Industrial Robot Safety Standardization

Safety standardization for machinery focuses on the definition of recommendations to assure that no human is harmed at any time during a machine's life cycle. When it comes to human-robot-cooperation, standardization bodies face the need for recommendations, at a time where the technology is just on its way to emerge to applications. Until now robot standards only dealt with recommendations on the safeguarding of the robot's workspace, separating humans from the machinery, whenever parts of the robot system were in motion. New paradigms in robotics, fostered by new technological achievements in the area of robot control, are to be answered by new robot safety standards. Joint international activities are ongoing to come up with adequate safety standards, answering the need for comprehensive and safe, but still applicable recommendations.