Fennec Engineering has labored with shoppers together with Amazon Robotics. Supply: Fennec Engineering
Practical security is essential for robots and associated applied sciences to earn belief and adoption, and it have to be thought of as early as potential in improvement, in line with Fennec Engineering. The corporate at this time stated it has obtained unbiased certification from TÃœV Rheinland for its Superior Security Acceleration Platform, or ASAP.
The year-long Instrument 2 (T2) qualification course of demonstrated that ASAP meets the rigorous necessities of IEC 61508 and ISO 13849 for software program instruments utilized in safety-critical improvement. Steven Marks, director of product at Fennec, led the method of assessing the platform’s methodology and end-to-end traceability for each requirements.
As well as, the company codified the total course of for IEC 61508 certification to create a roadmap for its clients to make use of going ahead.
“Establishing this course of is clearly helpful for the producer, however what I discovered throughout this qualification course of was how helpful it was to the assessor,” stated Marks. “Having a cohesive, traceable security narrative makes it simpler to exhibit that security has been systematically engineered into the product. That is simply as necessary for constructing public belief as it’s for reaching certification.”
“I consider our SaaS providing because the TurboTax of security — it’s the primary device of its sort,” he advised The Robotic Report. “We’ve constructed proprietary take a look at cells exhibiting how security is a aggressive benefit as a substitute of a block to innovation.”
A take a look at cell for safety-critical improvement. Supply: Fennec Engineering
Practical security requires tradition in addition to instruments
“It’s a matter of tradition versus instruments,” stated Justin Croyle, chief product officer at Fennec. “You must construct in performant security programs from the start. As a substitute of pondering of purposeful design — ‘What are the actions I would like the system to do?’ — we have to change the tradition to deal with features and hazards.”
“Bodily guarding of equipment advanced into E-stop, after which from the Eighties, it turned extra advanced with silicon,” he famous. “With software program, robotics, and AI, we now have much more advanced programs. We wish to see a change from security as a rudimentary system bolted on to a management that may unlock efficiency.”
“For instance, there was a cell robotic program that I obtained employed into, and it was constructing code for actuation,” recalled Croyle. “The workforce didn’t have a coding commonplace and relied on static evaluation. It needed to do an enormous rewrite and rent dozens of engineers. They thought they’d a fault-tolerant structure, nevertheless it turned out they didn’t. As a substitute of being run as soon as each eight hours, the diagnostics needed to run inside 100 milliseconds. How are you going to try this with out overwhelming your compute? That was an ‘aha’ second for me.”
Ready so as to add security options may result in over-engineered or under-engineered merchandise, the place costly sensors can’t deal with environmental interference or the form of a robotic, he added.
“In an more and more AI-enabled world, purposeful security calls for full traceability: each requirement linked to a take a look at case, each failure mode accounted for,” stated Fennec Engineering. “Managing this traceability manually, model by model, is the place tasks break down.”
Submit your session concept for the 2026 RoboBusinessFennec automates engineering traceability with ASAP
Based in 2021, Fennec Engineering builds security infrastructure for autonomous programs, robotics, and AI. The corporate claimed that its platform helps security from idea via certification.
ASAP is designed to automate traceability throughout the “V-model” lifecycle, changing error-prone, spreadsheet-based processes with a single, auditable surroundings, Fennec asserted. The corporate stated it unifies security throughout the availability chain; eliminates regulatory guesswork; and helps electrical, mechanical, and software program groups collaborate to carry improvements to market quicker.
“When you’re not simply bolting programs collectively for a palletizing robotic or a cell manipulator, you’ll be able to deal with complexities in movement management programs, like translational movement, velocity, momentum, and shifting facilities of gravity,” added Croyle. “The one method to outline secondary hazards like knocking over shelving or harmful workpieces is with a transparent threat evaluation.”
“We’re additionally taking a look at IEC 22440 to information improvement of security programs and digital twins that use AI themselves,” he advised The Robotic Report. Fennec has additionally engaged with humanoid robotic builders.
TÃœV Rheinland has licensed ASAP for compliance with security requirements. Supply: Fennec Engineering
T2 qualification supplies confidence
TÃœV Rheinland has validated that ASAP can assist stringent necessities for safety-critical engineering of autonomous programs and bodily AI, stated Fennec Engineering.
“T2 qualification means our clients can construct that case on ASAP with confidence that the platform itself has been held to the identical commonplace,” stated Yurkovich.
“Autonomous programs don’t earn belief via advertising and marketing; they earn it via proof,” acknowledged BJ Yurkovich, founder and chairman of Fennec. “Each security requirement, hazard evaluation, and verification report is a part of that case.”
Fennec has deployed ASAP at Amazon Robotics since 2021 and is launching the product for the broader market. The T2-qualified model of ASAP is now accessible.
Fennec to exhibit at Automate 2026
Fennec Engineering plans to exhibiting at Sales space 4454 at Automate subsequent week in Chicago. Attendees can see ASAP in motion, talk about their purposeful security wants with the Fennec workforce, and learn the way T2 qualification modifications what’s potential for his or her certification processes.
The publish Fennec Engineering earns T2 qualification for Superior Security Acceleration Platform appeared first on The Robotic Report.
