Safety & Standards

Speed and Separation Monitoring

Speed and separation monitoring is a collaborative operation mode defined in ISO/TS 15066 and ISO 10218 in which the robot continuously maintains at least a protective separation distance from humans, computed from robot and human speeds, stopping distances, and sensing latency. Safety-rated sensors such as laser scanners or vision systems track people in the cell, and the robot scales its speed down — ultimately to a stop — as separation shrinks, resuming when clearance is restored.

Why it matters for physical AI

Dynamic speed scaling lets robots keep working productively near people instead of halting behind fences, and it exemplifies the certified runtime monitoring that learned controllers must operate within.