Robotics Lab and Test Space: What to Look For

A robotics company's space needs are set by its machines and by what it does with them. A software team testing a small tabletop arm can live in a modified office. A team running heavy arms, mobile robots at speed or a test track usually cannot. Our guide to office, flex, lab or industrial space helps you decide which category you are in. This one assumes you are already looking for robotics lab and test space, and asks what to look for inside that category.

Before touring, have your engineers produce a one-page specification. Landlords can respond to specific questions. They are unlikely to respond usefully to a request for something robot-friendly.

• ✓What is the heaviest machine, and what is the weight under full load or in motion?
• ✓What is its full reach and height, including anything mounted on top or lifted?
• ✓What is the largest crate that will come through the door?
• ✓How much clear floor does each test need, including the safeguarded area?
• ✓What power, compressed air, network and charging does each test cell need?
• ✓What noise, vibration, dust, fumes or electromagnetic issues will we produce, or be affected by?
• ✓Will robots ever leave the building, for example in a yard or on a test track?
• ✓How will this change as the product and team grow?

Floor capacity is usually the first thing a robotics company should check, particularly above grade. OSHA's walking-working surfaces rule states that the employer must ensure each surface can support the maximum intended load for that surface. That is a duty on your company as the employer, so do not leave the question to a listing sheet.

A static weight is only part of it. A robot that accelerates, drops a payload or runs the same path all day places a different demand on a slab than a parked machine does. A mounted arm concentrates force at its anchors, which may mean drilling into a slab or adding a base. Your structural engineer should assess this with the actual drawings, and you should find out whether anchoring is allowed by the lease.

Our guide to floor loading, freight and loading docks goes through how to get those answers and who verifies them. For most heavy robots, a ground-floor slab is often simpler, but confirm that too.

Height is easy to get wrong because the number on the listing may not be the number you can use. Lights, sprinklers, ducts and beams come down below the deck. What you want to know is the clear height at the actual test location.

• ✓What is the clear height under the lowest obstruction in the test area, not across the whole building?
• ✓Will your robot reach, or a lifted load, come near sprinkler heads, lights or ducts?
• ✓Can you add an overhead crane, gantry, or hoist, and can the structure support it?
• ✓Do column spacing and door locations allow your test paths?
• ✓Is there enough open floor for the machine's full motion, plus the guarded area around it?
• ✓Is there a separate area for people to work, away from the test cells?

Getting a machine into the building is its own constraint. Size your largest crate against every door, corridor, elevator and dock on the way in, and ask what the rules are for delivery times and rigging. The floor loading and freight guide covers these items, so we will not repeat them here. Keep in mind that the machines you plan to buy next year may be larger than today's.

Power is the other common gap. Ask your engineer or electrician to compare the equipment schedule with what is available at the suite and in the building, and to include chargers, compressors and test equipment as well as the robots themselves.

• Voltage and phase. Industrial equipment may need different service from what an office suite provides.
• Distribution. Power has to reach each test cell, ideally in a way you can rearrange as tests change.
• Battery charging. Plan where it happens, how much is stored there and what your fire safety and insurance advisors say about it.
• Heat and ventilation. Motors, chargers and welding or fabrication generate heat or fumes, which may need more than the base building system.
• Network. Wireless interference and coverage across the floor can matter more for mobile robots than the internet connection does.

OSHA says there are currently no specific OSHA standards for the robotics industry, and it points instead to related general industry standards. Those include walking-working surfaces, noise, personal protective equipment, lockout/tagout, machine guarding and electrical rules. It also lists consensus standards, including ANSI R15.06 and ISO 10218, and notes that these are not OSHA regulations. Your safety professional should tell you which of them you will follow.

The OSHA Technical Manual's chapter on industrial robots has practical points that affect real estate, even though the safety design is not a real estate decision.

• It says each robot application should have a risk assessment performed and documented before commissioning, while noting that an assessment alone does not ensure the application protects workers.
• It says workers should be safeguarded from hazards associated with the restricted space, through devices such as presence sensing and barrier guards. Those need floor area, and they can reduce the usable area of your space.
• It says that power and other hazardous energy should be controlled under the lockout/tagout standards during maintenance, so plan for how equipment can be isolated.
• It notes that installation done inadequately under applicable codes can lead to hazards, which is one more reason to bring in qualified installers from the start.

If you use lithium-ion batteries, OSHA's battery safety guidance lists limits on stored quantities, referring to NFPA 800 and NFPA 855, along with following manufacturer instructions on storage, use and charging, and having an emergency action plan. Share your plans with your fire safety advisor and insurer before signing, because those plans could change which suite will work.

A building can be physically right and still be the wrong deal if the lease stops you using it. The SBA advises confirming that a property conforms to local zoning, and notes that ordinances can restrict certain businesses. Ask the city or your attorney. Then go through the lease with your actual work in mind.

• ✓Does the use clause clearly cover robotics testing and light assembly, not just office or warehouse use?
• ✓Can we anchor to the floor, cut the slab or hang from the structure, and must we repair it at the end?
• ✓Can we run equipment after hours and on weekends, and do noise or vibration limits apply?
• ✓Who pays for electrical upgrades, and do we have to remove them?
• ✓Does our landlord or neighboring tenant have any right to object to noise or vibration?
• ✓Can we use the yard, parking lot or corridors for tests or deliveries?
• ✓Do we have the right to expand if we add test cells?

When a hardware team works with TAG, our job is to turn the engineers' specification into questions for landlords, shortlist the buildings that can answer them, and negotiate the rights above. The engineers decide what the building needs to do. We make sure the lease lets you do it.