Cobots make manual labor less tedious and more interesting – and they help manufacturers secure their future. Such robots demand more knowledge about safety from users since humans and robots collaborate closely here. A digital resource was therefore developed in the EU research project COVR, which helps companies share knowledge and validate cobot applications.

Using the findings from the COVR project, research scientists at Fraunhofer IFF worked together with international experts from September 2020 onward to develop a new standard for the testing of contact forces and pressures on cobots safeguarded by power and force limiting (in compliance with the biomechanical limits of ISO/TS 15066). They ultimately drafted the recently published standard ISO/PAS 5672:2023. This standard unifies the latest research findings and testing practice, thus simplifying cobot testing.

The new standard was drafted by ISO/TC 299 Working Group 8, Validation methods for collaborative applications. The working group headed by Dr. Roland Behrens (manager of the Model-Based HRC Integration and Safety Team at Fraunhofer IFF) pursued the question of how different regulations in ISO member countries can be unified and beneficially improved with the latest research findings. This was the only way to define a standard and consensus-based testing practice for future cobot applications. “The original national regulations failed to address this issue adequately and many points were still open or contradictory in parts. We were able to bring the COVR project findings to bear ideally here,” says Behrens, explaining the initial situation.

“We’re eager to see what impacts this standard will have on the world of robotics and safety in human-robot collaboration. I can already tell you now, though, that the next ISO project will once again simplify cobot certification appreciably,” says Behrens.