The new standards for industrial robots: EN ISO 10218-1 and EN ISO 10218-2

With the advent of collaborative robot systems (cobots), smaller and lighter robot types generally emerged compared to the industrial robots known up to that point. This also resulted in models that, due to their design, are already very close to the so-called inherently safe design. These are robots that, based on reasonable judgement, do not pose a significant hazard.

However, according to the standards that have applied to date, it was not possible to provide simplified safety requirements for these robots. This is because the requirements were previously the same for all industrial robots, regardless of size or pay load.

The new ISO 10218-1:2025 now provides for two classes of industrial robots: Class 1 is intended for very weak robots that, based on reasonable assessment, do not pose a significant hazard. Therefore, these robots are subject to reduced control requirements, usually PL b.

Class 2 is intended for all other industrial robots and should therefore include the vast majority. These robots are subject to the usual higher requirements.
 

Integration of ISO/TS 15066

The technical specification ISO/TS 15066 has existed to cover collaborative robots (cobots). The content of this standard has now been incorporated into ISO 10218-2. The types of collaboration are:

• Hand-guided control (HGC)
• Speed and separation monitoring (SSM)
• Power and force limiting (PFL)

The practical importance of PFL collaboration type has increased significantly in recent years. Cobot systems in PFL collaboration type usually manage without traditional safety fences. This means that contact between cobot and human can occur, for example, if a person involuntarily reaches into the robot's work area. The contact situations are distinguished as follows:

• Quasi-static contact: Person or body part (e.g. hand) are clamped and cannot evade
• Transient contact: Person or body part (e.g. upper arm) are only pushed and not clamped, they can evade

To ensure that this contact does not result in injuries, ISO 10218-2:2025 contains limit values. The limit values are in turn categorised into

• Pressure limits. These are particularly important for sharp-edged contact geometries, e.g. at work piece or on robot tools.
• Force limits. These limits are usually relevant for large-area contact events, e.g. at the robot arm or on padded contact surfaces.
   

Normal Stop

The EC Machinery Directive requires not only control devices for emergency stop but also for normal stop. The new ISO 10218 series now picks up on this requirement of the Machinery Directive and calls for a safety function for normal stop. This safety function is to be used on the machine or plant, for example, for stopping at the end of a shift. This stop should be carried out safely, e.g. without unintentionally releasing the load. In addition, the ‘Normal Stop’ function is intended to reduce the misuse of the emergency stop function^[2].
 

Further changes

Furthermore, content from the technical reports ISO/TR 20218-1 and ISO/TR 20218-2 has been integrated. These deal with requirements for manual load and unload stations and gripper systems.

In addition, changes and additions were made to, among other things: mechanical strength, lifting operations, start interlock, restart interlock and reset, cybersecurity and risk assessment.

A good overview of all other changes can be found in [3] and [4].
 

Conclusion

The updated standards ISO 10218-1:2025 and ISO 10218-2:2025 reflect the dynamic development in robotics and provide an up-to-date framework for the safe implementation of industrial robots in modern production environments. However, the scope of Part 2 of ISO 10218 alone has grown to over 250 pages with the new version. This will certainly not make the work in the design offices any easier.

The future technical report ISO/TR 20218-3 is intended to provide a little help. In particular, the technical report is intended to explain the technical innovations of the standards again in a practical way. The publication of ISO/TR 20218-3 is expected at the end of 2025.

The transition periods for the new standards have currently been requested to be 24 months. However, it is not yet known whether the EU Commission will accept this transition period and thus adopt it into the EU Official Journal. This is because the listing of standards in the EU Official Journal triggers the presumption of conformity when they are applied. Further training events should therefore be used to gain the new knowledge required as quickly as possible.

Complying with EN ISO 10218-1 and EN ISO 10218-2 primarily affects manufacturers of industrial robots and cobots, as well as system integrators, machine manufacturers and importers. However, users of industrial robot systems are also unlikely to be able to avoid the new standards as part of their legal monitoring obligations.