Updating the Industrial Robot Safety Standard

Significant changes in technology and safety thinking have taken place since the publication of the original 1992 edition of ISO 10218, the industrial robot safety standard. That single document provided guidance mostly for the robot manufacturer, and failed to provide any significant guidance to the integrators or other entities in the industrial robot supply chain. The 2006 edition of the part one document for the manufacturer of industrial robots introduced significant technology advances in the robot design and control. Centred on the "safety-rating" of selected control features; these changes become the enabling technology for new operational features of "collaborative operation" as described in the two volume edition of 2011. Explored here are the history, important feature highlights, and the new technology directions allowed by this latest edition of the International Standard.