IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - March 2018 - 15

modular architecture. Key sections
being developed include
● definitions
● generic modularity issues (including
connectivity, interoperability, and
safety at the module level)
● safety and security issues of modular
systems
● frameworks for hardware and soft-
ware
● key robotic components.
The chair of WG 6 is Gurvinder Virk
(CLAWAR Association, United King-
dom). The cochairs are Shuping Yang
(RIAMB, China) and Hongseong Park
(Kangwon National University, South
Korea). The standard WG 6 is working
on is ISO WD 22166-1, Robotics-Part 1:
Modularity for Service Robots-Part 1:
General Requirements.
Apart from the standards already
mentioned, ISO is continuously looking
into the revision and amendment of its
existing robot standards and looking
into cooperations to align with similar
domains (e.g., standards for self-driving
cars, currently guided by vehicle stan-
dards within ISO). One prime example
for that is the establishment of Study
Group 1 (SG 1), which is solely focus-
ing on the gaps and inconsistencies
between the output of the existing
WGs so their future work can be better
focused and streamlined.

work together toward clear targets.
With the increasing usage of robots, the
needs for standardized solutions has in-
tensified. The focus of ISO TC 299 is to
identify and address these needs related
to all robotics disciplines, preferably in
a collaboration with other SDOs and
professional organizations, like IEEE.
The new robot domains are giving rise
to boundary and overlap issues and
where one type of robot ends and an-
other starts, e.g., when does a physical
assistant exoskeleton robot governed by
WG 2 become an industrial robot gov-
erned by WG 3? SG 1 has recently been
set up to address such issues, to help
provide recommendations on how to
organize future robot standardization
projects, and to identify gaps in robot
standardization projects.
Acknowledgment
This contribution is partly based on
work in the H2020 Coordination and

Support Action RockEU 2 (GAN 688441,
see www.eu-robotics.net) and the Euro-
pean Cooperation in Science and Tech-
nology Action CA16116, "Wearable
Robots for Augmentation, Assistance
or Substitution of Human Motor
Function" (see https://wearablerobots
.eu). T. Haidegger is supported by the
Hungarian OTKA PD 116121 grant.
His work has been supported by the
Austrian Center for Medical Innova-
tion and Technology, which is funded
within the scope of the Competence
Centers for Excellent Technologies
program of the Austrian government.
He is also is supported through the
New National Excellence Program of
the Ministry of Human Capacities.
This work was partially supported by
the Hungarian EFOP -3.6.2-16-2017-
00016 grant.

Conclusion and Outlook
It is clear that robotics is evolving from
its industrial manufacturing roots at
an increasing rate, and new robot use
cases are emerging. The new robot
application sectors are posing new
challenges for standardization, and ISO
and IEC have reacted rapidly over the
past ten years or so to create new WGs
to develop the needed standards, espe-
cially those related to safety. The
foremost aim of international stan-
dardization is to facilitate the exchange
of goods and services through the elim-
ination of technical barriers to trade.
The process of standardization, and es-
pecially the organization of the WG
meetings, is a voluntary effort of the in-
ternational experts devoted to robotics,
where international peers from aca-
demia, industry, and government can
march 2018

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IEEE ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION MAGAZINE

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