Volume of influence
Health and safety problems in the frame of the factory of the future paradigm

The aim is to enrich the previous functional-structural approach with a systematic and structured spatio-temporal analysis of the production system, through the energy flows that may exist between components and operators in a given space at a given time, and associated with a potential accident risk. The volume of influence (VI or volume of action or danger zone) is the workspace bounded by physical or immaterial barriers (chosen during the design process) or the robot program, within which an operator and a hazardous entity are simultaneously present, and therefore liable to lead to an accident (figure