Cobots make manual work less tedious and more interesting - and help manufacturing companies to secure their sites in the long term. However, collaborative robots place higher demands on user knowledge in terms of safety, as humans and cobots can and may work together directly. The EU research project COVR has therefore developed a digital contact point that helps companies to share knowledge and secure cobot applications.

Based on the project results from COVR, the scientists at the Fraunhofer IFF have been working with international experts since September 2020 to develop a new standard for measuring contact forces and pressures on cobots that are safeguarded by "power and force limitation" (in accordance with ISO/TS 15066, compliance with biomechanical limit values). This resulted in the ISO standard "ISO/PAS 5672:2023", which was recently published. The normative document combines the latest knowledge from science and measurement practice, which simplifies the metrological testing of cobots. It now provides a standardized basis for the safe collaboration of humans and robots.

The new standard was developed in the working group "ISO/TC 299 WG 8: Validation methods for collaborative applications". Under the leadership of Dr. Roland Behrens (Group Manager Model-based HRC Integration and Safety at the Fraunhofer IFF), the working group investigated the question of how different regulations in the ISO member states can be standardized and supplemented with the latest scientific findings in a beneficial way. This was the only way to specify a standardized and consensus-based testing practice for future cobot applications. "The original regulations at national level did not adequately cover this issue, and many points were still open or sometimes contradictory," says Behrens, describing the initial situation. "This is where the project results from the COVR project were ideal. We are excited to see what impact the standard will have on the world of robotics and safety in human-robot collaboration. However, I can already reveal that the next ISO project will significantly simplify the test acceptance of cobots."