Industrial Robot Arms in Scenic Areas Pose Safety Risks

Key points

• Some scenic areas have introduced industrial robot arms for passenger rides, performances and photo shoots, offering thrills but raising safety questions.
• Qi Lizhe, a researcher at Fudan University, said these are traditional industrial robot arms designed for industrial work, where rules require isolation guards and prohibit unprotected direct contact with people.
• Passenger rides risk hardware failure and excessive motion; performances risk program timing errors and trajectory deviation; photo-shoot arms without dynamic obstacle sensing may strike visitors entering the workspace.
• Luo Jingfeng, associate professor at Huaqiao University, said large amusement rides are defined by commercial purpose, carrying people, and speed of at least 2 m/s or height of at least 2 m, but the Special Equipment Catalogue has no separate robot-arm category.
• Luo said robot arms in scenic areas require coordinated oversight by market regulation, culture and tourism, and emergency management authorities; Qi recommended banning direct conversion of industrial arms without passenger-specific verification for carrying people.