Canadian Standards Association and Robotic Industries Association to Sponsor 2008 North American Robot Safety Conference in Canada

Conference to Highlight Latest Safety and Construction Standards for Industrial Robots

Thursday, February 14, 2008 (Robotics Online)  – Canadian Standards Association (CSA), a leading developer of standards and codes, and the Robotic Industries Association (RIA) will co-sponsor the North American Robot Safety Conference in Waterloo, Ontario from March 25-28, 2008 at the Waterloo Inn & Conference Centre.

Approximately 150 participants will attend the sixth annual spring safety conference that is designed to assist managers, technicians, engineers and other personnel meet their industrial robot safety needs. The four days of training are comprised of workshops, conference sessions, and a tabletop exhibit trade fair. The program will aid attendees in learning how to improve efficiency while maintaining a safe environment and discovering the value safety standards provide a company. Participants will also gain an in-depth understanding of the various safety standards through detailed workshops and conference presentations.

This year’s conference will take a comprehensive look at the CSA Z434 Industrial Robots and Robot Systems standard, focusing on user safety, and the ANSI/RIA/ISO 10218-1-2007 Robots for Industrial Environment - Safety Requirements Part 1 standard covering new robots. In addition, there are pre-conference workshops scheduled beginning on March 25 and continuing through to end of day on March 26. The main conference begins on Thursday, March 27 with one-and-a-half-days of sessions and a tabletop trade fair showcasing a variety of robot and safety-related products and vendors.

Early bird conference and workshop registration pricing is available through February 25. RIA and CSA members are entitled to a ten per cent savings on conference and workshop registration. Main-conference attendees will be able to participate in Thursday’s tabletop exhibit trade fair and luncheon at no additional charge. Each full-conference registrant receives a complementary copy of the CSA Z434 standard. The pre-conference workshops are available as separate registrations or as options with the four-day pass to the entire conference.

Also supporting the event are corporate sponsors and RIA member companies ATS Automation Tooling Systems Inc., Cambridge, ON; Kawasaki Robotics (USA), Inc., Wixom, MI; and Pilz Automation Safety L.P., Canton, MI.

For the latest conference information, or to become an exhibitor, visit RIA’s online Events Calendar at www.roboticsonline.com/public/calendar/. To register for the event, visit the “Conferences” section of the CSA Learning Centre website at https://learningcentre.csa.ca  

About CSA
Canadian Standards Association (CSA) is a membership association serving industry, government, consumers and other interested parties in Canada and the global marketplace. A leading developer of standards and codes, CSA aims to enhance public safety, improve quality of life, preserve the environment and facilitate trade. To help people understand and apply standards, CSA offers information products and training. The Canadian Standards Association is a division of CSA Group, which also consists of CSA International for product testing and certification, OnSpeX for consumer product evaluation services, and QMI for management systems registration. For more information visit www.csa.ca

About Robotic Industries Association
Founded in 1974, RIA is North America's leading robotics trade group, representing robotics manufacturers, component suppliers, system integrators, end users, research groups, and consulting firms. The Association is known for exclusive industry statistics, the sponsor of the Joseph F. Engelberger Robotics Awards, the biennial International Robots & Vision Show (Chicago) plus many regional events, is the secretariat of the ANSI/RIA R15.06-1999 Robot Safety Standard and has the world's leading online resource dedicated to robotics, Robotics Online. For more information on RIA, visit www.roboticsonline.com or contact RIA Headquarters at 734/994-6088.