A beginner’s guide to safe human-robot collaboration - The Robot Report

The article "A beginner’s guide to safe human-robot collaboration" from The Robot Report emphasizes the critical role of robot safety standards in enabling peaceful and effective coexistence between humans and robots in various environments such as factories, warehouses, hospitals, and homes. These standards, developed over decades by global experts, provide structured guidelines for robot design, integration, operation, and maintenance to minimize risks of collisions and injuries. They specify safety measures including safe distances, speed limits, emergency stops, and risk assessments, creating predictable environments that foster trust in human-robot interactions. The global landscape of robot safety standards is complex, involving multiple standards bodies like ISO, Robotic Industries Association (A3), and European Standards (EN), with additional organizations in countries such as Japan, China, and India. Standards often have different names and enforcement practices depending on the region—for example, ISO 10218 is implemented under different codes in Europe, Japan, and the U.S., with varying degrees of mandatory compliance. Although achieving