Overview
ISO 10218-1:2011 - Robots and robotic devices - Safety requirements for industrial robots - Part 1: Robots defines requirements and guidance for the inherent safe design, protective measures and information for use of industrial robots. It identifies basic hazards associated with robots and provides requirements to eliminate or reduce related risks. The standard applies to industrial robots (including hand-guided and collaborating robots) but does not treat the robot as a complete machine, nor does it cover noise emission. Principles can be applied to non‑industrial robots, while robot system integration and installation are covered in ISO 10218-2.
Key topics and technical requirements
- Hazard identification and risk assessment: guidance to determine hazards and select appropriate protective measures.
- Design requirements and protective measures (major body of the standard): covers actuating controls, safety-related control system performance (hardware/software), robot stopping functions, speed control, operational modes, and pendant (teach) controls.
- Safety‑rated functions: definitions and requirements for functions such as safety-rated monitored speed and safety‑rated reduced speed (limit referenced in the standard as 250 mm/s or less).
- Collaborative operation: requirements for robots purposely designed to work directly with humans in defined workspaces.
- Axis and motion limiting: soft axis/space limiting, singularity protection, control of simultaneous motion, and provisions for movement without drive power or lifting operations.
- Verification, validation and information for use: methods for verifying safety requirements, required validation steps, instruction handbook content, marking and labelling.
- Annexes: informative and normative annexes include lists of significant hazards, stopping time/distance metrics, verification means, labelling and optional features.
Practical applications and who uses it
ISO 10218-1 is used to:
- Guide robot manufacturers in safe product design.
- Support system integrators and safety engineers in selecting protective measures during integration.
- Inform machine designers, plant managers, and procurement teams when specifying robotic equipment.
- Assist certification bodies and test laboratories in conformity assessment and verification of robot safety functions.
Typical use cases: product design reviews, risk assessments, development of control systems (hardware/software) with safety‑rated outputs, setup of collaborative robot workcells, and preparation of user manuals and markings.
Related standards
Relevant normative references include:
Keywords: ISO 10218-1:2011, industrial robot safety, robot safety standard, safety-rated functions, collaborative robots, risk assessment, protective measures.
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