IPAnema Safe: A Cable-Driven Parallel Robot for Safe Operation Above People

The training of ship crews for new scenarios at sea in reproducible sea conditions is weather-dependent and dangerous. The Maritime Research Institute Netherlands (MARIN) addresses this issue by offering a variety of different simulators to safely train people onshore. For scenarios involving a swinging hook or a ladder for a pilot boarding a ship in turbulent sea conditions, a safe cable-driven parallel robot, the MarinCDPR, is developed. Its safety features allow its platform to move above people during training scenarios. Therefore, in addition to standard safety features and a proper mechanical design, the safety functions—Safely Limited Position (SLP) and Safely Limited Speed (SLS)—for a cable-driven parallel robot are implemented on safety-certified hardware with Performance Level e (PLe). This work presents the design process and implementation of the MarinCDPR, focusing on its layout, winches, platform optimization and functional safety features.