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The collaborative robot document is a 2016 technical specification, and its replacement is still at proposal stage

ISO/TS 15066:2016 supplements the industrial robot standards with safety requirements for collaborative operation, including the biomechanical limits behind power and force limited applications. ISO marks it as a technical specification to be revised. Its successor, ISO/AWI 15066-1 on biomechanical thresholds and data, sits at the earliest working stage in committee 299.

The verdict

Verified

The document exists. The ledger fetched it at its publisher and quotes it.

Key facts

What the sources say

Record ID
PAG-2026-0020
Kind
Standard
Jurisdiction
Global
Last verified
Added
  • ISO/TS 15066:2016 was published 2016-02, is 33 pages, and is at stage 90.92, international standard to be revised.
  • It specifies safety requirements for collaborative industrial robot systems and the work environment and supplements ISO 10218-1 and ISO 10218-2.
  • It states that it does not apply to collaborative applications designed before its publication.
  • The ISO TC 299 catalogue lists ISO/AWI 15066-1, Collaborative Safety, Physical contact with robots, Part 1: Biomechanical thresholds and data, at stage 20.00.

Dimension by dimension

3 dimensions, each one stated, silent or open

The machine, Workers and bystanders, The AI inside it. Stated means the document you can open below says it; silent means the ledger read the document and it does not.

The machineStated
It is the source of the pain and injury thresholds that let a robot work beside a person without a fence.ISO, ISO/TS 15066:2016 Robots and robotic devices, Collaborative robots, primary source, 1 February 2016.
Workers and bystandersStated
The protection is a contact limit measured against human tissue, established by a risk assessment for the specific application.ISO, ISO/TS 15066:2016 Robots and robotic devices, Collaborative robots, primary source, 1 February 2016.
The AI inside itSilent
Nothing in the document addresses a robot that changes its motion policy through learning.ISO, ISO/TS 15066:2016 Robots and robotic devices, Collaborative robots, primary source, 1 February 2016.

What it changes

For a robot maker or a deployer

Every fenceless cobot argument you make to a customer rests on a technical specification from 2016 that ISO itself has marked for revision, and on a risk assessment you perform for your own application. Do that assessment against measured contact data and keep it, and track the successor project, because the thresholds you are relying on are the part most likely to move.

Sources

What this record was verified against

  1. ISO, ISO/TS 15066:2016 Robots and robotic devices, Collaborative robotsPrimary · 1 February 2016
  2. ISO, ISO/TC 299 Robotics, standards and projects cataloguePrimary · 15 September 2026

Related

Records that sit beside this one

Cite this record

Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0, with attribution. The record ID PAG-2026-0020 is permanent and is never reused.

In a sentence
According to the GAGE Physical AI Governance Atlas (as of 15 September 2026), the collaborative robot document is a 2016 technical specification, and its replacement is still at proposal stage.
APA
GAGE (Global Academy of Generative-AI Education). (2026). The collaborative robot document is a 2016 technical specification, and its replacement is still at proposal stage. Physical AI Governance Atlas. Retrieved 15 September 2026, from https://www.gage.academy/tools/physical-ai-governance-atlas/records/PAG-2026-0020-global-iso-ts-15066-collaborative
MLA
"The collaborative robot document is a 2016 technical specification, and its replacement is still at proposal stage." Physical AI Governance Atlas, GAGE (Global Academy of Generative-AI Education), 15 September 2026, https://www.gage.academy/tools/physical-ai-governance-atlas/records/PAG-2026-0020-global-iso-ts-15066-collaborative.
Chicago
GAGE (Global Academy of Generative-AI Education). "The collaborative robot document is a 2016 technical specification, and its replacement is still at proposal stage." Physical AI Governance Atlas. Last modified 15 September 2026. https://www.gage.academy/tools/physical-ai-governance-atlas/records/PAG-2026-0020-global-iso-ts-15066-collaborative.
Permalink
https://www.gage.academy/tools/physical-ai-governance-atlas/records/PAG-2026-0020-global-iso-ts-15066-collaborative

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