SICK

What it does

SICK makes industrial sensors, and a large part of its range is safety equipment: devices that detect a person in a hazardous zone and send a stop or slow signal to a machine. Unlike AI video analytics, which raise alerts, these are protective devices designed and certified to machine safety standards, so they can form part of a safety function.

The company's safety laser scanners are a common way to protect automated guided vehicles (AGVs), autonomous mobile robots and machine areas. SICK's nanoScan3 product information lists Type 3 under IEC 61496, SIL 2 under IEC 61508, Category 3 and PL d under EN ISO 13849, a 3 m protective field range and a 275 degree scanning angle, with outputs via I/O, EtherNet/IP CIP Safety or EFI-pro ^[3]. The scanner also outputs measurement data that vehicles can use for navigation ^[3].

SICK also sells 3D sensors. The safeVisionary2, launched in 2022, is a time-of-flight camera certified to PL c with a 2 m safety range, aimed at mobile robots and cobots, for detecting obstacles above a scanner's scan plane ^[4]. PL c is lower than many machine guarding risk assessments require, so it suits some applications and not others. For outdoor sites, SICK says its multiScan100-S lidar meets ISO 13849 PL b and IEC TS 62998 performance class C, and uses multiple echoes per pulse to tell rain, fog and dust apart from real objects, reducing unnecessary stops in container handling ^[5].

Who it is for

The buyers are machine builders, robot and AGV makers, integrators and plant engineering teams. SICK's recent examples cover steel coil handling ^[6] and port container handling ^[5]. Safety managers will usually meet SICK products inside a machine or vehicle rather than buy them directly.

How it is deployed

Sensors are mounted on the machine or vehicle, or around a hazard zone, and connected to a safety controller or the machine's safety PLC ^[3]. Configuration is done in SICK's Safety Designer software ^[3]. SICK says detection performance of the multiScan100-S under defined weather conditions is part of its certification, which reduces the validation an integrator must do, provided the certified conditions are met ^[5].

A published SICK project shows a full system. At thyssenkrupp Steel in Duisburg, SICK's Safe Portal uses vertically mounted microScan3 scanners to tell people apart from AGVs, transport tables and steel coils of up to 30 tons, so an automated crane can work in an open transfer area without fences or muting sensors; SICK says the system meets PL d and is TÜV-certified ^[6]. The site also uses SICK's EventCam, which records image or video sequences only when a safety event occurs; thyssenkrupp agreed its use with the works council, and the data is password-protected and not permanently recorded ^[6].

Notable public customers and coverage

SICK AG is registered in Freiburg and lists Dr. Mats Gökstorp as chairman of the executive board ^[1]. Founded by Erwin Sick in 1946, the company reported sales of €2.1 billion in 2024 and about 11,800 employees, according to Wikipedia ^[2]. The thyssenkrupp project is published by SICK and gives no measured before and after figures ^[6]. We did not find an independent test of SICK safety devices in our review; certifications are vendor-stated.

Things to ask in an evaluation

• Which PL or SIL does your risk assessment require, and does the chosen sensor (for example PL c versus PL d) meet it?
• What are the response time and minimum safety distance for your machine speed?
• How will protective field changes be controlled and documented after commissioning?
• For outdoor use, what certified environmental conditions apply, and what happens outside them?
• If EventCam or similar recording is used, what is the retention period and who can view images?

Our take

Strengths

• Products certified to machine safety standards (IEC 61496, IEC 61508, ISO 13849), which camera analytics alerts are not (vendor-stated certifications) ^{[3] [4]}.
• Public PSIRT with coordinated disclosure, security advisories and a CSAF feed ^[7].
• Documented outdoor detection performance as part of certification for the multiScan100-S ^[5].

Watch-outs

• These are components; safety depends on correct integration, safety distances and validation by the machine builder ^[3].
• The safeVisionary2 is PL c, which is not enough for many hazards ^[4].
• No public pricing in the pages we checked, and case studies give no measured outcomes ^[6].

Best fit: Machine builders, AGV and robot makers, and plant engineering teams that need certified presence detection as part of a safety function, especially where fixed guarding gets in the way of material flow.