ISO/TS 15066:2016
The ISO technical specification that defines safety requirements for collaborative robot operations, including biomechanical force and pressure limits for power-and-force-limiting mode. Specifies the contact force monitoring requirements that joint torque sensing must fulfill in collaborative workspaces. Currency note: ISO 10218-2:2025 (published 2025) integrates these collaborative-robot requirements; new installations should consult ISO 10218-2:2025 as the primary normative document while ISO/TS 15066:2016 remains a valid reference for existing certified systems.
Defined in 2 GAGE programs, which carry 2 distinct definitions of it. The wording above is taught in Foundations of Robotics and Physical AI.
How each discipline defines it
The same term does different work depending on who is using it. These are the definitions as each program teaches them, unedited.
The ISO technical specification that defines safety requirements for collaborative robot operations, including biomechanical force and pressure limits for power-and-force-limiting mode. Specifies the contact force monitoring requirements that joint torque sensing must fulfill in collaborative workspaces. Currency note: ISO 10218-2:2025 (published 2025) integrates these collaborative-robot requirements; new installations should consult ISO 10218-2:2025 as the primary normative document while ISO/TS 15066:2016 remains a valid reference for existing certified systems.
The technical specification that first formalized collaborative robot safety requirements, including the biomechanical force and pressure limit tables. As of the April 2025 revision of ISO 10218, its content is folded into ISO 10218-2:2025, and it no longer exists as a separately maintained standalone document.
Where it is taught
The exact lessons this term appears in. The first module of every program is free with a free account.
- Force, torque, and tactile sensing for contact · Sensors That Give a Robot Its Senses, Foundations of Robotics and Physical AI
- Speed and separation monitoring and power and force limiting: the collaborative design levers · Human Factors and Human-Robot Interaction, Engineering Judgment and Professional Formation
Where it shows up at work
A definition is where ISO/TS 15066:2016 starts. The lessons above teach it inside the competencies below, which are what job descriptions ask for and what the GAGE credential records. Every link here is drawn from the same careers map that builds a role's readiness check.
Assures AI systems that can cause physical harm: hazard analysis, safety cases, runtime monitors, and the standards evidence a regulator or a court will ask for.
2 lessons on this page teach it as a primary outcome.
Understands AI that acts in the physical world: perception stacks, vision language action models, sim to real transfer, sensor fusion, and where each of them fails.
One lesson on this page teach it as a primary outcome.
Roles that hire for it
Each role page shows the full competency set, what the seat decides, and a readiness check against your own evidence.
- Robotics AI Engineer, embodied systems editionneeds it at depth
- Physical AI Safety Engineer, autonomous systems editionneeds it at depth
- Autonomous Systems Governance Lead, robotics and physical AI editionneeds working knowledge
How job descriptions say it
Postings rarely use the textbook word. These are the phrases the careers map reads as asking for the competencies above.
Where the frameworks place it: EU AI Act; EU Machinery Regulation; ISO 10218; ISO/TS 15066.
One interview question about it
A collaborative robot's learned policy updates monthly. What evidence do you need before each update reaches the floor, and who signs it?
Asked of candidates for physical ai safety assurance. Answering it in your own words is exactly how a GAGE topic is passed, and the credential records the pass where an employer can check it.
Terms it appears with
Not an alphabetical neighbourhood: these are the terms taught in the same lessons, ranked by how often they appear together.