Robot safety
Which robots can work alongside humans safely?
Cobots are built to work next to people; general-purpose humanoids are not certified for it. Yes, a whole class of robots is built to work directly alongside people: collaborative robots, or cobots, from makers like Universal Robots, FANUC, and KUKA. Their makers design and certify them to the ISO 10218 and ISO/TS 15066 safety standards, which is a maker disclosure reported here, not a DEPLOY verification. General-purpose humanoids are not certified for collaboration, so they stay behind guarding or in pilots.
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The robots that verifiably work alongside people today are collaborative robots, usually called cobots, and the honest way to answer is to separate what the makers certify from what a neutral registry can verify.
A cobot is an industrial robot arm built to share a workspace with a person rather than run behind a cage. The safety comes from a framework of standards. ISO 10218 sets the safety requirements for industrial robots and robot systems in two parts, and ISO/TS 15066 was the technical specification that added detail for collaborative operation, including biomechanical limits on how much force a robot may apply in contact with a person. In the 2025 revision of ISO 10218, most of ISO/TS 15066 was folded directly into ISO 10218-2, and the standards now speak of collaborative applications rather than collaborative robots, because only the whole application, not the arm alone, can be designed and confirmed as safe.
The makers build to that framework and say so. Universal Robots says it designed its cobots from the start to work safely beside people and helped draft ISO/TS 15066. FANUC states its CR and CRX cobots meet ISO 10218 and ISO/TS 15066 and add contact-stop sensing that halts the arm on light contact. KUKA describes its LBR iiwa as a sensitive robot whose joint torque sensors let it work in close cooperation with people without fences. ABB markets its dual-arm YuMi as a collaborative robot for small-parts assembly. Each of those is the maker's own disclosure, which DEPLOY reports as claimed rather than stamping as verified.
What is an honest absence is the general-purpose humanoid. On DEPLOY's record no humanoid carries a disclosed collaborative safety certification, and the humanoids that appear in factories and warehouses run in pilots, typically behind guarding or under supervision. So the useful answer is that cobots are the robots built and certified by their makers to work next to people, and a robot sharing your space safely is an application-level judgment, not a badge the robot wears. Everything here is dated and attributed to its source.
The safety framework
A robot working next to a person is governed by a framework of standards, not by a single label. ISO 10218 sets the safety requirements for industrial robots and robot systems in two parts, and ISO/TS 15066 added the detail for collaborative operation, including biomechanical limits on how much force a robot may apply in contact with a person.
In the 2025 revision of ISO 10218, most of ISO/TS 15066 was folded into ISO 10218-2, and the standards now speak of collaborative applications rather than collaborative robots, because only the whole application, not the arm alone, can be designed and confirmed as safe. The four recognised methods are a safety-rated monitored stop, hand guiding, speed and separation monitoring, and power and force limiting.
Cobots built to work with people
Each row is a collaborative robot family whose maker designs and certifies it to run next to people. The certification is the maker’s own disclosure, dated to its source and reported here as claimed, never stamped by DEPLOY as verified.
| Cobot | Status | Who (attributed) | As of | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
FANUC CR and CRX series cobots FANUC's CR and CRX cobots are built to run alongside operators, with contact-stop sensing. FANUC states its CR series meets ISO 10218 and ISO/TS 15066, using an emergency stop and a three-position enabling switch, and that its CRX cobots add ultra-sensitive contact-stop detection that halts motion on light contact so they can work without external safety fencing. This is FANUC's own disclosure, reported here as such. | Maker-disclosed | FANUC (CR series page) and FANUC America (cobots page) | Jul 26, 2026 (as reported) | |
KUKA LBR iiwa KUKA's LBR iiwa is a sensitive robot built for close human-robot collaboration. KUKA describes the LBR iiwa as a sensitive collaborative robot whose joint torque sensors let people and robots work together in close cooperation, so that, in KUKA's words, safety fences make way for human-robot collaboration in the workspace. This is KUKA's own product claim, reported here as such. | Maker-disclosed | KUKA (LBR iiwa product page) | Jul 26, 2026 (as reported) | |
Universal Robots UR cobot arms (UR and e-Series) Universal Robots builds cobot arms designed to work next to people without fencing. Universal Robots says it designed collaborative robots from the start to work safely side by side with human workers, and its compliance staff sat on the ISO committee that drafted ISO/TS 15066, the specification that supplements ISO 10218 for collaborative applications. A cobot only counts as collaborative once the whole application is risk assessed, which is the maker's disclosure, not a DEPLOY verification. | Maker-disclosed | Universal Robots (product and standards pages) | Feb 1, 2018 (as reported) |
What the record holds on humanoids
Read live from DEPLOY’s reviewed registry. General-purpose humanoids are not certified for collaborative operation; they run behind guarding or in pilots, so their safety alongside people is an honest absence.
| Fact | Status | As of | Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| General-purpose humanoids No general-purpose humanoid is certified for collaborative operation on the record. | Not on the record | Jul 26, 2026 (as reported) | DEPLOY holds 107 reviewed humanoid models. None carries a disclosed ISO 10218 or ISO/TS 15066 collaborative certification. Humanoids appear in factory and logistics pilots on the record, typically behind guarding or under supervision, not as certified collaborative robots, so their safety alongside people is an honest absence rather than a claim. |
Certified by the maker, not by a badge
Each column is attributed to who holds the position. The makers certify their cobots; the standards require the whole application to be assessed; and general-purpose humanoids are not yet certified for it.
Cobots, built for collaboration
Universal Robots, FANUC, and KUKA build collaborative robots to run next to people without fencing, and disclose conformance to ISO 10218 and ISO/TS 15066. That is the makers' own statement, reported here, not a DEPLOY verification.
Safety is a property of the application
ISO 10218 and ISO/TS 15066, now folded into the 2025 revision, require a risk assessment of the whole application, with limits on contact force and speed. A cobot is only safe once the specific task is designed and confirmed, not by badge alone.
Humanoids are not certified for it
No general-purpose humanoid on DEPLOY's record carries a disclosed collaborative certification. Humanoids run in pilots, behind guarding or under supervision. So a humanoid safely sharing your workspace is an honest absence, not a verified capability.
How we know this
This answer reads DEPLOY's reviewed registry live for what the record holds on humanoids, and cites each cobot maker's own product and standards pages for their collaborative claims, plus confirmable references for the ISO 10218 and ISO/TS 15066 framework. Here are the sources behind them.
The cobot certifications are maker disclosures, reported here as claimed, not figures DEPLOY independently verifies, and safety is always a property of the specific application. DEPLOY holds no humanoid with a disclosed collaborative certification, and says so rather than guessing.
Common questions
What is a collaborative robot?
What safety standards cover robots working with humans?
Are collaborative robots actually safe around people?
Can humanoid robots work safely alongside humans?
What is the difference between a cobot and an industrial robot?
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