Ahead of A3’s International Robot Safety Conference November 3-5, 2025 in Houston, Texas, ISHN spoke to Maren Roush, Standards Manager for Robotics, about the new R15.06 2020-2025 standard for industrial robots, the impact of these changes on manufacturers, and the broader context of AI in robotics and workforce implications.

Roush has been closely involved in the committees that produced the 2025 editions of 10218 and R15.06.

The Robot Standard

The new R15.06 standard is a national adoption of two revised international ISO standards: 10218-1 and 10218-2, both published in 2025. In the U.S., R15.06 is a voluntary consensus standard that falls under OSHA's General Duty Clause, which obligates employers to provide a workplace free from recognized hazards.

The standard, which took seven years to revise, is not a radical change in requirements but provides significantly more clarification, said Roush. It covers safety for industrial robots as manufactured and their integration into applications.

"There are now more than 30 safety functions in the 2025 version, whereas the 2012 document... only had two to three,” she said.

“The use of robots in industrial settings has enjoyed a much better safety record than other machinery. And we can actually thank the rigorous standards in the U.S. and internationally for this.

"Industrial robots can save workers from what's called the 3Ds, dirty, dangerous, and dull work... it can free those workers up to work in other safer roles."

Aligning U.S. requirements with global standards streamlines design and testing for manufacturers operating internationally, allowing them to create a single robot model that meets requirements for customers worldwide.

No More Cobots

Roush clarified that the standard and its developers are moving away from the term "collaborative robot" (cobot) because the safety of shared-space work depends on the application and installation environment, not just the machinery's design.

"One of the key concepts with the newest versions of the 10 to 18 standards and R-15-06 is that we're moving away from the concept of collaborative robots. What is truly collaborative in the work area is an application, not the machinery itself.,” she said. "We want to move away from that term [cobot] and switch from co-bot or collaborative robot to collaborative applications."

On AI and Risk Assessment

"R15.06 provides the backbone for industrial robot safety... it can also be used for AI-driven robot systems because it requires risk assessment. Risk assessment is a key component of the standard...,” Roush said.

"As an industry, we should be focusing less on what AI can do... we should be focusing more on what we want to do with the factories, etc. So these are the ways in which we can drive the development of AI so that it's useful and applicable to the industry."