New Standards for Industrial Robots

The new standards ISO 10218-1 Robotics - Safety requirements - Part 1: Industrial and robots, and ISO 10218- 2 Robotics - Safety requirements - Part 2: Industrial robot applications and robot cells, have just been updated in February 2025. Main changes aim to give measures useful for the risk assessment developed by manufacturers and integrators. This activity results particularly heavy and it can be developed with safety functions embedded in the robot or adding external devices, integrating them into the safety control system.
Among the changes made, the standard ISO 10218-1 classifies robots in two classes named Class I or Class II. Classification as a Class I robot shall be determined by the maximum capability of the manipulator without being limited by robot or safety functions, but merely based on the following values: mass per manipulator (M) is 10 kg or less; maximum achievable speed of the tool center point is 250 mm/s or less; maximum achievable force per manipulator (FMPM) is 50 N or less. The latter must be verified in accordance with the test methodology proposed by the standard.
In this paper we analyse this change, focusing on the possible impact on the risk assessment of the manufacturers or system integrator as well as on any other activity of stakeholders of the machines safety. We highlight the consequences on safety measures referring to the current standards and new ones.

Keywords: Industrial robot, Safety, Standardization.