ISO 10218-1 specifies requirements for the inherently safe design, risk reduction measures and information for use of robots for an industrial environment. It addresses the robot as an incomplete machine. ISO 10218-1 does not apply to underwater, law enforcement, military (defence), airborne and space robots, including outer space uses. It also does not apply to medical robots, healthcare robots, prosthetics and other aids for the physically impaired, service robots, consumer products or lifting or transporting people.
Requirements for robot integration and robot applications are covered in ISO 10218-2:2025. Additional hazards can be created by robot applications (e.g. welding, laser cutting, machining). These hazards are addressed during robot application design (ISO 10218-2:2025). It deals with significant hazards, hazardous situations or hazardous events when used as intended and under specified conditions of misuse which are reasonably foreseeable by the manufacturer.
ISO 10218-1 does not cover the hazards related to:
— severe conditions (e.g. extreme climates, freezer use, strong magnetic fields) outside of manufacturer’s specifications,
— underground use,
— use that has hygienic requirements,
— use in nuclear environments,
— use in potentially explosive environments,
— mobility when robots or manipulators are fixed to or part of driverless industrial trucks,
— mobility when robots or manipulators are fixed to or part of mobile platforms,
— use in environments with ionizing and non-ionizing radiation levels,
— hazardous ionizing and non-ionizing radiation,
— handling loads the nature of which can lead to dangerous situations (e.g. molten metals, acids/bases, radiating materials),
— handling or lifting or transporting people,
— when the public, all ages or non-working adults have access (e.g. service robots, consumer products).
ISO 10218-1 is not applicable to robots that are manufactured before the date of its publication. ISO 10218-1:2025 text has been approved in Europe as EN ISO 10218-1:2025 without any changes.
