IEEE Forms Group for Humanoid Robot Safety and Performance Standards

In Short

• The IEEE Robotics & Automation Society has created a study group to develop safety and performance standards for humanoid robots due to their rapid development.
• Aaron Prather‘s group includes industry members, academicians, government agencies, and other standards development organizations (SDOs).
• The group has one year to produce a landscape analysis, identify gaps in current standards, and propose solutions for safe and effective humanoid robot usage.

While more and more humanoid robots are being unveiled for public scrutiny, there is a growing need for safety and performance requirements. The creation of a new humanoid study group by the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Robotics & Automation Society has been recently dispatched for the current humanoid survey and standardization drafting.

Prather said at RoboBusiness 2024, “In the past, standards development organizations would wait to develop a standard until after robots had hit the market. However, humanoid robots are being developed so quickly for both the academic lab and the factory and warehouse floors, we really don’t have time to wait until the proverbial robot feet hit the floor.”

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DSTA Implementation

Aaron Prather will lead DSTA for Unmanned Vehicles from ASTM International, who is the director of robotics and autonomous systems programs, and membership in this study group will be made up of members from industry, academicians, government agencies, and members from other SDOs. Specifically, the group has been provided with up to one-year time to deliver a set of end products, which will include the current landscape analysis that has identified standards that can or cannot be applied to humanoid robots, existing gaps in the current standards structure, potential challenges in addressing the gaps that have been noted, and efforts that will have to be made in future to develop subsequent standards.

“By bringing key stakeholders across the spectrum together now, not only can we identify the current landscape and where the gaps and potential problems are, but we can [also] quickly get a roadmap out on what we SDOs need to work on and cut down on the time standards for humanoids are developed,” Prather. He added “You can find the fastest path to your goal with a map to follow.”

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The desire to create humanoid standards has now arisen because interest in using humanoid robots has rapidly grown in the recent past. People are willingly pouring in billions of dollars of their money, besides public money, into building humanoids while there is no standard in sight. It may slow down development if not tackled soon.

The study group encompasses any interested party, although the organization will prioritize parties with critical information on humans and in the standards-development process. The products to be used by the study group will be useful in that it will be helpful in the safe and effective usage of humanoid robots.

Thus it is obvious that in the progress of the robotic structure, the emergence of humanoid norms is all important. With the formation of this study group, the IEEE Robotics & Automation Society is going a long way in its quest in endeavour for the safe and effective development of humanoid robots.

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