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reference basic safety standards, such as IEC 61508, which defines a risk-based approach to designing and assessing safety-related systems. As part of the equation, engineers must also conduct risk assessments to identify potential hazards in AMR deployment. Factors including speed, operating environment, interaction with humans, and emergency stop mechanisms must be considered. For example, AMRs designed for warehouses with narrow aisles and high pedestrian traffic require different safety precautions than AMRs operating in controlled industrial environments. Functional safety standards also require redundant safety systems, in which multiple independent components verify the accuracy of object detection. If one sensor fails, another should still be able to prevent a hazardous situation. As an example, redundant object detection uses multiple independent methods or systems to detect the same object in a safety- critical environment. Another precaution is to use diagnostics to detect, analyze, and respond to failures before they cause unsafe conditions. These techniques can be categorized into hardware diagnostics, software diagnostics, and system-level diagnostics. To ensure that safety- critical software operates correctly, the software execution can be done in lockstep processing; two processors execute the same instructions, and results are compared. And, in today's highly digital world, safety is inseparable from security. Namely, safety mechanisms must also account for cybersecurity threats, such as unauthorized remote access or communication interference. A compromised AMR could pose a significant operational and safety risk, which is why modern AMRs include Balancing peak performance and uncompromising safety in AMRs demands a holistic design approach. Disciplined integration of robust safety protocols with high-efficiency performance is needed for the next generation of reliable, high-performing AMRs." Subhash Patel Electrical Engineer, IMA AUTOMATION C h a p t e r 3 | C o n n e c t i v i t y a n d S a f e t y 22 13 Experts Discuss Autonomous Mobile Robots