IEEE 7007 is an ontology for ethically driven robotics, and it is the only active standard of its kind
IEEE 7007-2021, the Ontological Standard for Ethically Driven Robotics and Automation Systems, is an active standard. It establishes ontologies with concepts, definitions, axioms and use cases for the robotics and automation domain. A follow on project, P7007.1, would extend the ontologies to risks from AI systems used inside robot control.
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-2026-0026
- Kind
- Standard
- Jurisdiction
- Global
- Last verified
- Added
- IEEE lists IEEE 7007-2021 as an active standard: a set of ontologies with different abstraction levels containing concepts, definitions, axioms and use cases for ethically driven design.
- The same working group page lists active project P7007.1, an ontological standard for addressing risks in artificial intelligence systems for ethically aligned robotics and automated systems.
- P7007.1 covers software not used to control robots as well as software forming part of a robot control system.
Dimension by dimension
3 dimensions, each one stated, silent or open
The AI inside it, The machine, Workers and bystanders. Stated means the document you can open below says it; silent means the ledger read the document and it does not.
- The AI inside itStated
- It supplies shared vocabulary for norms, responsibility and transparency in a robot, which is what audit and documentation need.IEEE Standards Association, IEEE 7007-2021, primary source, 15 September 2026.
- The machineSilent
- It is not a safety standard and sets no protective measure, so it never substitutes for the ISO parts.IEEE Standards Association, IEEE 7007-2021, primary source, 15 September 2026.
- Workers and bystandersStated
- The ontologies name the human roles and norms around a robot, which helps a policy but binds nobody.IEEE Standards Association, IEEE 7007-2021, primary source, 15 September 2026.
What it changes
For a robot maker or a deployer
Use it where your problem is language rather than guarding: naming responsibilities, norms and transparency claims consistently across a product line and a policy. Do not present it to a customer as evidence of safety; it is an ontology, and the safety evidence still comes from the ISO and IEC documents.
Sources
What this record was verified against
- IEEE Standards Association, IEEE 7007-2021Primary · 15 September 2026
Related
Records that sit beside this one
The AI management system standard is the one certificate a robot maker can actually hold today
Global · verified 15 September 2026
ISO/IEC 42001:2023 is edition 1, published 2023-12, 51 pages, at stage 60.60, from ISO and IEC joint technical committee 1 subcommittee 42.
Open question: how do you evidence a safety case for a controller that was learned rather than specified?
Global · verified 15 September 2026
ISO 13849-1 and IEC 62061 assume a specified safety function with quantifiable reliability in high or continuous demand mode.
Open question: who is liable when a behaviour the robot learned causes the harm?
Global · verified 15 September 2026
The AI Liability Directive proposal, which would have eased proof for exactly this case, was withdrawn and published as withdrawn in the Official Journal on 6 October 2025.
No published safety standard covers a legged humanoid, and the one that would is still a committee draft
Global · verified 15 September 2026
The ISO TC 299 catalogue lists ISO/CD 25785-1, Robotics, Safety requirements for dynamically stable industrial mobile robots, Part 1: Robots, at stage 30.60.
UL 4600 is the one published standard that asks an autonomous product for a safety case
Global · verified 15 September 2026
The UL Standards catalogue lists UL 4600, Standard for Evaluation of Autonomous Products, as active, edition 3, with a published date of 17 March 2023 and ANSI approval the same day.
The standard for harm with no broken part is SOTIF, written for road vehicles and borrowed by everyone else
Global · verified 15 September 2026
ISO 21448:2022 is edition 1, published 2022-06, 181 pages, from ISO technical committee 22, and ISO marks it at stage 90.92, to be revised.
Cite this record
Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0, with attribution. The record ID PAG-2026-0026 is permanent and is never reused.
- In a sentence
- According to the GAGE Physical AI Governance Atlas (as of 15 September 2026), ieee 7007 is an ontology for ethically driven robotics, and it is the only active standard of its kind.
- APA
- GAGE (Global Academy of Generative-AI Education). (2026). IEEE 7007 is an ontology for ethically driven robotics, and it is the only active standard of its kind. Physical AI Governance Atlas. Retrieved 15 September 2026, from https://www.gage.academy/tools/physical-ai-governance-atlas/records/PAG-2026-0026-global-ieee-7007-ontology
- MLA
- "IEEE 7007 is an ontology for ethically driven robotics, and it is the only active standard of its kind." 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-2026-0026-global-ieee-7007-ontology.
- Chicago
- GAGE (Global Academy of Generative-AI Education). "IEEE 7007 is an ontology for ethically driven robotics, and it is the only active standard of its kind." Physical AI Governance Atlas. Last modified 15 September 2026. https://www.gage.academy/tools/physical-ai-governance-atlas/records/PAG-2026-0026-global-ieee-7007-ontology.
- Permalink
- https://www.gage.academy/tools/physical-ai-governance-atlas/records/PAG-2026-0026-global-ieee-7007-ontology
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