Authors - Stefan Lippitsch, Mario Hirz Abstract - Automated conductive charging of electric vehicles using robotics can increase availability and user convenience, especially in depot and fleet applica tions. At the same time, new safety-critical situations arise from close human robot-vehicle interaction, changing environmental conditions and the coupling between charging infrastructure and electric passenger cars. This paper presents a camera-based robotic system for automated conductive charging with standard ized connectors, including the overall system architecture, perception for detect ing the charging flap and standardized charging inlet, robust pose estimation and a state-based process control. The second part introduces a framework developed to perform a hazard anal ysis and risk assessment specifically tailored to automated charging processes. The approach includes a discussion of relevant (functional) safety standards from machinery and robotics domains and their applicability to automated charging, linking functional safety with general machine and collaborative robotics safety. Additionally, an evaluation method is introduced, enabling a traceable deriva tion of safety goals for this use case. Finally, a comparison is made to the auto motive equivalent functional safety standard using performance parameters. The presented methodology supports consistent risk reasoning across disci plines and provides a practical foundation for developing scalable, compliant, and risk-optimized automated charging systems.
