ISO 10218 Robot Safety Standards Undergo Major 2025 Revision

The 2025 revision of ISO 10218 represents one of the most substantial updates to international robot safety standards in years, with Part 2 expanding to approximately three times its previous length and introducing significant changes across multiple technical areas.

The updates affect manufacturers, system integrators, and end users working with industrial robot arms. In the United States, ANSI/A3 R15.06-2025 now incorporates the revised ISO 10218 Parts 1 and 2, according to details shared during an A3 webinar on robot safety standards.

Why it matters

Robot safety standards directly influence how companies design, integrate, and operate robotic systems. As robotics technology advances and collaborative applications become more common, standards must evolve to address new risks and capabilities. Organizations that stay current with these voluntary consensus standards can better align with accepted industry practices and reduce liability exposure.

New robot classification system introduced

The revised Part 1 introduces a classification framework for industrial robots based on total mass per manipulator, maximum force, and maximum speed. Class 1 robots exhibit lower force and speed characteristics, while Class 2 encompasses the majority of industrial robots and carries additional requirements.

Maren Roush, A3 manager of standards development, outlined the changes during the webinar. New or updated sections address risk assessment for contacts between moving parts and operators, cybersecurity, local and remote control, single-point-of-control considerations, normal stops, safety-function performance requirements, and safety-function information.

Application-level safety assessment required

A critical distinction emphasized in the standards update is that safety evaluation must extend beyond the robot arm itself. An industrial robot consists of the arm and controller, but a complete robot system includes the end effector, and the full application encompasses the workpiece and ancillary equipment.

Part 1 of the standards addresses the machinery, while Part 2 covers robot applications and cells. System integrators bear particular responsibility for evaluating the entire application during design, as each component can affect overall safety.

Risk assessment remains central to this process. The standards require assessment when a robot system is integrated into a specific application, and the webinar recommended that integrators work with cross-functional teams including the customer or user. Risk assessment operates iteratively with risk reduction measures to bring risks to tolerable levels.

Collaborative applications get detailed coverage

While traditional robot safety relied heavily on physical separation through perimeter fencing and light curtains, the updated standards provide expanded guidance on collaborative applications where people and robots share workspace.

Safety approaches for collaborative applications can include hand-guided control, speed and separation monitoring, and power and force limiting. However, these approaches do not eliminate the need for risk assessment. For power-and-force-limited applications, potential contact events must be identified during risk assessment, and risk reduction must keep those contacts below applicable threshold values.

For U.S. stakeholders, the R15.06 series also includes Part 3, which addresses user requirements such as interactions with integrators, management of change, training, and risk-assessment considerations.

These details were first reported by the Association for Advancing Automation (A3) during its 2026 Robot Safety Standards Update webinar. A3's International Robot Safety Conference takes place November 3-5, 2026, in Detroit, covering the ANSI/A3 R15.06-2025 and ISO 10218 updates along with risk assessment, collaborative and mobile robots, and emerging robotic systems.