2 contacts 2 contacts

Contact 2 contacts
Button-returned monitor No No No
Configuration maximum
2 contacts
Button-returned monitor No No No
maximum
Excellent Excellent
Installation Convenience on Pendants Good Good
(mounting hole ø16) (mounting hole ø16)

Requirements for safety components on pendant terminals

As explained above, many factors must be considered in order to ensure safety operation of pendant
terminals. Accordingly, many factors such as ergonomic feature, usability, and safety must be achieved
on safety components. Table 1 shows (a) emergency stop switches, (b) stop switches, and table 2
shows 3-position enabling switches as the examples of safety components, which have been
developed with the latest ergonomic research to provide the advanced safety features.

Emergency stop switch is used with the operator’s intention to stop machine operation, to provide the
final stop means to the operator. Emergency stop switch needs to meet many strict structural
requirements, and those for installing on pendant terminals, in particular, must be highly shock resistant,
because pendant terminals are subjected to the possibility of inadvertent drops by operators. Table 1
(a) shows the features of small sized emergency stop switch, all of which are highly shock resistant to
possible drops, when installed on pendant terminals. The Safe Break Action structure, which maintains
the open status of contacts when the contact block is removed, is an extremely effective safety
structure for emergency stop switches. The emergency stop switches are installed with four NC
contacts which provide safety and convenience to the operators. When using the emergency stop
switch to stop robot operation, four NC contacts can be configured into double circuits, increasing the
safety level. When using the emergency stop switch to stop the robot operation and also the related
system connected to the robot, each set of two NC contacts can be connected to the robot and the
related system.

Table 1 (b) shows the examples of stop switches. The usage of wireless communication is expected to
increase with battery-powered pendant terminals, and the usage of pendant terminals as detachable
mobile device is also expected to increase to allow connection to many different equipment.
Accordingly, the stop switches on such pendant terminals must be colored differently from red-colored
emergency stop switches, which are installed on the pendant terminals that are constantly connected
to the system. The requirement for gray-colored stop switch, for instance, is expected to be an
important factor in the future pendant applications [2-4].

Table 2 shows the examples of 3-position enabling switches [9-12]. Achieving the high level of usability
to suit each application of pendant terminals is extremely important, and many different types of
3-position enabling switches have been developed to suit actual applications. The required usability
includes several factors such as the ease of holding and pressing the switch, ease of maintaining the
switch in position 2, suitable design for operating fingers, and required operation load. Since many
types of pendant terminals have been developed, special attention must be paid to the achievement of
excellent ergonomic design of 3-position enabling switches [9-12].

The above components and pendant terminals have widely been utilized in universal industrial
applications. The combination of safety components, which have been developed reflecting the
intensive ergonomic research, provides pendant terminals that achieve the inherent safety of
machinery.

Conclusion
This paper reported the evolutional improvement in pendant terminals and the necessity of the
next-generation pendant terminals from the viewpoints of safety, ergonomics, and usability. Even in
highly advanced and automated production systems, humans still operate machines directly in many
environments, thus the usage of such devices has dramatically increased in recent years. The features
and functions of safety components on the pendant terminals have also progressed, in the reflection of
advancing standards and the demands from the industry to achieve high level of safety. To achieve the
inherent safety of machinery, we will further commit ourselves to the research and development on the
ergonomics and usability of pendant terminals.

References
[1] ANSI/RIA R15.06: 1999, American National Standard for Industrial Robots and Robot
System-Safety Requirements
[2] IEC 60204-1:1997, Safety of machinery- Electrical equipment of machines - Part 1: General
requirements (Equivalent or identical clause is found in NFPA79 and JIS B9960-1)
[3] ANSI B11.19: 2003, Performance Criteria for Safeguarding, American National Standard for
Machine Tools
[4] ISO 10218-1, Robots for Industrial Environment-Safety Part 1- Design, Construction and
Installation (under revision process)
[5] Shigeto Ogino, Shinichi Ishino, Koichi Nakajima, Toshiharu Matsumoto, Hiroshi Yonezawa,
Yoshitaka Tsuji, Toshihiro Fujita (1998) “Optimization of HMI environment with mobile operational
terminal” Proceedings of the Fourteenth Symposium on Human Interface, Japan, 295-300.
[6] Koichi Nakajima, Takayoshi Shimizu, Toshiharu Matsumoto, Shigeto Ogino, Hiroshi Yonezawa,
Tooru Hirano, Toshihiro Fujita (1999) “Optimization of safety in FA environment by mobile
operational terminal” Proceedings of the Human Interface Symposium ‘99, Japan, 505-510.
[7] Kazuaki Ono, Takayuki Miyamoto, Takayoshi Shimizu, Tomonori Nishiki, Toshihiro Fujita (2000)
“Applications of mobile pendant for control systems pursuing improvement of safety” Proceedings
of the Human Interface Symposium 2000, Japan, 29-32.
[8] Masaru Mamiya, Tomonori Nishiki, Noboru Sugimoto Toshihiro Fujita (2001) “Development and
application of pendant terminals for improved safety” Technical papers 2nd International
Conference Safety of Industrial Automated Systems, Bonn, Germany, 403-404.
[9] Toshihiro Fujita (2002) “Importance of Ergonomically designed 3-position Enabling Devices for
Operational Safety of Machinery”, Proceedings of 14th National Robot safety Conference, Ypsilanti,
Michigan, Robotic Industries Association
[10] Takao Fukui, Yasushi Kamino, Yoshihiro Matsumoto, Toshihiro Fujita (1998) “Development of
three-position enabling switch pursuing safety operation” Proceedings of the Fourteenth
Symposium on Human Interface, Japan, 659-664.
[11] Kenji Miyauchi, Takao Fukui, Yoshio Sekino, Toshihiro Fujita (2000) “Development and its
application of Three-Position Enabling Switch considering safety in ergonomics” Proceedings of
the Human Interface Symposium 2000, Japan, 383-386.
[12] Yoshio Sekino, Takao Fukui, Noboru Sugimoto, Toshihiro Fujita (2001) “Development and
application of 3-position enabling switches embodying operational safety based on ergonomics”
Technical papers 2nd International Conference Safety of Industrial Automated Systems, Bonn,
Germany, 407-408.