Students starting the fall semester in the Woodworking Technology program will be greeted by an impressive new piece of equipment when they enter the woodworking lab.

Not only does the sliding table saw have state-of-the-art features to process wooden components with high-level precision, but it also comes with a hand safety assistance system, a feature powered by artificial intelligence (AI).

“The system uses something similar to a traffic light display as a visual to help students understand when their hands are in a potentially dangerous proximity to the blade,” explains Glenn Koerner, Woodworking Technology instructor. “If your hand gets too close to the blade, the system will retract the blade and shut down within milliseconds.”

But how is the system able to detect when a hand is in trouble?

Developed by Altendorf Group, a wood-processing machinery maker based in Germany, the HAND GUARD hand safety system collects more than half a million pictures and references from real hands, tattooed hands, hands with amputated fingers, hands with different pigmentation, etc. It then uses artificial intelligence to form a virtual “super hand.”  When a saw operator’s hand is captured by one of two cameras projecting down on the tabletop, the hand is matched against the AI-created “super hand” and the system reacts accordingly.

“When students begin, the overhead cameras identify the operator’s hands and the visual display on the blade guard will start with a green light,” Glenn explains. “Anytime while in operation, if a hand starts approaching dangerous proximity to the blade, the blade guard will change colors. If a hand moves rapidly toward the blade or gets too close, the display turns from orange to red and within a split second, the blade drops, and the system shuts down.”

While the safety feature is a tremendous asset in the learning lab, department chair Mark Lorge stresses students will still be taught about safety and not to rely solely on technology to tell them when they’re in trouble.

“We do enough with our instruction to make sure students know this feature might not be something they have in the workplace,” Mark says. “Students still have to learn how to operate equipment safely but when you have someone coming in with no experience, this is a great protection for them until they get that experience.”