Denmark – Replacing Lasse Kieffer, Roberta Shea will step into the role of global technical compliance officer on September 19. She will be based at the company headquarters in Odense.
“My overall mission is to demystify robots and make sure that the deployment barriers are broken down. I am an advocate of global harmonisation of safety requirements to reduce costs of designs, manufacturing and compliance.”
Mogens Saigal, the company’s R&D director, explained that specifications released by the ISO Committee this year are “an important first step in providing guidelines on cobot [collaborative robot] safety and risk assessments – a topic that Universal Robots will continue to pioneer and drive – now working in tandem with Roberta Nelson Shea”.
He added: “She will also teach and advise our staff and distributors on robot safety and risk assessment in general.”
Shea has more than three decades of experience in robotics, previously working for Rockwell Automation, Symbotic, Applied Manufacturing Technologies, Pilz Automation Safety, Honeywell and Proctor & Gamble Manufacturing Company. She has also spent the past 23 years as chair (now chair emeritus) of the ANSI/RIA R16.06 Robot Safety Committee, which develops and defines technical standards for industrial robots.
Kieffer was recruited by the founders of Universal Robots as its first full-time employee, in 2007. He will now develop ideas for new ventures.
