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ROBOTICS · STANDARDS

What Are the Cobot Safety Standards?

The main safety standards for collaborative robots are ISO 10218, which covers industrial robots in two parts (the robot itself, and its integration into a system), and ISO/TS 15066, which adds guidance specific to collaborative operation, including limits on force and pressure for contact with the human body. Every application also needs its own risk assessment.

01

The Short Answer

The standards describe four ways a robot can collaborate safely: stopping when a person enters a monitored space, being guided by hand, slowing and stopping as people get closer (speed and separation monitoring), and limiting power and force so any contact stays below safe thresholds. Vision systems increasingly support speed and separation monitoring.

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    Safety-rated monitored stop The robot stops while a person is in the shared space.
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    Hand guiding An operator moves the robot directly.
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    Speed and separation monitoring The robot slows or stops as people approach.
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    Power and force limiting Contact forces stay below set limits.
02

Why It Matters

Our cobot FAQ explains collaborative robots, and our pose estimation FAQ covers how AI tracks people for monitoring. See the human-robot collaboration case study.