The popularised term ‘collaborative robot’ or ‘cobot’ may be a thing of the past, following the release of ISO 10218-2:2025, which introduces a fresh perspective on collaborative robotics.
ISO 10218-2:2025 states: “It is important to emphasise that the term ‘collaborative robot’ is not used in this document. Only the application can be developed, verified, and validated as a collaborative application. In addition, the term ‘collaborative operation’ is not used in this document.”
This key change shifts the focus from labelling robots as 'collaborative' to ensuring the safety of the application itself.
Rosanne Jessop, managing director at Pilz Automation ANZ, weighs in: “At Pilz, we see this as a positive move towards a more comprehensive understanding and implementation of safety in human-robot interaction.”
Simply put, the international standards have dropped the terminology because it doesn’t make sense.
As Jessop explains, “You can put a robot in a fenced cell, or you can put a robot in an open space where humans can be in close working proximity. In either case, the robot is the same, it’s just the environment or application that has changed. And in either case, you still have circumstances where humans will always interact, such as for maintenance and cleaning.”
Jessop goes on to point out that all machinery has varying degrees of in-built safety, such as sensing devices, automatic stops, alarm signals and more. So, the term “collaborative application” considering “collaborative tasks” (meaning with humans working in the same space) is much more apt than “collaborative robot”.
“A collaborative robot does not exist. The machine is not inherently collaborative. The robot has internal functions to help ensure it is safe to work in close proximity – typically these are of a high integrity, given the size of them and the potential to hit, pin or cut people,” Jessop says.
“There are plenty of other machines where people are also having to work in close proximity and they’re not called collaborative,” she concludes.
