A secured offline authentication approach for industrial mobile robots

Abstract

Mobile robots are used to replace conveyors in production facilities as they provide more flexibility and are easier to install or replace. These robots suffer from higher safety risks than conveyors as they move freely, necessitating extended security needs. A major point is the need for authentication to prevent unauthorized persons from manipulating a robot's software or configuration. Traditional username and password schemes are unwildy and insufficient for industrial mobile robots as administration and maintenance do not scale well. We propose the use of one-time passwords for authentication on robots based on a shared secret and a counter. The authentication mechanism is further supported by secure elements to allow secured storage of the key and secured password derivation. We also provide a threat analysis for the proposed methods.