Validating safety in human-robot collaboration: Standards and new perspectives

Human-robot collaboration is currently one of the frontiers of industrial robot implementation. In parallel, the use of robots and robotic devices is increasing in several fields, substituting humans in "4D"--dull, dirty, dangerous, and delicate--tasks, and such a trend is boosted by the recent need for social distancing. New challenges in safety assessment and verification arise, due to both the closer and closer human-robot interaction, common for the different application domains, and the broadening of user audience, which is now very diverse. The present paper discusses a cross-domain approach towards the definition of step-by-step validation procedures for collaborative robotic applications. To outline the context, the standardization framework is analyzed, especially from the perspective of safety testing and assessment. Afterwards, some testing procedures based on safety skills, developed within the framework of the European project COVR, are discussed and exemplary presented.